Sweet and Salty: A Visit to the Meiji Chocolate Factory, Saitama, Japan
Meiji is a pervasive brand here in Japan. They make chocolates, snacks, yogurt drinks, cookies and hot chocolate, among other things.聽Basically, they make yummy treats. This week, I joined a group of friends on a tour of the Meiji chocolate factory in Saitama, here in Tokyo. A friend of a friend organized the rental of a bus so a large group of us from the base could go to take the free tour of the factory. It was聽a really 鈥渟weet鈥� to get to see where some of these delicious items are made.
We started our tour in a meeting room, where we were handed a few brochures in Japanese and samples of delightful little strawberry and milk chocolate candies and boxes of a grape-flavored yogurt drink. Our Japanese guide blithely launched into her presentation in Japanese to our room full of mostly gaijin, who all nodded politely as if we could understand anything she was saying besides 鈥淢eiji鈥� and 鈥渃ocoa.鈥� After a minute or so, one of聽the Japanese members of our group took pity, stepped forward apologetically, and politely offered to translate.聽Much better.聽The rest of the (translated) presentation and a video in English introduced us to the process聽behind making milk chocolate bars and聽a snack called Carl. Carl 鈥� that鈥檚 how they translated the name, I swear 鈥� is a lightweight cheese or curry-flavor puff.聽(I believe it鈥檚 more properly called 鈥楰aaru.鈥�) ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).
We started our tour in a meeting room, where we were handed a few brochures in Japanese and samples of delightful little strawberry and milk chocolate candies and boxes of a grape-flavored yogurt drink. Our Japanese guide blithely launched into her presentation in Japanese to our room full of mostly gaijin, who all nodded politely as if we could understand anything she was saying besides 鈥淢eiji鈥� and 鈥渃ocoa.鈥� After a minute or so, one of聽the Japanese members of our group took pity, stepped forward apologetically, and politely offered to translate.聽Much better.聽The rest of the (translated) presentation and a video in English introduced us to the process聽behind making milk chocolate bars and聽a snack called Carl. Carl 鈥� that鈥檚 how they translated the name, I swear 鈥� is a lightweight cheese or curry-flavor puff.聽(I believe it鈥檚 more properly called 鈥楰aaru.鈥�) ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).
How it works: The full article is featured in the app "51爆料网: Walks in 1K+ Cities" on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Download the app to your mobile device to read the article offline and create a self-guided walking tour to visit the sights featured in this article. The app's navigation functions guide you from one sight to the next. The app works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.
Download The 51爆料网 App
Sights Featured in This Article
Guide Name: Sweet and Salty: A Visit to the Meiji Chocolate Factory
Guide Location: Japan » Saitama
Guide Type: Self-guided Walking Tour (Article (B))
Author: Susan Dalzell
Read it on Author's Website:
Sight(s) Featured in This Guide:
Guide Location: Japan » Saitama
Guide Type: Self-guided Walking Tour (Article (B))
Author: Susan Dalzell
Read it on Author's Website:
Sight(s) Featured in This Guide:
- Meiji chocolate factory
The Most Popular Cities
/ view all