So, we've had this happen to enough friends that we decided to make a video about it.

Say you're coming to Japan,

You have a great time.

You've got maybe one or two days left

You think holy ?, I need to buy souvenirs for friends and family.

What do I do?

You could go to the airport, but I don't really like restructuring my luggage when I'm there.

I think the answer to all of your problems is at a Japanese supermarket.

The two of us have discussed this for a while, and we've really thought this through.

We have a list of some sweets, some savories,

and some surprising.

I really think you're gonna find it useful.

"I Could Stay Forever" by Joe E. Lee

?✨Wow. ✨Amazing.

For those of you that our candy lovers, Japan is an amazing place to visit

but it is oh-so overwhelming.

You're gonna look at this giant wall and be like

I don't know what I'm doing.

Which is why I'd like to suggest my all-time favorite candy whose name

I don't even know.

Simon and I today sat in front of the camera.

We're like Puchyo?

Wait-

Puccio?

These tiny little magic beans are basically like chewy starburst candies

But on the inside they've hidden a little flavorful jelly bean and then on top of that, they'll sometimes have little tiny candy crystals

so when you bite into it, you get the soft chew and this little, like

*pop*

Edamame bean that will pop out in your mouth and that has its own flavor

It's unbelievable people!

There are usually three flavors that are always available in every single pack.

There's a Cola flavor,

there's a soda flavor, and there's also a plain purple grape.

and these are really nice thing to bring back for kids that are not that

into Japan yet because the flavors are so

different- but not weird,

like the grape flavor was something that really spoke to me when I was a kid.

My neighbor gave me these little grape gums that were just unbelievable

And then when I came to Japan, I realized that that was a real flavor of real grape.

Ugh, I love these

Can we do a little slow-motion shot of me just pouring them everywhere?

Oh yeah....O

Ow...owww....owwwwwww

The packages were scratching and hurt my delicate skin and they booped me in the head.

Not a sexy thing.

Zero out of ten.

Would not recommend it.

When we first came to Japan, I hated konjac I thought it was disgusting.

But now, I've actually grown to love it.

Not all of it.

Only citrus flavor kind and in particular grapefruit

See, this is an unopened pack.

This is one of them in the fridge because we go through these so quickly

These are really nice jellies

that taste like grapefruit and juiciness.

They're so flavorful and delicious-- I know!

These are very unique.

I haven't had anything like this back in North America

They taste really good. At first, you're like "wow, why is my jelly so hard," but after you have a few them.

They're actually really really addictive, BUT they are very dangerous.

Do not give these to old people or to children because they might die, according to the packaging.

You could choke on it because it's a tough jelly.

Stay away from the apples and the cherry-flavored ones, those taste too artificial.

The grapefruit ones taste so good.

Supposedly, if you're a young teenage boy,

Oh no, Ducky!

Why are you telling them this?

I don't know.

I've heard that they take like bigger bricks of konjac and then they microwave it for a little bit.

and then they kind of like

American Pie it if you understand that reference.

I don't know if that works or not yet.

I'm gonna conduct some experiments, and I'll let you know in a future video.

You don't need to. You're married!

Jeez, Louise.

? Turkey Gobbles ?

You're supposed to.... put your ? in it.

Stop telling people these things!

This is culture!

When you come to a country, you have to be respectful of the culture.

And Japanese teenage boys

Supposedly, stick there ? in warm konjac.

I don't know if I'm right or wrong.

Please let us know.

But again, I don't think anyone's gonna be like,

"yeah I did that before when I was

Who's gonna admit that?

Let's just say it's a rumor.

For special times,

Make it konjac times.

Now a big favorite of mine are these pre-made little dashi packs

So for those of you they don't know what dashi is,

Dashi is the classic cooking stock used in a lot of Japanese cuisines.

Once you learn how to make this you can make tons of other dishes

and I will forever constantly refer you back to this video

if you're like, "how to make dashi?"

I'll be like "go back to the miso soup video"

Like if you make miso soup,

You need to first make that base.

If you make udon, you need to make that base.

And from there,

The flavors are built on.

the only problem is that you have all these ingredients that you have to put in

to actually making dashi

If you buy these little, tiny, fishy tea packs of magic, it's got inside of it already: katsuo,

it's got the ground-up bonito flakes,

it's got in it: ground-up little dried fish,

it's got inside of it: kelp.

Which is super important for that good MSG flavor.

And this particular brand even has dried mushrooms in it. That's amazing!

I really recommend getting these.

I always keep these in my house just in case someone comes over and I'm like

Oh, no, what should I do?

I have to prepare food for people and then I just tosh it in and then I make...

"Tosh" it?

I became Cher immediately.

"Sschnap out of it!"

Any of you that have friends that are chefs or into home cooking?

