Japanese Candy of the Night: "Pompompurin" (Lips Candy)

[thistlechaser]

Continuing the "cute as heck and hopefully safe" trend, tonight we have Pompompurin! I'm not sure why I think this, but I almost believe that Pompompurin is the name of the dog character on the front and not the name of this product. 'Lips Candy' is written in English on the side of the container. (Oh, and I didn't crop that photo closer to show off my keyboard in the background. Look at my shift key! I wore an actual hole in it. There's only a broken off "flap" of plastic in place.)

This product comes in a little metal tin, with the cute as heck dog (wearing a hat!) on the outside. No matter how the candy inside tastes, this container is a keeper.

Unlike the other candy we've had lately, this one not only has the name in English, it has one of those "nutritional information" stickers on it. There are no ingredients listed, but let's see how healthy these are!

Vitamin A: 0%
Vitamin C: 0%
Calcium: 0%
Iron: 0%

However, on the other hand, all these bad things are listed at 0% as well: Fat, saturated fat, sodium. So what's in it? Sugar: 24 g. These candies are tiny (estimating smaller than my pinky fingernail) and they have 120 calories in each of them. I'm not really sure how that's possible, even if they were pure sugar.

Bah, speaking of sugar! These darned things make a *mess* on my desk every time I open them. They're covered in (what I hope is) powdered sugar, and it just falls all over the place when you open the can.

So, despite my worry at sandy white stuff (won't be salt, right? Promise me that! Promise me!), it's time to try them! Attempting the powder first, to make sure it's not salt. Hm. Not salt. It's not powdered sugar either. Sort of a waxy baby powder.

Got one in my mouth now. Under the white stuff is a hard candy. Oddly (very, very oddly) it warms up fast. Feels warmer than my mouth. Wow, freakily strange...

That baby powder/waxy flavor is still there, with a tiny under-taste of citrus. If not for that odd heat they seem to produce, these would be okay. Too flavorless to be "good", but boring enough not to be bad. (Hey, when you chew them they're a lot better. Almost like Life Savers, but in lemon.)

So their score? They gain points for non-deadliness, and more for a cute package. Let's give them a 9/10! A half-point lost for the messy powder, and a half-point just because.

Yay not dead Thistle!

(While rereading this to edit I realized that I should have known the white powder wasn't salt, since it has sodium listed at 0%. Silly me!)

Comments

[malecrit.livejournal.com]

Purin is indeed the name of that dog on the lid of the tin. He's a Sanrio character. In Japan he might be Pompompurin, too. The English Sanrio website claims he's just "Purin," but there are discrepancies between the English and the Japanese names (like "Badtz Maru" in the U.S. and "Bad Badtz Maru" in Japan). Actually, "Pompompurin" would make sense, because it's similar to "Kerokerokeroppi," which I *think* is the frog character's name in Japan, even though he's just "Keroppi" over here.

I'm guessing the reason for the English and nutrition information on the container is because it's a Sanrio product, too. The reason for the "lips candy" thing completely escapes me, though. (Have you ever been to engrish.com (http://www.engrish.com)? It's a joy to behold.)

...And I'd just like to excuse my Sanrio knowledge by mentioning that I lived in Japan when I was about thirteen. *hides collection of Sanrio, Winnie the Pooh, and Sesame Street-themed mechanical pencils and stationery*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

While I don't tend to buy much, I love Sanrio stuff. So cute!

And it's been a while since I visited engrish.com, I should wander back there again!

I did a search on 'Pompompurin' after I made this post. They listed the names as Purin as well:

purin is a good-natured golden retriever who dreams of growing up and becoming a big dog -just like his mommy and daddy!

http://members.fortunecity.com/yoyi/MellowYellow/purin.html

[metron-ariston.livejournal.com]

Favorite foods... milk and pudding... Purin = what the Japanese call pudding... He's a dog made of pudding and he EATS HIMSELF.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

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Japanese people scare me so much.

:)