Any of you ever tried Pocky? I buy them at the Asian grocery store. They’re like little cracker sticks dipped in chocolate and they’re pretty yummy. Very similar to chocolate covered pretzels. They seem to come in a variety of flavors: chocolate, strawberry, etc.
One of the packages says “Men’s Pocky”. The ingredients seem to be pretty much the same, but the packaging seems to be more “mature”, as some of the other Pocky boxes have little cartoon shapes on it.
Can any of you Japanese Dopers explain this one to me? I’ve been eating quite a lot of them: Am I going to start sprouting facial hair and leaving the toilet seat up?
I’m not completely sure, but I believe that “Pocky for Men” has “dark chocolate” dip, which is less sweet than the milk chocolate and strawberry dips. I guess to the Japanese, a less-sweet flavor is equated with manliness. Or maybe it’s just another example of Japanese humor. Wakaranai yo!
Akash
Fluent in Japanese, Clueless in Japanese Culture
Yeah, I was in Japan last year and when I came back I told everyone how I bought “Pocari Sweat” from vending machines on the street, and bought “Creap” milk substitute, and no-one believed me until I found this site…
I notice you can usually spot some good Engrish in America too, on the chopstick packages at local Chinese restaurants:
“Please enjoy glonous Chinese history and cultual”
I love Pocky!
A chinese friend of mine’s mother sent some to her. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Now you tell me I can get it here in the states too? Calloo Callay!
My brother discovered those when he was working in Japan. They’re terrific, quite a switch from the oversweet and heavy confections that have turned us into a nation of fatasses. <sigh>
What about PublicBlast’s answer? When I was in Germany last summer, I discovered a popular brand of chocolate (sorry, I can’t remember which) that identified it’s dark chocolate as “Gentleman’s chocolate.” Same idea–less sweet=more mature/manly.
Mmm, Pocari Sweat, I practically drank 2 bottles of that a day when I was over in Japan for the World Marching Band Championships. I’d give anything to have some more of that stuff. Remember pop-rocks? Well, when we were in Japan, a friend of mine found pop-rocks, but they were fricken huge. Like the size of jawbreakers. Good fun.
That would be Collon chocolates (another good candy name). They’re about the same size and shape and Combo pretzel snacks (i.e., kinda like large nipples), and the TV ad for them had two schoolgirls in uniforms holding them against their chests as they were comparing breast size with other girls in their class.
