I Eat | Narita Airport (成田国際空港)

So, last month, my mother went away for a week on a trip to Indonesia. On her way back home, she had a layover in Japan, stopping at Narita Airport. And, knowing my love for all things Japanese, she brought over several snacks that were in the little shops in the airport. My goodness, they were all so adorable, it almost felt like a waste to eat any of them, but we just had to.

Anyone who knows me, knows that my heart has always had this pull and connection to Japan, its culture, food, and everything else about them. So, seeing all of these snacks, it felt like seeing little parts of a home I have yet to discover. Something I definitely noticed right away, was that the attention to detail with packaging was amazing. The Japanese don't play around, and their efforts show.

I'm so excited to show you all the few snacks I had the honour of trying out!

See more photos, and read more about my experience, after the jump!

Oreo "Travel Edition" (オレオ)

The first snack I'm going to talk about are these cute little Oreo ones, and they kind of look like mini Kit-Kats. The white on top is, of course, the filling, with another light drizzling of glaze on top. And the bottom layer is the cookie part, which wasn't as crumbly as I thought. Both layers kind of shared the same texture, and I didn't mind, but I did miss the feeling of dipping an actual Oreo into a cup of milk. Also worth noting, is that they write that they use "vanilla grown in Madagascar." Interesting.

Seeing as it's the "travel edition," it's great as it is, without an obligatory cup of milk on the side. It's really an on-the-go type of snack (the puns). And what I didn't notice until later on, was that the packaging looks like a suitcase; of course, it all makes sense!

This snack was very enjoyable, and easy to eat a lot of at once (be careful). Not disappointing at all, but now I feel like I need a cup of milk.

Tokyo Campanella (東京カンパネラ)

The next snack are these lovely cookies, and again, the packaging is amazing, from the box it comes in, to the wrapper (I actually ended up keeping the box, just because of how pretty it is). This cookie was surprisingly really delicate, a lot more delicate than I thought. The moment you bite into it, you get more crumb dribble than you expect. It consists of three layers of really thin, fragile cookie, and in between each layer is a bit of cream that kind of tasted a bit like mocha, I'm not too sure.

I can imagine these going really well with coffee or tea, but I was too excited and kept eating them as they were. This is definitely something I'd buy again as a gift for someone, or just to treat myself during an afternoon tea time.

Tokyo Banana Tree Cookies (東京ばな奈ツリー)

The last snack that I'll be talking about is the coveted "Tokyo Banana Tree." The more popular kind is the cream-filled pastry version, but my mother brought home the cookie version, which is totally fine by me. Again, this packaging was amazing, because it was like opening a Christmas gift. It comes wrapped very attractively, as you can see in the first above photo. Although the actual box is a bit "plain Jane," the inside is not.

True to its branding, even the cookies had the well-known cheetah-print-ish design on them, and I was very happy to see it. Along with the cookies, came these informational papers, and even those were very nicely designed and nice to look at. Literally, ever single snack I tried was so organized, and well-kept.

They came in two flavours, the original (left) and chocolate (right), keeping in mind the basis of every flavour has banana in it. I know that some people aren't too keen on banana anything, but you may be surprised when you try them. They're not overwhelmingly flavoured with banana, so it gives space for balance, especially with the chocolate one. I, personally, don't mind banana at all, and I really enjoyed these. The cookie was really nice too.

After trying these, I'll be dreaming of trying the other versions as well; putting it on my bucket list. This particular box did not come with that many, and I'm hoping that they sell ones with different variations of how much is in them, because I'd buy a lot more than what was provided here.

Overall, I hope you enjoyed reading this extensive post (thank you if you made it all this way!), and I hope the photos did justice in showing off a few of the amazing snacks that Japan has to offer. It's a life goal of mine to go there, and live for a long period of time to really experience the culture, and everything about it. Even their food tells stories, and I have to go where those stories started. Like I said, my heart starts feeling pulled whenever I see, hear, or read anything about this place.

I hope you all have a great day/night, wherever you are. See you in the next post!

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Photos by Kyle.

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