I saw these strange little treats in the freezer section next to some Popsicles in Japan. My problem with knowing what they are for sure is that I don’t read the language, Japanese. You may be asking yourself why I didn’t go for the safe Popsicles next to it instead of going for this mysterious treat, and to that I ask you to read my other reviews. Going the safe route never leads to an interesting review, it often leads to me writing several paragraphs about how hard it is to write a review about a boring candy.

On a scale of 1 to 10 for strange, these cold soft balls get a 14 or 15. What they heck is going on here? The best way I can describe these to you might take a while so buckle in. It’s not like anything I’ve ever had before, so it might take some detailed explaining. If I was to try and simplify the description of these cold ice cream balls, I would say something like “it appears to be some kind of weird coating filled with ice cream, vanilla I think”.

While the center of the ice cream is the easy part to explain, what’s happening around the ice cream is where the “fun” begins. I think the ice cream might be covered in Mochi. Mochi is pounded sticky rice often found in Japanese snack isles. It’s a very traditional treat and well loved by the Japanese. It could also be a raw dumpling dough as well, but my guess is Mochi. The Mochi seems to be mixed with some kind of red bean paste adding to the Japanese strangeness of this snack. Finally, it appears to be covered in a brown powder, which I would guess is cinnamon, based off the taste.

This treat is strange, there’s no doubt about it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody (at least from North America) unless you where interested in adventure. It actually tastes pretty good, the cinnamon is particularly nice, but the texture is very strange and it may take a few bites to get used to.