Taro's Japan Tour Adventures: Rice Ball Drink

An even more portable Rice Ball

Over the last few months, I've been pretty lucky to find high-quality green tea, almost sea urchin cup noodles, and even Kansai-exclusive Takoyaki-flavored Pringles. However, of all the random, weird, awesome, unique, and most importantly delicious things I've found, I'm about to share a snack that I almost wish I didn't buy.

The latests from Yoko Daily Foods, the Drinkable Rice Ball is the newest way to get your onigiri-goodness while on the go. Coming in two Ume (plum) flavors, there's the Ume Katuso (plum with bonito flakes) and the Ume Kombu (plum with kelp) offerings. Each is only 160 Yen for one or 960 Yen for a pack of six (cause if you're going to buy this, might as well buy in bulk right?)

While I usually go on about how great these products I find are, this wasn't the case for the Drinkable Rice Balls. I'm not sure what it was but from the first whiff of the mix, I was a no go. A few of my coworkers and tour guides tried it and commented how the flavor was solid and similar to eating an actual onigiri. One coworker likened it to okayu or Japanese porridge.

Despite the universal agreement in the office that the rice balls were not bad, no one wanted to finish the pouches we opened. While no one said it was bad, it's just not something any of us wanted to eat at the moment. To be fair, the office did just finish lunch so most of us were feeling the food coma come in. I'm sure if we were all hungrier, we would've finished both without trouble.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite product review but it definitely is something I know we won't see stateside anytime soon. Maybe a drinkable hamburger, but until then, I'll hopefully find something even better after my next Japan tour to share with you all!