When did Pocky become associated with anime fans?

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mbanu
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 3:26 am
Anime Fan Since: 2001

Re: When did Pocky become associated with anime fans?

Post by mbanu »

A bit of Wayback Machine browsing was educational:
"Where in the world can i find pocky ??"
(...i hear you ask...)


• Japan:
- you certainly can't go past japan when it comes to this one. being the inventors and no doubt major consumers of the item, they have pretty much a stranglehold on the action. not only do they have more varieties than you can shake the proverbial stick at, they also have 'em ready at hand. no matter where you are in tokyo, you can bet there's a pack of pocky's within about a 10 meter radius. outside tokyo, as the number of convenience store dwindles off to only one every square km or so, you will naturally find less pockies. but don't fear if you're a pocky fan living out in sendai - there are also advantages that not all city people are even aware of.... glico likes to test out its new flavours on the countryfolk (this is to waylay the enormous cost of providing every store in tokyo with the new product) - so not only do you get it first, sometimes you're the only ones in the world who get it (i.e., when the new flavour doesn't quite take off). i have this info from a reliable source (Pocky Page's Tokyo Correspondent), who pointed out that occasional mad tokyo pocky fans will take trips out to the country just for the sake of a new variety of pocky.

• Vancouver:
- vancouver is blessed with several pocky outlets, including a central glico store located on cambie street (around 14th i believe). why there is such a huge store devoted only to glico i'm not entirely sure - just one of those pocky mysteries. (i am actually sure about this now, after my accomplice managed to get a job there to further our pocky investigations... the chap who runs this Glico nerve-center was a good buddy of ezaki-san and just decided he'd take off to canada and start spreading the word... and he's certainly doing a wonderful job] pocky is officially distributed in canada, and it is from this location. even when you buy a pack of pockies in tokyo, you can look on the back and it mentions the canadian version (pretty much identical, though i maintain not quite as tasty - possibly a tiny bit less fresh), along with thai and european releases. the u.s. does not get a mention. i would encourage american pocky supporters to look into this.

Pocky is also available in many other vancouver outlets. my favourite (coz it has a big pocky sign out the front) is one downtown just off granville. recently (since i wrote that last line) another store down on robson (actually a karaoke-box place) has outdone the competititon and is now i think the foremost outlet in terms of variety and shelf-space and so on. being blessed with the distribution point right in town, the range of pockies available in vancouver is excellent - i suspect second only to japan.

• Thailand:
- big fans of several things japanese, the thais have latched onto pockies in a big way. their version differs both in the number of pockies in the standard box (less by almost 10, if i remember correctly), and in the fact that "Pockies" has been written in Thai on the box. in bangkok you can grab a box of pockies at the local 7-11 (yes, believe it or not, these places are ubiquitous).

• Europe:
- not too much to say on this one (if any european fans out there would like to add something about distribution points etc. please email me). the main thing you should be aware of regarding the euro-version is that it is not called Pocky at all, but is in fact MIKADO. still tastes pretty much the same. i think the pack i ate tasted somewhere between the standard and the bitter, but i'd rather not be quoted on that....

Request

Please fill me in on the pocky situation wherever you are. i endeavour to actually get approximate addresses of where you can buy pocky all around the world.

Directory

Here is some of the info i've collected so far. Thanks for the response. The Pocky Underground is up and running....... (btw, to those people whose email i have blatantly cut-and-pasted, let me know if you want your name or web-site included) (an additional "btw" - if you're from the states (and it seems almost everyone who writes me is) please include the state as i'm not too sharp on US geography, being from the other side of the pacific)

Boston, MA

"Although we can't find the great variety of Pocky we saw in Fort Lee NJ
[see under "Fort Lee" - ed.]
here in Boston, there are two places that do carry the more mundane types of
Pocky. Chocolate and Strawberry Pocky in small packs and a large pack
containing Strawberry and Melon Pocky can be found in Boston at a Japanese
grocery store on Newbury Street in Boston near the intersection of Newbury
and Massachusetts Avenue and also at another Japanese grocery store located
in the old Sears building at Porter Square in Cambridge."

Chicago, IL

"Just to let you know I live in the Chicagoland area and the Yaohan (A
Japanese type grocery/mall) carries Pocky as well. :) No Chocolate Banana
Pocky...but Pocky nonetheless....here's what choices we have in the
Chicago, Illinois area.

Milk Chocolate (GIANT/Regular)
Bitter Chocolate (Regular)
Strawberry (GIANT/Regular/Small)
Marble (Bitter-White/Cafe Au Lait)
Almond Crush (Milk Chocolate/Bitter)
Almond (Regular - Almond-flavored)
Milk (Small - White Chocolate-flavored)"

Fort Lee, NJ

"A few years ago we took a drive out to the Yaohan store in
Fort Lee NJ (USA) to buy some Morinaga and Furuta Thunderbirds confections
with plastic model kit premiums. We were so impressed with all the various
boxed confections that we bought a large variety of different things to
bring home with us. Our favorite turned out to be Pocky!"

Guelph, Ontario

"I got hooked on Pocky when i was in Vancouver -- yep the Glico store and
I got a complimentary box at my Hotel... the Hyatt Regency... anyhow you
can buy Pocky here in Guelph (about 90km west of Toronto) in two
locations... the Chinese market on Wyndham and the one on MacDonnell.

Not a very wide selection though they do have some Pocky imposters...
PICA and another one that I've never bothered with... I still
desperately seek Almond Crush... hopefully a transliteration..."

Maryland

" Well, I live in Maryland, near Washington D.C. I get my pocky
from a store in a town half an hour away by car; they've had pocky for
a real long time now... ^_^;
The range is pretty good, considering the size of the local
Japanese community: the first store, Sakura, has chocolate, and
occasionally strawberry.
The other store, Daruma, has chocolate, strawberry, giant
chocolate, milk, both almond crushes, and occasionally melon. It also
stocks Pretz."

Maryland II

" Okay, here goes: (sorry about this being so late... things have
been REALLY wierd... I'm in Japan now. ^_^;
In Maryland, you go to Rockville. In Rockville is a store called
'Taiga Books', which is next to 'Daruma Food'. This is the place. They are
both on the Rockville Pike."

Pensacola, FL

"My friends and I decided to find all related to Pocky on our lunch
break and found your page... we love it! One thing I did want to add to
you List of Pocky Places... was that even here in the quite town of
Pensacola,FL pocky has reached us.... "Four Winds" (a small import food
store) has started carrying Pocky (only chocolate and strawberry at the
moment... but pocky none-the-less). We are still hoping to find a way to
order large crates directly from Glico... but for now we have a
"pocky-house" for our habit ;)"

Seattle and Everett, WA

"I live in the state of Washington. Everett to be exact. It is approx.
23 miles north of Seattle and approx. 100 or so south of Vancouver B.C.
We discovered the delicious, for-mentioned treat on accident one day in
a local Asian Mrkt.,called, Mekong Everett. A larger store in the
Bellevue-Seattle area called Uwajimaya's also carries them. Both places
have them in the small size and flavors of strawberry and chocolate.
They are indeed delicious! Bet you can't eat just one....BOX, that is.
I know we can't!"

Toronto, Ontario

"In Toronto, Pocky is available all over Chinatown,
especially on Spadina Avenue...
Giant Pocky is also in evidence, although harder to find.

A blissful break from North American waxy tallow
pretending to be chocolate... ;_)"
(https://web.archive.org/web/19970615050 ... kyint.html)
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
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