In this article we will see some Japanese sweets and different ways of pronouncing sweets and treats in the Japanese language. We will also meet some popular Japanese snacks and sweets Dagashi, and a complete list of sweets in Japanese.
Famous Japanese sweets and their flavors
Everyone knows that Japan is full of sweets and snacks of countless different flavors and varieties. Several flavors and limited editions are created almost daily. Some sweets have been hugely successful, and have survived among these thousands of tasty inventions. In this article we will see the main sweets known in Japan.
Most of the Japanese snacks and sweets below fall into the category dagashi [駄菓子] which literally means cheap sweets that can be found in small candy stores or convenience stores.
- Wasabeef - わさビーフ - Potato with wasabi and meat flavor;
- Collon cream - A biscuit filled with cream, and with that strange name ..;
- Every Burger - Chocolate chip cookies that look like small hamburgers;
- Poifull - Fruit flavored jelly beans;
- Pucca - Cookies with a chocolate filling in the form of fish;
- Green Gum - The name says it all, green gum;
- Crunky Popjoy - Chocolate stuffed with crispy rice;
- Sweetie Gum - A sweet bullet ..;
- Chelsea - Classic hard candies;
- Kani Pan - Crab-shaped bread;
- Dars - square chocolate;
- Kinoko no Yama - Literally “mushroom mountain”, a chocolate covered cookie delight;
- Jagariko They are potatoes flavored with cheese and vegetables;
- Chokobi - Star-shaped chocolate from the anime Shin-chan;
- Hi Chew - Chewable candy with fruit flavor;
- Koalas March - Koala cookies with various fillings;
- Pinky - Small spicy candies;
- Baby Star Ramen Pasta-shaped snacks;
- Bisuko - Classic Japanese biscuit;
- Tohato Caramel Corn - Caramelized corn chips;
- Meiji Chocolate - A famous chocolate;
- Papico - A bottle-shaped ice cream that tastes like milk shake;
- Kitkat - Kit kat is successful in Japan. (See about kit kat flavors by clicking here.)
- Caplico - Soverte with fake cone;
- Tiroru - They are classic chocolate squares, have dozens of flavors and seasonal varieties;
- Milky - Flavored milk and caramel candies;
- Gari Gari Kun - A famous brand of ice cream with several different flavors;
- Umaibo - A different type of snack of various flavors;
- Ghana Chocolate - Popular brand of slightly dark chocolate;
- Choco Baby - Small candies made of chocolate;
- Apollo - Chocolate that mixes strawberry and milk with chocolate in the form of a space capsule;
- Choco Ball - Chocolate with crunchy, strawberry or peanut filling;
- Pocky - They are covered with chocolate. Very popular in Japan;
Did you like our short list of Japanese dagashi sweets?
Different ways to speak Sweets in Japan
In the Japanese language there are many words that have or refer to the same meaning in Portuguese and vice versa. Let's look at the different ways of saying “candy”In Japanese and also the name of some categories and sweets in general.
| Kanji | Kana | Romaji | Meaning / Notes |
| 甘い | あまい | Love | It means Sweet, and it can refer to the sweet taste. |
甜 | あま | Love | It also means sweet, but is no longer used, only in Chinese. |
| キャンディ | Kyandi | An Americanized version of candy written in katakana. | |
| 飴 | あめ | Love | Specifically it means candy, or candy like that. |
| 飴玉 | あめだま | Amedama | Sweets in general, specifically candies or round candies |
| お菓子 | おかし | Okashi | Sweets made in confectionery or confectionery / Or Confectionery and Confectionery |
| 乾菓子 | ひがし | Higashi | Dry sweets made in confectioneries |
| 有平糖 | アルヘイとう、ありへいとう | Aruheitō | Bonbons or candies made from sugar or caramel |
| 砂糖菓子 | さとうがし | Satō kashi | Confectionery or sugar products (or confectionery) |
| 金平糖 | こんぺいとう | Kompeitō | is a type of Japanese candy, candy or confectionery of Portuguese origin. |
| 糖菓 | とうか | Touka | Sweets, sweets / confectionery |
| 綿飴 | わたあめ | Wata love | Cotton Candy |
| 駄菓子 | だはし | Dagashi | Cheap Sweets |
| チョコレート | Chokorēto | Chocolate | |
| 飴細工 | あめざいく | Amezaiku | Handmade candy |
| グミ | Gumi | Gum | |
| 餅 | もち | Mochi | Sweet made of rice |
| 糖蜜 | とうみつ | Tōmitsu | Honeydew, Molasses |
| 和菓子 | わがし | Wagashi | Traditional Japanese confectionery / traditional sweets |
| ガム | Gamu | bubble gum | |
| ロリポップ | Roripoppu | Lollipop (origin of the English lollipop) |
List of sweets in Japanese
Now let's share a list of sweets in Japanese. They are very popular sweets abroad, in the West, United States and Japan. We will also leave the name of the sweets in English to help identify them.
