News on Chips and Snacks from Japan

Japanese snack food manufacturer KOIKE-YA has created one-of-a-kind packaging that lets you suck up potato chips without touching one.

Ever wished you could get a little less flavor on your chip? Wish no more; now you can experience them (in Japan!) as nature intended, lightly fried in oil.

Potato growers in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan's second-largest potato-producing region hope to boost their name recognition as a potato producer with a new variety, "Nagasaki Kogane" (Nagasaki Gold), which it filed for registration in 2015.

Japanese snack maker Calbee is increasing the amount of the crop it grows in rice fields. Paddy-field potatoes are mainly grown in Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, but Calbee also plans to start cultivating them in the northern regions of Hokkaido and Tohoku.

Japan's potato supply is rebounding -- with wholesale and retail prices falling -- thanks to solid shipments from secondary producing regions starting in the spring.

Calbee, Inc. the largest potato chip manufacturer in Japan, had some good news for Potato Chip Lovers in the country: it will resume sales of three brands of potato chips it suspended in April because of the potato shortage.

Japan's potato chip shortage is rapidly developing into a crisis, with consumers rushing to stock up on what little is left in supermarkets and manufacturers struggling to find fresh supplies.

La escasez, que ha disparado su precio y vaciado los estantes de los supermercados, ha puesto de manifiesto, además, el férreo proteccionismo que el país asiático ejerce sobre sus productos agrícolas.

Japan’s potato chip lovers, beware: Your favourite snacks may become harder to find. The country’s worst potato harvest in at least 34 years has prompted major snack makers to halt production of several types of snacks.

For a limited time, the Lawson convenience-store chain in Japan is stocking potato chips flavored with blue cheese from Hanabatake Bokujo, a well-known dairy producer from the far north of Japan.

Snack food company Calbee is playing with fire by expecting people to swallow their new concept potato chips: 'Wet Potato, Moist Mild Soy Sauce Flavor.'

In Japan, you can now buy coriander-and-pork-flavored potato chips.

Japanese snack food maker Koikeya extends its line of 'breakfast' potato chips - yes, you are supposed to eat them as breakfast in the morning - with two new flavors: 'Toast' and 'Milk'

Japanese snack maker Calbee has recently released two new potato chip flavors (in Japan), and it looks like they could add quite a bit of zest to your snack life.

It is still winter in Japan, but snack makers are already coming out with a taste of Spring: Sakura (Cherry-Blossom) - Butter

Every month, Japan seems to get a new odd-flavored snack or candy. You might think that’s peculiar, but just know that many Japanese people do, too.

After several years of negotiations, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) has agreed to allow US chipping potatoes to be transported overland from an international port to an approved processing facility in Kagoshima.

Potato Chips manufacturer Calbee will launch later this month in Japan a new flavor potato chips developed in cooperation with Restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).