Meiji Apollo Strawberry Chocolate
As I’m perusing the Asian aisles, I’m often faced with a tough decision: strawberry or chocolate? Strawberry or chocolate? Strawberry or chocolate?!
Well, why choose one flavor when I can have both in one item?
Especially when the treat comes in cute packaging. Look at the strawberry on the top left and you’ll see that the seeds are shiny gold.
And then there’s this little pink and brown bunny.
But before I get to this strawberry and chocolate treat—because you know what a big tease I am—I have a riddle for you. No, really. This is, I believe, the start of a Japanese riddle from the top flap of the box. I have never studied Japanese so I don’t know what it says. Someone, please do me a solid and translate this and the following five photos, which I frankly don’t even know if I have in the right order. I’ll be your Internet BFF (I know, what an incentive!).
Top left flap.
Top right flap.
Bottom flap.
Bottom left flap (an equal sign).
Bottom right flap (the answer?).
All right, I need to thank those people for their patience who are saying, “Cindy, I don’t come to this site to think. I come to see food photos.” Here you go.
This parasol-shaped treat is a-dor-a-ble. It has a milk chocolate base and strawberry cream top.
I am by no means a chocolate connoisseur, and that is probably a good thing with this item that has a slightly waxy texture. But I think it tastes good and smells delicious and looks cute and is fun to eat and that’s all that matters to me because I’m shallow.
Oh, and I’d think a box of this treat would make a lovely party favor, especially for a pink-and-brown themed party.
P.S. In my two previous posts about longans, I incorrectly stated that they were from Taiwan. They’re actually from Thailand; sorry about the inaccuracy!
The clues are an old man, bamboo and the moon. The answer in the scroll is Princess Kaguya, from the story “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” or “The Tale of the Woodcutter.” It’s an old Japanese folk tale about an old man who found a girl from the moon, Princess Kaguya, in a stalk of bamboo. It’s a good story if you haven’t read it.
And on a side note, I wish they had that candy where I live because it looks really good.
Part of me is glad that someone beat me to the punch. I didn’t know the story! Sounds interesting.
Ojiisan. Takeyabu. Tsuki.
Tannooha(or wa)nashikana? Kotae wa soko ga wada yo. Kotae Kaguyahime.
I feel like an impostor or something because I just read the characters but don’t know the meanings. (Except for old man and moon.) Man, I’ve forgotten like, almost everything I learned! Don’t even ask me to read Kanji! Haha. Though I still remember Taberu (eat) and Nomeru (drink).
Almost forgot; the front of the box; ah-po-ro (Apollo). Chyo-ko-reeh-to (Chocolate).
Also, I had that candy before. I once bought a multi-variety pack of candies and this was one of them. I remember being disappointed by it though. It looks so cute (and pink) but the taste was lesser. Cuteness wins points, that’s why. And I like that you admit to being shallow in terms of food. Haha. Do you know? I read that in food photography, they sometimes spray things on the food to make it look extra shiny or beautiful but then renders the food totally inedible after?
http://photocritic.org/food-photo-tricks/
My husband calls this nipple candy because he thinks they look like little pink nipples. *sigh*
I digress. I ordered these from Ichiban Kan (RIP) and loved them. Lately I have seen them at Borders bookstore. They are a cute addition to a bento!
Internet BFF Keskia: Thanks so much for solving the riddle! I read the interesting story on Wikipedia.
I’ve been told this item is available at World Market, and you can see that Shelly says Borders bookstore also has it. You can get it on Amazon.com, too.
Lian: Thank you for your translation effort, I appreciate it!
I also found this item in blueberry flavor on Amazon.com (although it’s currently unavailable for purchase); how cute is that packaging?!
That Photocritic site is interesting yet disturbing!
Shelly: Um, the inappropriate side of me is giggling at your husband’s thought.
Anyway, you’re right—this would be a great bento addition because of its colors and small size. Thanks for letting me know about the Borders availability and for the bento idea!
Oooo, blueberry flavor! I’d like to try that when it comes out. Thanks for finding it.
Borders has been stocking quite a lot of Japanese candy lately, I assume because of the popularity of anime. In our store, they have a table display set up near the graphic novel/manga section.
Oh, what an awesome idea! That’s perfect marketing, haha.
Shelly and Lian: Yeah, great marketing idea. I’ll need to check out my local Borders to see if they’re doing it.
I enjoy it