We will learn the meaning, how to write and translate different sweets, cakes, chocolates, ice cream and others. The list doesn't have that many japanese traditional sweets, these are Western sweets, most often written in katakana.
| Portuguese | English | Japanese | Portuguese |
| sour (lozenges) | tart | タルト | taruto |
| sweet potato | sweet potato | スイートポテト | suītopoteto |
| baumkuchen | baumkuchen | バームクーヘン | bāmukūhen |
| bavaroa | bavaroa | ババロア | babaroa |
| cookie | shortcake | ショートケーキ | shōtokēki |
| Scone | muffin | マフィン | mafin |
| Scone | cupcake | カップケーキ | kappukēki |
| fruit cake | fruit cake | フルーツケーキ | furūtsukēki |
| pound cake | pound cake | パウンドケーキ | paundokēki |
| cheese cake | cheesecake | チーズケーキ | chīzukēki |
| Marble cake | marble cake | マーブルケーキ | māburukēki |
| cream pump | cream puff | シュークリーム | shūkurīmu |
| chocolate bonbon | bonbon chocolat | ボンボンショコラ | bonbonshokora |
| Brigadeiro | truffle | トリュフ | toryufu |
| chocolate shell | chocolate shell | シェルチョコレート | sheruchokorēto |
| chocolate green tea | green tea chocolate | 抹茶チョコレート | matcha chokorēto |
| whip | whip | ホイップ | hoippu |
| bitter chocolate | bitter chocolate | ビターチョコレート | bitāchokorēto |
| milk chocolate | milk chocolate | ミルクチョコレート | mirukuchokorēto |
| White chocolate | white chocolate | ホワイトチョコレート | howaitochokorēto |
| almond chocolate | almond chocolate | アーモンドチョコレート | āmondochokorēto |
| blueberry chocolate | blueberry chocolate | ブルーベリーチョコレート | burūberīchokorēto |
| sweet chocolate | sweet chocolate | スイートチョコレート | suītochokorēto |
| dark chocolate | dark chocolate | ダークチョコレート | dākuchokorēto |
| strawberry chocolate | strawberry chocolate | ストロベリーチョコレート | sutoroberīchokorēto |
| pistachio chocolate | pistachio chocolate | ピスタチオチョコレート | pisutachiochokorēto |
| black chocolate | black chocolate | ブラックチョコレート | burakkuchokorēto |
| churro | churro | チュロス | churosu |
| confetti | confetti | コンフェッティ | konfetti |
| chocolate cream | cream chocolate | クリームチョコレート | kurīmuchokorēto |
| creamy | creamy | クリーミー | kurīmī |
| crepe mill | mill crape | ミルクレープ | mirukurēpu |
| dragee | dragee | ドラジェ | pain |
| eclair | eclair | エクレア | ekurea |
| ganache | ganache | ガナッシュ | ganasshu |
| gateau au chocolat | gateau au chocolat | ガトーショコラ | gatōshokora |
| jelly | jelly | ゼリー | zerī |
| brown grace | brown grace | マロングラッセ | bump |
| orange | orangette | オランジェット | oranjetto |
| chocolate macaron | macaron chocolate | チョコレートマカロン | chokorētomakaron |
| Madeleine | Madeleine | マドレーヌ | madorēnu |
| melty | melty | メルティー | merutī |
| millefeuille | millefeuille | ミルフィーユ | mirufīyu |
| Mousse | Mousse | ムース | mūsu |
| chocolate mousse | chocolate mousse | チョコレートムース | chokorētomūsu |
| gateau opera | gateau opera | ガトーオペラ | gatōopera |
| Panna Cotta | Panna Cotta | パンナコッタ | pan'nakotta |
| Panna Cotta Chocolate | chocolate panna cotta | チョコレートパンナコッタ | chokorētopan'nakotta |
| pancake | pancake | パンケーキ | pankēki |
| chocolate parfait | chocolate parfait | チョコレートパフェ | chokorētopafe |
| praline | praline | プラリネ | purarine |
| pudding | pudding | プリン | purin |
| chocolate pudding | chocolate pudding | チョコレートプリン | chokorētopurin |
