Authentic Japanese snacks delivered to your door!  Snakku is a subscription service starting at $38.95. 
(Read more to get 10% off!)

They kindly sent me a sample to try out and so I could share my experience with you. I must say - lots of childhood memories came back to me when opening their box. Good childhood memories of course :) 

Wrapping
I believe that all Japanese products begins its high quality experience at the wrapping/packaging stage. Snakku uses a beautiful Japanese cloth, also called a furoshiki to wrap the Snakku box. This month it was a deep green furoshiki - resusable of course! I plan to wrap my lunches or any other boxes with this in the future.

Branding and Messaging
Inside the box, I found a pamphlet and flyer of Snakku's. I love how they use Japanese characters (which are truly Japanese, not random characters!) to make the experience authentic, even for a native Japanese person like me.

The Snacks
This month (August) happened to be the month of rusks! I hadn't had rusks since I left Japan (~7 years ago) so this was a *very* pleasant surprise. Here is the list of snacks which came in my box (taken from Snakku's website):

• 17 regionally made Japanese rusks of different flavors (My favourite was the *Classic*, simply butter & sugar)

• Yuki no Yado: Slightly salty senbei topped with Hokkaido fresh cream (Now this has my childhood written all over it!)
• Summer Salty Pocky: Milk chocolate covered pocky with sea salt and sugar crystals (Who doesn't like Pocky?)
• Maison De Kukkia: Matcha chocolate sandwiched between wafer cookies  (Classy & sophisticated)
• Bourbon Rumando: Grilled crepe cookie dipped in cocoa cream 
• Hokkaido Match Milk Candy: Made from Hokkaido milk and matcha from Aichi
  
  

All of these high quality Japanese snacks were all very tasty - and now you can get 10% off by using "jpinsider" at checkout. Now's your time to give Snakku a try ;) 

1 day before the store opened, I had a chance to take a sneak peak of what the store had to offer! 
Muji (Mujirushi) is a Japanese brand which focuses on simplicity. More on the brand here.

A *big* thank you to Asako Shimazaki san, the Muji USA President who gave us a tour of the store and interesting information about the products and brand.

Scroll down for more info on the items displayed in the photographs!

Muji USAの社長、嶋崎朝子さんとお話しする事ができました。お写真まで一緒に！
お忙しい中有り難う御座いました。

More info on photographs (in order of appearance):

• Photo & Fyuse with Asako Shimazaki (Muji USA President) san! 
• #MujiStanford bag! Gift for first customers.
• Muji Toaster, Rice cooker and kettle designed specially by designer Naoto Fukasawa
• Blue & Green Muji travel suitcases *only* offered here in Stanford. The other colours are available at other stores.
• Super comfortable Muji travel pillow. Even for offices!
• Aroma Therapy goodies. I use this very often at home with various types of aroma oils. My favourite one is the lavender!
• Stamps! You can create your own special notebook, bag, envelope, or any art piece with these stamps in-store!
• Muji's body fit cushion. Shimazaki-san explained it as the cushion which turns you lazy.
• Beauty goods. Shimazaki-san told me that one of the most popular products being sold here in the US are the beauty related products. Their skincare line is all natural yet affordable. My personal favourite is the organic cotton! Superb quality.
• Shrink wrap t-shirts! Perfect for gifts to friends.

Other recommended products:

• Their pens, notebooks and folders. *LOVE*
• Japanese snacks & tea. My favourite is their Matcha mix.

Have you visited this new store yet? If not - I highly recommend you do!  So many products and they are affordable. I promise you'll have a great time just browsing too. High quality products for a great price! 

Muji's website: http://www.muji.com/us/

Highlighted in photographs:

• AMIAYA (models, singers)
  
• Katsu Curry from JapaCurry
  
• Onigirazu (Onigiri Sandwiches) 
  
• Pocky food truck
  
• Hello Kitty food truck
  
• Fyuse with a Japanese idol
  
• Karaage (Japanese Fried chicken)
  

Credits:
Fyuse by Ryan Chua

BentoNow is a service which delivers Asian dinner / lunch to your curbside  in *minutes*. When they say "minutes'", they mean it too! I personally got mine delivered in 4 minutes! No kidding! 


You get to pick your main and 4 sides. I believe their dinner time starts at 5pm! 

Once you pick, enter your CC info and confirm your order,  you'll receive a confirmation text which shows you where your food is! You get to track it all the way through it's journey....Then, fwah-lah, 4 minutes later I had my very first BentoNow in my hands! 

This day I ordered: Seared Salmon (as a main dish), Asian Chopped Salad, Chicken Wings, Fruit and Vegetable Gyoza. Most of these dishes are Japanese; like the salmon and gyoza....I must say, being born and raised in Japan - I *approve* and want to thank BentoNow for serving such great Japanese casual food in San Francisco! 

The Seared Salmon was absolutely the highlight. The ponzu sauce was fresh and real. Matched with the perfectly seared salmon! The Asian Chopped Salad was seasoned very well - not too sweet, not too dressed. 

You can use "MARIKA1" to get a couple dollars off your first BentoNow!


BentoNowというお弁当を届けてくれるサービスに出会いました。
アプリからオーダーして４分後、お弁当がお家の目の前に。
しかも、アメリカのサービスにしてはとても美味しくて、日本人として誇りを持ってしまったほどです。

Kinokuniya in Japantown, San Francisco is my saviour!
Small books, large books, magazines, origami and all sorts of little goodies.

I go here on a monthly basis to pick my favourite Japanese fashion magazines. I have a subscription with them - so they e-mail me when the most recent publication is delivered. 

The photograph above is one of Japanese travel books. The ones above are for LA and San Francisco. 
Colourful, aren't they?

Japanese magazines contain a lot of information. Blurbs, comments, images, you name it!
Additionally, the Japanese language itself can portray information more than English given it's Kanji characters. 

The photograph below shows bilingual Japanese books, mostly on food.
Have you read any of them? 

Don't forget to enter my first ever giveaway here!