Ginbis Tabekko Dobutsu Ramune Candy

Tabekko Dobutsu started in 1978 as a thin biscuit stamped into the shape of an animal, with that animal’s English name printed across it in capital letters.

The idea was deliberate: Ginbis built its whole philosophy around three words beginning with I — international, independent, instructive — and a biscuit that teaches a four-year-old the word ELEPHANT while they eat it satisfies all three at once.

Several generations of Japanese children learned their first English animal vocabulary from a Tabekko Dobutsu box, and the brand has since grown past the biscuit tin entirely into character goods, picture books and a 3DCG feature film.

This is Tabekko Dobutsu Ramune, launched as a limited item in December 2024 and made permanent after it sold.

The tablets are pressed into the same animal silhouettes as the biscuits — thirty shapes in this edition, including the face of Raion-kun, the lion who has become the brand’s unofficial mascot.

Ramune candy in Japan is built on glucose rather than cane sugar, and Ginbis runs this one at 93%, which produces the characteristic cold, quick-dissolving sweetness that has made the format popular with students and office workers looking for fast fuel.

The texture is firmer than most ramune, with a real bite to it before it gives way.

Ginbis also works in milk calcium and tea polyphenols, keeping the small nod to nutrition that the Tabekko Dobutsu line has always carried.

The soft blue-green tint comes from gardenia, a plant-derived colorant. Worth noting for anyone collecting the characters: which shapes you get is down to the bag.

Please note that this product contains milk.

About this item
Item Name : Tabekko Dobutsu Ramune
Brand : Ginbis
Item Form : Ramune Candy
Number of Items : 38g (Pack of 1)