| cream pudding | custard pudding | カスタードプリン | kasutādopurin |
| burnt | brulee | ブリュレ | buryure |
| real | royal | ロイヤル | roiyaru |
| rich | rich | リッチ | ritchi |
| ricotta | ricotta | リコッタ | rikotta |
| cake roll | roll cake | ロールケーキ | rōrukēki |
| donuts | donuts | ドーナッツ | dōnattsu |
| sachertorte | sachertorte | ザッハトルテ | zahhatorute |
| ice cream | ice cream | アイスクリーム | aisukurīmu |
| chocolate ice cream | chocolate ice cream | チョコレートアイスクリーム | chokorētoaisukurīmu |
| souffle | souffle | スフレ | suffuse |
| Tapioca | Crepe | クレープ | kurēpu |
| tartathan | tartathan | タルトタタン | tarutotatan |
| pumpkin pie | pumpkin pie | パンプキンパイ | panpukinpai |
| caramel pie | caramel tart | キャラメルタルト | kyaramerutaruto |
| chocolate pie | chocolate tart | チョコレートタルト | chokorētotaruto |
| raspberry tart | raspberry pie | ラズベリーパイ | razuberīpai |
| fruits pie | fruit tart | フルーツタルト | furūtsutaruto |
| Apple pie | apple pie | アップルパイ | appurupai |
| lemon meringue pie | lemon meringue pie | レモンメレンゲパイ | remonmerengepai |
| Waffle | Waffle | ワッフル | waffuru |
Kanji used in Japanese sweets
There are thousands of sweets in Japanese, so you can't mention them all. Most of them use certain kanji to form the word, ideograms that sometimes separately have no use or mean something different. Let's see a list of them:
| Kanji | Chinese reading “ON” | Japanese reading “KUN” | Meanings |
菓 | カ | Sweets, cakes and fruits, caramels | |
餦 | チョウ | あめ、 もち | Sweets, confectionery |
| 餹 | トウ | あめ | sugar, sweetened, sweets, candied candies |
飴 | イ、 シ | あめ、 やしな.う | Sweets, rice pudding, jellies, candies |
甜 | テン | うま.い、 あま.い | Candy |
| 甘 | カン | あま.い、 あま.える、 あま.やかす、 うま.い | Sweet, sugary, persuade, pamper, be content |
It is worth remembering that sometimes kanji and sweet words like [甘] are used to represent feelings, actions, personalities as well as the term “sweet in Portuguese”.
Where to buy Japanese Sweets?
There are many Asian goods stores where you can buy ordinary Japanese sweets like pocky and pepero. I personally recommend those boxes of random sweets that are sent monthly to subscribers, shipping is free to Brazil and the cost benefit is higher.
I recommend Japan Candy Box that can be accessed by clicking here!
Finally, see a display of Japanese sweets that you can buy in Brazil (on the websites you can find more Japanese sweets):
Main Stores in Brazil
Well, this was a short article, with the main purpose of saying the different forms and categories of Japanese sweets to increase your vocabulary.
I hope you enjoyed this list of Japanese sweets! If you want to see others japanese food, or traditional Japanese sweets like wagashi, just browse the cuisine categories on the Suki Desu website.
Learn how to make Traditional Japanese Wagashi Sweets
Before we close the article I would like to recommend Japanese Traditional Confectionery Wagashi course. Below we will leave an interview of Jornal da Tarde about the author of the course Cesar Yukio and his beautiful and delicious recipes:
If you want to make delicious Western sweets, Cesar also has the Yogashi Confectionery Course.
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