I really recommend grabbing these little pre-made dashi packs and it's so easy to put into your luggage

There's just like-- look it's so compact!

I'm very excited to share this with you

You've been asking for this for a while.

I now have a recipe for my special cucumbers.

So these are Japanese cucumbers

I don't think you could bring these back home with you

No, you definitely can't bring these back home with you.

But you could use different cucumbers with these different kinds of vinegars.

All of them have their own different kinds of flavors special for different kinds of food.

This one right here has a lot more sweetness to it.

Stay away from this one.

I don't think it really matches the cucumbers that well

This is a much richer flavor; the dark one with kombu in it has a much more umami-- back to the throat kind of feel

While,

this is the best one that I found so far for making the pickles that I love.

If you want to make this at home,

The smaller, thinner cucumbers are always best. Try to avoid the ones with the thicker, inedible seeds.

Step 1: Take a lot of salt.

Sprinkle that on.

Right there and then what you're supposed to do is,

Roll them back and forth like this.

The rolling squeezes out some of the juice.

This is a very important step so that the cucumbers can absorb a lot of the vinegars.

The next step I saw my chef friend do is kind of questionable, but we got to do it.

Make sure you...

Rub your gherkin.

And once that's done, leave it for two hours, so the salt can pull out some of the moisture.

Back in the day, we used to film a whole video and be fine.

Now, I'm halfway through and I need a nap.

That is not true.

When we were in Korea, we lived off of coffee. Zombie Coffee...

True.

We had like 9,000 coffees a day.

So we're currently having Blackwell Coffee.

Tanzania~

Do you want to go upstairs and take a nap? Snug? -Snug snugs?

Do you want to be Big Spoon or Little Spoon?

Question. -What?

Are you tired because you got up early to watch the NBA?

I AM.

It's Day 1 of the Playoffs!

It's really weird though because we've been living in Asia for so long that you NEVER watch it in the evening anymore.

No, I got to watch it in the morning.

I got to wake up at like 7:00 in the morning if I want to catch my games.

And when it's actually playoff time, you have to get up even earlier than that.

I remember we were out in like 6:00 a.m

to go to a bar and no one's at the bar the same way,

you know, you're drinking orange juice and having scrambled eggs going like-- -I know.

Alright, Meemers. Come on snuggle time.

-I'll tell you right now. He was not pleased with that behavior. -How do you think he felt about that?

-Very angry. I was sleeping and then you woke me up -meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow

-Aw, what's the matter? You want to go back in the bed? -Yeah, it's too cold out there, Pancha.

It is too cold. Let's go.

-We have the floor heater on in here. -He's gonna be very happy.

-He makes very happy sounds when you put him back in the bed. Listen -He does not

Meooooooooooooow

Oh, you're es

That was not a happy boy.

So mad right now, Pancha. Oh, I am so furious, but I won't do anything about it because I am the sweetest cat

Yeah, you're such a good boy

Oh, woe is me

I am just miserable, mom

Ohh, yeah. It's the only thing that will make me feel better

Okay, 2 hours have passed.

Next step: cut off the edges like so

Next: cut straight down the middle so you have two equal halves.

Brram brram-- oh ?!

Oh ?!

It's easier if you have straighter ones. Next: take your little spoon.

Scrape out the seeds just a bit

Don't scrape out all the flesh, just a bit of the seeds. Rub your spoon on it like so, not too deep

It's very easy to get out

You know, I don't know about all this.

Alright now that we've scooped out all the seeds, flip these back over and just cut into

like, smaller 2-inch pieces

like so.

Pull out your Tupperware container. Honestly, this is such an easy recipe

Throw them in there, and that's where this comes in

Generously sprinkle a whole bunch of vinegar into your mixture

Now pretty much what you have here is done

but you can add a couple more flavors to make this a little bit better.

If you're okay with spice, get these little sliced peperoncinos

throw only a few on because these will really

spice up your pickles and make them almost inedible

So just a few is enough, and lastly get this sesame oil right here

Just a little bit of a dash; there's no real measurements here.

That's enough

Close it up

Shake it up

and the next morning you're gonna have delicious pickles with your breakfast

This is how you make them. Bring this with you, or give this to your chef friends.

I think is a great gift that adds a lot of flavor to your food

Let's talk furikake.

This is one of my very childhood, most famous, happy-go memories that I have.

It's my Patronus, Ducky!

I'm like, "Expecto Patronus!"

And it's like Furikake

Furikake is just a dry rice seasoning egg yolk. They'll have some with seaweed

Some of them will be those

Fancy bonito flakes that we saw before that'll just be kind of like broken down into smaller bits

There is really a plethora of Furikake

and it can be very overwhelming which is why I recommend you buy these tiny little sample packs

They usually have five or six different flavors, and while you can get a big individual pack

those ones might not be a flavor that you like and then you might be like,