WTF? Bizarre Japanese Food & Drinks

We like to think of ourselves as food adventurers, but some strange Japanese food and drink proves that we’re not as open minded as we thought. Check out 12 bizarre Japanese food & drinks… most of which we’re shamed to admit that we’re afraid to try.

Wasabi Beer

A nice cold beer sounds great after a hard day, but wasabi beer sounds less than refreshing.

Basil Seed Drink

Generally in the US we like drinks that are refreshing and sweet and don’t look like they’re swarming with tadpoles, but that’s just us.

Canned Bread

If you thought sliced bread was convenient then get a load of canned bread, available in vending machines across Japan.

Colon Snacks

Possibly to go with your BM coffee, Colon snacks are unfortunately named, but very tasty snacks.

Cubic Watermelons

Square Watermelons were created to save space and become so popular that they cost around 10000 YEN for one (that’s around $100).

Natto

A favorite in Japan, but not very popular among foreigners, natto looks like a pile of snot. It’s not much more appealing once you find out what it actually is… fermented soy beans.

Octopus Ice Cream

If you thought Japanese red bean ice cream was weird then you should try Octopus ice cream.

Okonomiyaki (Japesene Pancakes)

Okonomiyaki, known as Japanese pancakes or as Japanese pizza isn’t really much like either. Made with batter (hence the pancake reference) and covered with toppings (which may have inspired the pizza connection) Okonomiyaki is usually topped with ingredients like cabbage, vegetables, mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce which tastes sort of like Worcestershire. But really, they can have anything you want since the name literally means “what you want”.

Placenta 10000 Jelly Drink

Jelly drinks are strange enough to Americans, but Placenta 10000 isn’t just unfortunately named… it contains actual pig placenta. Apparently it’s healthy and tastes like peaches.

Tamagogani – Dried Crabs

In Japan rather than crunching on potato chips, people crunch on dried hermit crabs called Tamagogani which roughly translates to “egg crab” or “baby crab”.