You know those people in America who love Japanese cartoons and comics? Well another requirement of being a Japanophile is that you have to eat Pocky. Pocky is essentially a crispy cookie that is dipped in chocolate, with it's uniqueness being that it's in stick form.
It's ok, but it's nothing special. However somehow this became the treat-du-jour for American "otaku" (japanese word for people who like comics and cartoons and have little social skills). In states you could usually only get it in comic book stores and the price was severely inflated. Regardless they would still sell out quickly, with customers coming in and buying crates full of it as soon as it arrived. One comic book shop owner even told me that Pocky basically kept his business afloat.
Granted this was all over ten years ago, so I have no idea what it's like now. Perhaps the fad has died down, or perhaps the snack can be found everywhere in america. However coming to Taiwan i was quite surprised to see just how ubiquitous Pocky is. You can get it in any super market or convenience store.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was to find out that there is more than one company making this food. The variety of brands and flavors was quite jarring.
Almost as surprising was seeing people not loose their mind when they saw it on the shelf. My first time seeing it in a store, I stepped back to prepare for the hoard of people who would no doubt be rushing in at any moment to fight in the aisle for the food. I was quite perplexed when this didn't happen. Here it's just another snack, and not a particularly popular one at that.
Yeah good find. It's funny how when I first came to Taiwan I was constantly surprised by all the places Hello Kitty would turn up. Now it's a shock if I see something without Hello Kitty on it. For example, I could have sworn that Hello Kitty was also on the normal Pocky box as well.
August 26th, 2013
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