10 Costco Japan Foods We Wish We Had In The US

Japan has a talent for making familiar foods feel completely new, and Costco Japan is one of the best places to see that creativity in action. There, ramen becomes a crunchy snack, burdock root becomes a savory chip, and a simple pancake becomes a chestnut-filled sweet. The packaging might feel familiar, but the content is delightfully surprising.

There is something strange about walking into a store you know well, one you have visited many times in many different locations, and being greeted with completely fresh, original products you have never seen before. These 10 Costco Japan foods include unique snacks, fascinating flavor combinations, specialty ramen, and desserts that many American shoppers would love to see in U.S. warehouses. For more Costco discoveries, explore Chowhound's guides to Asian-inspired snacks from Costco, traditional Japanese desserts, and regional Costco finds.

Baby-Star might look like your regular packet of instant ramen waiting to be boiled, but it's actually a crunchy, pre-seasoned noodle snack meant to be eaten straight from the bag. Costco Japan sells the Chicken flavor in a 54-pack of individual 21-gram bags, making it especially well suited to lunch boxes, road trips, desk drawers, or anyone who enjoys a salty snack with plenty of crunch.

The chicken flavor makes this snack instantly familiar and reminiscent of a classic bowl of ramen, but the eating experience itself is closer to biting into a chip or a cracker. And the best part? No cooking is needed.

Baby-Star has been sold in Japan for decades and is a well-known crispy noodle snack in the country. That history is part of the appeal for American shoppers who have discovered the product through Asian grocery stores and travel. Sitting at the sweet spot between ramen and chips, this snack could be a welcome addition to U.S. Costco warehouses.

Americans love potato chips, and they buy a lot of them, but UHA's Osatsu Dokki takes the format in a distinctly Japanese direction. Instead of regular potatoes, this snack is made by slicing sweet potatoes thinly and frying them until crisp, then adding salt and butter flavoring. The natural sweetness of the sweet potato combined with salt and creamy butter makes for a snack that is hard to put down.

Shoppers value the contrast between the crisp texture and the mellow butter seasoning. Instead of using the chip as a base for the seasoning, Osatsu Dokki uses the seasoning to enhance the sweet potato's natural flavor.

Costco Japan lists the chips in a 10-pack of 65-gram bags. The chips would appeal to people who like sweet and salty snacks, as well as anyone looking for a different take on the increasingly popular sweet potato chip category.

Otsumami describes finger foods, like nuts, dried seafood, cheese, and meats, that are eaten alongside alcoholic drinks, particularly beer, sake, or shochu. This Luxury Otsumami Assortment from Natori includes several savory items, including salami and cheese-wrapped cod roe. Cod roe is the eggs of cod or related fish, and in this product, it is combined with cheese for a salty, savory bite. The assortment also includes premium salami varieties from Natori's Gold Pack line, giving the box a mixture of textures and flavors.

Americans who already enjoy charcuterie, cheese boards, or party appetizers should feel right at home with otsumami. The Japanese presentation gives the familiar ingredients a different identity, while the small portions make the assortment ideal for an evening with friends or family. 

Brownie crisps sit between a brownie and a cookie. They have the chocolate flavor associated with a brownie, but they are baked into thin pieces with a crisp texture instead of a soft, fudgy center. Costco Japan sells individually wrapped Bruno Chocolate Brownie Crisps made with cocoa, cashews, and almonds, in addition to many coconut-based ingredients, including coconut flour, coconut oil, and coconut sugar.

This snack comes individually wrapped, making it ideal for lunch boxes, short coffee breaks, or quick, portable on-the-go snacking. The nuts also add a different texture to the chocolate base, giving the crisps more contrast than a plain chocolate cookie. They can be eaten right out of the package or crumbled over ice cream and other desserts.

Burdock is a long, slender root vegetable commonly used in Japanese cooking. In Japan, it is called gobo, and it appears in dishes such as stir-fries, stews, mixed rice, and tempura. Its flavor is earthy and lightly sweet, and it stays pleasantly crisp when cooked.

