Japanese Candy and Gum: A Guide to Types

The first time you open a bag of Japanese candy, the wrappers can be a little puzzling. A pack with a grape on it might hold a hard drop, a soft chew, a bouncy gummy, or a piece of gum. The fruit tells you the flavor. But will the candy dissolve slowly, stretch as you chew, or give you a springy bite?

Japanese candy and gum come in a range of textures, and the package often gives you clues about what to expect. Start with the feeling you want, whether that's something to melt slowly, something to chew, or something that crumbles on your tongue. Then use the real products below to picture what's inside and how to eat it.

Hard Candy and Ramune

Hard candy is the slow one. Kanro Ame, made by Kanro, shows how it usually looks: each piece comes in its own small wrapper, and inside is a firm, smooth candy that doesn't give at all when you press it. Kanro describes the flavor as sweet with a light saltiness, and soy sauce is listed among the ingredients.

You put a piece in your mouth and let it dissolve, moving it around now and then. It shrinks little by little and stays hard almost to the end. Some people crunch the last small bit, but hard candy is made for taking your time.

The word 飴 (ame) is used for many kinds of candy, so check the product name and description for clues such as ハードキャンディ (hard candy) or ドロップ (drop).

Ramune candy sits in a different spot. It's a pressed tablet rather than a cooked, hardened candy, so it looks dry rather than glassy. Morinaga Ramune is the one many people picture: small round tablets in a plastic container shaped like a ramune soda bottle.

Morinaga describes its Ramune as small tablets that dissolve quickly in the mouth, with a refreshing, fizzy sensation. That makes it a good fit when you want something small that doesn't take long to finish. How fizzy a ramune candy feels varies by product (Morinaga also sells a "strong soda" version, for instance), and flavors range from lemon to grape and beyond.

Three Kinds of Chewy

Chewy candies come in several textures. Hi-Chew, Bontan Ame, and gummies show just how differently a chewy sweet can feel.

Soft Candy: The Hi-Chew Example

Hi-Chew from Morinaga is a typical Japanese soft candy. In the 12-piece stick packs, each piece is individually wrapped. Morinaga describes Hi-Chew as soft on the first bite, then satisfyingly chewy.

You start chewing right away instead of waiting for it to melt. The piece flattens and stretches a little, softens as it warms, and slowly disappears as you eat it. It may feel a little sticky as you chew.

Morinaga calls Hi-Chew a soft candy (ソフトキャンディ) in its product descriptions. One brand can still go in different directions, though. Some Hi-Chew editions add crunchy bits, so it's worth reading the description on a new flavor.

Bontan Ame and Its Clear Film

Bontan Ame, made by Seika Foods in Kagoshima, shows a different kind of chewy. Its product description calls it soft and mochi-mochi with some springiness, and the ingredients include glutinous rice, starch syrup, and juice from bontan, a citrus fruit. Mochi-mochi is the Japanese word for that soft, slightly sticky, springy chew. Despite that chewy texture, Bontan Ame is a candy, not a rice cake: small pieces with no filling, eaten one at a time.

The part that puzzles many first-timers is the clear film on each piece. That film is oblaat, a thin edible sheet made from starch, and you'll see it in the ingredient list as オブラート. It looks a bit like plastic when dry, but it softens and dissolves once it's in your mouth. Seika has explained that it uses oblaat because the sticky candy would cling to an ordinary paper wrapper.

So with Bontan Ame, the only thing you remove is the outer packaging. Open the box, take a piece, and pop it in, edible oblaat and all.

Gummies: Chewy With a Bounce

Many gummies have an elastic chew. Press one and it tends to spring back toward its shape. Bite it and you feel it push back before it gives way. A soft candy like Hi-Chew is more likely to flatten and stretch as you chew.

How much bounce you get depends a lot on the product. Kanro's Candemina Gummy is sold as a hard gummy with strong elasticity. UHA Mikakuto's Kororo is quite different: each round, grape-like piece has a thin collagen layer that pops when you bite, with a soft, juicy gummy inside. Both are gummies, so neither one speaks for the whole category.

To spot a gummy, look for グミ (gumi) on the package, often right in the product name, as with Candemina Gummy. Some packs also print "gummy" in English. Like soft candy, gummies are chewed and swallowed, with nothing left to take out.

Gum or Soft Candy? How to Tell

This is the mix-up that matters most, because gum and soft candy end differently. Both can be soft, fruity, and small. One version of Marukawa's Marble Gum comes as four little round pieces in a small box, with a colorful outside that could pass for candy at a glance. Lotte's Xylitol Gum comes in small, coated pellets. And on the first bite, gum can feel soft and release a burst of flavor, much like a chewy candy.

The difference shows up as you keep chewing. A soft candy gets smaller and eventually disappears. Gum is made with gum base, a chewy material that doesn't dissolve, so after the flavor fades you're still left with a soft, rubbery piece. That piece isn't meant to be swallowed. When you're done, take it out, wrap it in paper, and throw it in the trash. Some gum packs in Japan include small paper slips for this, and a scrap of the wrapper works too.

Since gum and soft candy can come in similar shapes and flavors, check the product name and type on the package. Two places do most of the work:

Front of the pack: Look for ガム, フーセンガム, or the English words "gum" and "chewing gum."

Back label: Check the 名称 (product type) line for チューインガム. The ingredient list also includes ガムベース (gum base).

When the name or product type says gum, plan to chew it and take it out rather than finish it.

Choosing From the Package

Once you know the feeling you're after, the pack can tell you a lot. Start with the product name, since it often names the type outright: グミ, ラムネ, ガム. Then glance at the short description for clues to the type or texture, such as ソフトキャンディ, ハード, or ドロップ. If you're still not sure, check the product type on the back label.

Say you pick up a bag with a peach on the front. In the product name you spot グミ, and right beside it, ハード. Before the bag is even open, you can start to picture the firm, springy chew inside. Then comes the fun part: tearing it open and taking the first bite.

You might reach for a soft chew today and a crumbly ramune tomorrow. Try a few different types and see which texture makes you reach for another piece.