June 2017: Amanda Richards from Texas

1. How do you feel about being selected as our Bokksu Member Spotlight?

Tickled! :)

2. What do you find most exciting about Japanese snacks?

The sheer variety of flavors, textures, and types of snacks. There’s always something for every mood, occasion, or craving.

3. What made you fall in love with Japanese snacks?

My mother was a high school Japanese teacher. Each summer she would go to Japan for 6 weeks with her students and she would always bring home boxes of treats for me.

4. What was your favorite snack and/or favorite theme in our past boxes?

I love anything with mochi or bean filling.

5. On average, how long does your Bokksu last before you finish the whole box?

I’m lucky if I can make it 3-4 days!

6. What Japanese snack would you like to see in a future Bokksu?

Though I hear it’s nearly impossible to get outside of Japan my answer will always be Unagi Pie: “A snack for nights.” Made in Hamamatsu, they’re sweet flakey butter cookies with tiny amounts of unagi and garlic powder mixed in, and my mother would bring me boxes and boxes of them.

7. What is a future theme you would like to see Bokksu do?

Maybe a time-lapse theme: each snack could have a story about how/when it became popular in Japan, ranging from very traditional snacks that have been around for ages, to really recent additions.

8. How would you describe the feeling you get when you’re about to open your Bokksu?

Excited! I often take some “me-time” and enjoy my treats while reading or taking a bath so that I can really concentrate on them.

9. Where in Japan would you like to visit one day? Why?

I would love to explore the natural beauty of rural Japan. Hiking through bamboo forests, enjoying simple but good food and maybe relaxing in a hot spring sounds like an ideal getaway.

10. What is one Japanese food you just can’t get enough of (doesn’t have to be a Bokksu snack)?

I love okonomiyaki and anything with unagi!