Gobochi, a snack made from burdock root that has been sliced, seasoned, and turned into crunchy chips, uses soy sauce and other savory seasonings, giving the root a deeper umami flavor, which is the savory taste associated with ingredients such as soy sauce, mushrooms, meat, and broths.

Gobochi can be eaten straight from the bag, but it can also be used as a topping on salads, rice bowls, soups, or noodle dishes. 

Anmitsu is a Japanese dessert built around contrast. It traditionally combines cubes of kanten, a firm jelly made from agar, with sweet red bean paste, fruit, mochi, and black sugar syrup. The jelly is lighter and firmer than gelatin, and the bean paste and syrup add sweetness and the mochi contributes a soft, chewy texture.

Tanuma anmitsu comes in six cups pack at Costco in Japan. The components are packed separately, so you can assemble each dessert shortly before eating. This keeps the jelly, syrup, beans, and mochi from blending too early and lets you control how much of each topping goes into the cup.

For American shoppers, anmitsu may look like a cross between a fruit dessert, a jelly cup, and a parfait, but it doesn't fit neatly into any one category.

A Japanese cream croquette, or kani cream korokke, is not the same as a potato croquette. Instead of mashed potato, it typically contains a thick white sauce mixed with crab, onion, or other savory ingredients. The filling becomes creamy and soft when heated, while the outside turns crisp after frying. 

Frozen red snow crab cream croquettes made with Hokkaido red snow crab, are sold uncooked and designed to be cooked at home and served hot and crisp rather than reheating an already fried item. The contrast between the crunchy coating and the rich crab filling is the main attraction.

Cream croquettes are part of yoshoku, a category of Japanese dishes influenced by Western cooking but adapted to Japanese tastes and ingredients. That background helps explain why the food can feel both familiar and unfamiliar. It resembles a European-style croquette, but the smooth béchamel-style filling, Japanese preparation, and seafood flavor give it a distinct identity. You can serve these cream croquettes with shredded cabbage, rice, or a dipping sauce, or include them in a bento-style meal.

Truffles are prized edible mushrooms known for their intense aroma and earthy flavor. Because even a small amount can make a dish taste more luxurious, truffle is often used in sauces, oils, soups, and other foods designed to deliver a concentrated savory flavor.

Pillbox's instant truffle cream soup comes in a 10-serving pack from Costco in Japan. This freeze-dried soup includes truffles, mushrooms, sautéed onions, cream, and butter flavors. To prepare it, add water to a serving and stir. You can eat it as a small soup, serve it with bread, or use it as a shortcut ingredient in dishes like risotto or a creamy pasta sauce. The product is appealing because it turns an ingredient often associated with expensive restaurant dishes into a pantry item that adds dramatic flavor to a weeknight meal or holiday spread.

Hakata-style ramen features thin, straight noodles and a rich tonkotsu broth, a pork-bone broth that is simmered until the bones release fat, collagen, and savory flavor. The resulting soup is creamy and full-bodied, even though it is not a dairy-based broth.

Ichiran's five-serving assortment features Hakata-style noodles, two tonkotsu soup flavors, and its signature spicy red seasoning. The noodles cook quickly, and changing the cooking time allows for the adjustment of the firmness. That detail matters in ramen culture, where noodle texture is often treated as a personal preference rather than a minor cooking variable.

The assortment reflects Ichiran's ramen-shop style. Toppings include sliced pork, scallions, egg, or seaweed.

Dorayaki is a Japanese confection made from two soft, pancake-like cakes wrapped around a filling, most commonly sweet red-bean paste called anko. The cakes are lightly sweet, while the bean paste provides a dense, smooth filling. The snack is portable and easy to eat, closer to a filled pancake sandwich than a Western layer cake. For dessert, Cotsco Japan sells individually portioned Imuraya dorayaki in chestnut flavor, combining sweet bean paste with roasted chestnut for a nutty twist on the classic confection.