Chocolate bars in Japan
 

I recently asked a group of foreign volunteers in Tohoku if they wanted me to bring them anything and the Americans begged for Reece's Pieces and Peanut Butter Cups!

I take it that they're not sold over there? (I guess it's no major surprise since the Japanese don't seem to be into peanut butter like us N.Americans.)

How about Mars bars? Snickers? Twix?

(I wish it were as easy finding gifts for the native Japanese. Haha!)

You can get anything if you know where to go. Snickers bars are everywhere. Mars - less as they are too sweet. Whatever you cannot get in normal stores, you get in Costco or international food stores.

Nope - You CANNOT get Reese's Peanut Butter Cups here.
Seriously. I have hunted for them all over, and the ONLY option for buying them was a place on Rakuten that was selling a single pack for 800+ yen. I am sure if you scour every tiny little specialty shop you could find them somewhere, but I have yet to.

They are one of the very very few chocolate type snacks that has neither a Japanese version nor an importer. They are not even in the order books for wholesale importers. Costco doesn`t even carry them.

Costco does occasionally have individual serving Reese's Pieces included in their big box-o-snacks.

...
If you can`t tell, I really really like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...

And I haven`t had one in 6 years, since I was in the US last for a visit. And I have been hunting for them ever since. One of the very few US chocolates that is not sickeningly sweet...

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Also - another foodstuff that you simply cannot find in Japan; Eggnog or Eggnog mix (the liquid stuff you mix with milk). I have been hunting for a week for some... (I refuse to order from FBC, they overcharged me, then said I never paid them and charged my credit card repeatedly until I changed the number.)

Well, I'll be in Nagoya in about 3 months or so.... If you want some, I can bring them over and we can quickly meet at the JR Station or something....:) Then again, are you in Nagoya or Nagano?.... y'know, they all sound alike!:mtongue: (joke continued from the earthquake-leaving thread)

Ever try FBC of Kobe? You need to wait a month but FBC can get you stuff from the U.S. for what I consider very reasonable prices.

Chocolate : FBC, The Foreign Buyers' Club

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. :)

It seems you missed this :) ;

(I refuse to order from FBC, they overcharged me, then said I never paid them and charged my credit card repeatedly until I changed the number.)

I had a really awful experience with them. I ordered a small package - they took an eternity to send it out, despite saying it was in stock and "notifying" me that they had sent it. I received the package with the sent date weeks after they said it was sent...
I promptly paid with the form they included.
A few weeks later, they said they never received my payment. I sent them documentation of the payment (thankfully I save my receipts). They said they could not accept copies and needed the original - so I (stupidly) sent it. Like magic, they never received it, and demanded I pay again and with extra fees or they would be contacting the police. So I paid, again, because paying 3000 something yen was less a hassle than messing with anything potentially involving the law.

I had ordered from them once before, *years* prior. Somehow, they bring up my credit card information - which they clearly state is NOT saved, and that they will NOT keep on record - from the record they DID keep... And charge me again, saying they couldn`t find my SECOND payment. And then charged me AGAIN. And then AGAIN.
I changed my card number, and swore to NEVER EVER buy anything from them again, and to strongly discourage anyone else from ever doing so.

Keep it in mind. My tickets are already purchased, so I can't back out of it now. As time draws nearer, we can iron out the details.:)

Really? :confused: Wow, that is just the opposite of what my own experience with the company has been like. I actually find FBC to be one of the friendliest and most honest retail businesses I've ever used in the country where the average business already offers a pretty good service. (And you know I have used many.) FBC has promptly responded to every little (sometimes even quite selfish) request I make regarding delivery and refunds when items arrived in less than perfect condition.

Dunno, maybe it's my Godfather's voice on the phone...

I have talked to a number of people about their service, and it seems split between wonderful, bending over backward to please... And absolutely horrible. When I posted about my experience elsewhere, I had more than ten other people contact me and say they had experienced something similar. Some of them were saying that FBC threatened to have the police contact their place of employment and have their visa revoked when they refused to pay for things that had never arrived or refused to pay again for things that they had already paid for.

They didn`t do that to me, but they did want to know my husband`s work details (no way I was giving them that for no good reason) - so they may have planned to head in that direction.

There is very little that could convince me to trust them with any of my contact information, let alone credit card or bank info. It was really shocking to see that they had kept my "single use, no chance of being misused" credit card number on file and used it to charge me without permission - which they acknowledged doing.
I asked for them to refund the multiple charges, and they pulled the "we will be happy to refund when you have legal backing" sort of thing... Spending money on a lawyer and all that would be more than I would get back so I never pursued it.

Thanks for the responses!

Reese's it is! Unfortunately, I just missed the halloween clearout but I'll drop by Costco and grab some family sized packs. The cups are susceptible to being crushed so perhaps I'll bring the Mini's... Hmm...



I'll stuff my huge bags with cups. I just hope the customs officer won't think that I'm a Cup smuggler.