Honest Review of the "Sakuraco" Subscription Snack Box

(This is a sponsored opportunity I was given. However, I was given the green light to be 100% honest about their product, so I will do just that!)

These days, there's no shortage of subscription boxes from food to collectable toys. If you're unfamiliar with the idea, let me explain. For a monthly fee, a company (or a fan in the hobby close to the source) will offer to send you a box of goodies worth (sometimes) the monthly fee you're paying into. For example, if you're into manga - there may be some entity that will offer to pack a box of manga-related goods if you are willing to pay a price every month.

In this case, if you are into Japanese snacks & sweets, Sakuraco offers to send you a box of mixed treats for a monthly fee. They are certainly not the only ones in the business, and I'm guessing they won't be the last.

Enough of my pointless babble, let's get to the point.

Overview of Box

I received the November box just a bit short of October ending, and two or three days after an email was sent to me that the box had been sent off to the post. Just in time for the month of November!

It came as is in the bubble wrap and fragile stickers on the packaging. I received it via normal Japan Post deliveries during the day. I wonder how the packaging differs with International Deliveries though.

The box itself is pretty fancy. I like the nice pink box!

I also had my Rilakkuma pose with it because this Kitsune-Panda is EXTRA AF…

You’ll see him more throughout this post as he models for you the box and its contents (because hey, why not).

The box it is quite heavy so you know you’re getting a good amount! And they do absolutely pack this full! The size of the box is not only for show:

Every customer can visit their website to get a good idea of what the next box features, and also what is in the previous boxes. If I was a customer wanting monthly subscription boxes, this is definitely good information to read and the pictures on the website help with the transparency of what’s exactly inside the box. Their website is easy to navigate and very esthetically pleasing to the eye!

And if you need a friendly reminder, the box has a lovely printed booklet with lots of details of each snack:

I notice their boxes are scripted every month in this way:

• one decorative bowl
• two or three bags of green tea
• one or two jelly-type sweets
• savory snacks (mostly senbei)
• sweet snacks

Here’s a closer look:

The theme of November is “Autumn in Kyushu”, which I fully expect that to mean they’re all snacks from Kyushu. Especially since looking at the website which has a very beautifully written description of their box and future boxes, I also expect my package to be snacks from snack shops in Kyushu.

From a glance, it definitely looks to be from Kyushu!

(I have to say, I do like their sleek website design!)

Are they… “locally sourced”?

If the definition of “locally sourced” means the snacks are from Japan, then Sakuraco definitely has it down. But are they all locally sourced… from Kyushu? Like the box suggests?

Nope.

Here are two snacks I tried right off the bat:

The milk cookie and the honey soy sauce senbei. As you can see from the booklet’s description of the milk cookie, the origins are from Saitama - which is a prefecture in the Kanto area (near Tokyo). The Senbei as well, comes from a shop in Saitama.

Both were very delicious of course. I don’t normally partake in senbei, but as really enjoyed this senbei and found it’s website as I was digging where the origins of the senbei was from. I would absolutely eat those again.

While I do appreciate their transparency in the booklet, I feel that they’ve not 100% delivered in the locally sourced portion. I mean, if I didn’t know better about Japan and Japanese prefectures (which lots of people don't), you could easy fool me into thinking Saitama was in Kyushu.

But that’s not my biggest issue with this. From my own travels in Japan, I know 100% that there must be loads and loads of local senbei makers in Kyushu. Japan might not be a big country, and they want you to believe that each area has their own famous eats… but I promise you, it’s not hard to find any and all Japanese snacks in their own locality. And most definitely milk cookie makers in Kyushu (just off the top of my head - the Aso area is famous for milk), so why can’t they source them from Kyushu?

There definitely needs to be more effort made to research snack makers, and support those small businesses. Especially when there is a claim that the snack is “from this beautiful region”.

And especially if I’m paying $37 (USD) monthly for this box.

Pricing & Their Competitors

Now, the only monthly subscription I’ve sold my soul to is the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV… this goddamn game, I swear… so I’m no expert in subscriptions. But I am good at being an internet sleuth. I also follow plenty of youtubers and if you’ve watch YouTube in any capacity, you know they’re not shy to shoutout their sponsors.

And plenty of travel/food-related videos talk a lot about Sakuraco’s competition(s).

Looking at Sakuraco’s boxes and their competition, it does seem like Sakuraco is the cheaper option here. But also looking at their biggest competitor, the price difference isn’t overly significant. Like, if you’ve got that cash to subscribe, you ain’t thinking about a $2 difference (my poor ass IS thinking about this because I ain’t subscribed).

A quick scan of the competition also shows that they really take their time to locally source their location-themed snacks. So there’s that too.

Final Thoughts

I know his facial expressions don’t reflect this, but Rilakkuma definitely enjoyed the snacks. He’s not a picky eater so he can pretty much wolf down anything you give him. Snacks are snacks. And seeing that he’s Japanese, he vibes a lot with Japanese foods.

But for me, I don’t particularly love chestnut or sweet potatoes… so… yeah.

This is a general issue with all subscription boxes though. It’s always going to be a hit or miss. If the company comes out with a theme you don’t vibe with, there’s not much you can do. You paid for it, so you just got to deal with it. Unfortunate for anyone with dietary restrictions and what not, since they aren't customizable - but Sakuraco (and other similar sites) are very forthcoming about it by showing exactly what they offer. Besides, if you do want something that's customizable, you could very easily just go to amazon & buy the snacks you can eat right?

All in all...

If I was living overseas and missing Japanese foods, I do think this is a great way to connect with Japan. If I was in the same situation, box snacks like Sakuraco would probably be my go-to subscription as well. It's food (mostly), so the items don't just pile up and collect dust over time and you know you have consistent and nice flow of them coming in. The variety is also good, and you can try things from Japan that you've never even heard of.

However, as someone living in Japan - this wouldn't be something I would invest in. Not that I think I am their target customer anyway.