Yaokin Dagashiya-san no Curry Snacks

Dagashiya-san no curry means the curry from the sweet shop, and the name is the product’s whole argument.

A dagashiya is the small neighbourhood shop where Japanese children spend their pocket money, and Yaokin — the company behind Umaibo, the single most recognisable item in that world — has named this one after the place rather than after a flavour.

The implication is nostalgia: this is what curry tastes like when it comes from a counter you reached up to as a child.

Curry as a snack flavour needs explaining outside Japan.

Japanese curry arrived by way of the British navy in the Meiji era, got rebuilt around a roux, and settled into something thick, mild and faintly sweet — a national comfort food rather than a foreign dish.

Because it became domestic, it also became a snack seasoning, and curry crisps, curry rice crackers and curry bread are unremarkable supermarket items here.

Yaokin has operated in this category since 1979 and is effectively the defining name in Japanese dagashi; the snack itself is made for them by Nakamura Seika.

The texture is a light, dry saku-saku crispness, and Yaokin’s own framing is that once you start you do not stop.

About this item
Item Name : Dagashiya-san no Curry
Brand : Yaokin
Manufacturer: Nakamura Seika
Item Form : Snacks
Allergens: Wheat, milk, beef, soybean, gelatin
Number of Items : 50g (Pack of 1)