Hokkaido is an island in the northern part of Japan. Its climate is fairly cold, with snow for about 4 to 6 months and a short summer from June to August. This is when flowers bloom and fruit ripens, filling towns across the island with color. Each month brings its own seasonal flowers and fruits, ripe and ready for travelers to taste fresh, along with many foods and souvenirs made from these seasonal flowers and fruits, such as melon, corn, strawberries, cherries, apples, peaches, and various flowers.
Besides products made from fruit and flowers, Hokkaido also has many distinctive, well-known specialties that are popular souvenirs, including seafood products, local products, cosmetics, and more.
1. Glico Giant Yubari Melon Pocky is a famous snack loved around the world. Japan has a much wider variety of flavors than most other countries, and the chocolate coating is richer. It's easy to find at convenience stores all over Japan, and it's not expensive either. This summer, the flavor not to miss is Yubari melon, made with melons grown in Yubari, Hokkaido, with fresh melon juice coating the familiar Pocky sticks for a sweet, fragrant scent throughout. Inside the large box, the sticks are divided into small packs of one stick each, easy to eat and easy to store, in attractive packaging. Besides the melon flavor, you can also find unusual flavors that are hard to get outside Japan to bring home as souvenirs, such as Kyoho grape and Uji green tea.
Price: 115 grams for ¥550
Where to buy: Stores throughout Hokkaido
2. Assorted caramel sweets (Caramel series) Hokkaido milk is another famous item, and Hokkaido milk products are exported to many countries. But once you're at the source, we recommend the best unusual treat made from Hokkaido milk: assorted caramel sweets, ranging from ordinary flavors to some truly unusual ones, such as curry caramel, Genghis Khan (grilled lamb) caramel, ramen caramel, miso soup caramel, and regular fruit flavors.
Price: ¥130-150 per piece
Where to buy: Stores throughout Hokkaido
3. Hori corn chocolate bar (Hori Corn Chocolate) is one of the most famous souvenirs from Hokkaido: a chocolate bar in various flavors, including white chocolate and milk chocolate, coated with crunchy roasted sweet corn for added texture and a distinctive flavor that's sold year-round, plus special seasonal fruit flavors sold only at certain times, such as strawberry, melon, and milk.
Price: 10 pieces for ¥710
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, New Chitose Airport, and airports in Hokkaido
4. Music Box is a souvenir from a famous old museum in Otaru city. Besides holding exhibitions and demonstrations on how music boxes are made, the museum also sells many souvenirs, such as music boxes in various shapes, including clocks, animals, dolls, and other cute designs, all with lovely music playing. Prices start in the low thousands of yen and go up to the tens of thousands, depending on the design and size. Buying one as a gift for a close friend or bringing it home as home decor both seem like good ideas.
Price: From the low thousands of yen up
Where to buy: Otaru Orgel Music Box Museum
5. Traditional Japanese Okaki snacks from Kitakaro are traditional Japanese rice crackers, and they are the second best-selling item at ANA FESTA, the famous souvenir shop at Narita Airport. There are 8 flavors available, all with seafood ingredients: Erimo Konbu (seaweed flavor), Shibetsu Aki Shake (autumn salmon flavor), Esashi Hotate (scallop flavor), Mashike Amaebi (sweet shrimp flavor), Shiranuka Yanagidako (octopus flavor), Shiraoi Kojohama Tarako (cod roe flavor), Matsumae Ika (squid flavor), and Notsuke Hokkai Shimaebi (Hokkaido shrimp flavor). The crackers are made mainly from glutinous mochi rice, kneaded until sticky into a mochi ball, then cut into small pieces and baked until the surface turns golden brown, with ingredients sourced entirely from Hokkaido.
Price: 170 grams for ¥410
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, and New Chitose Airport
6. Baumkuchen Melon Sweet is a European-style cylindrical cake with a hole in the middle, known for its layered pattern that resembles tree rings. It's another popular Hokkaido product, and in summer there's a special melon-flavored Baumkuchen with a soft, sweet, fragrant scent.
Price: ¥864 per box
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, and New Chitose Airport
7. Hokkaido beer Besides its famous giant crabs, Hokkaido is also known as a land of beer, especially the well-known city of Sapporo, whose history goes hand in hand with Hokkaido's first brewery, founded in 1876. Thanks to this long history, Hokkaido today is full of many brands and flavors of beer, from draft, craft, and canned beer to beer gardens where you can experience Hokkaido's beer culture firsthand. Summer's clear skies are perfect for sipping a cold beer, and a few cans also make a good souvenir. There are many brands to choose from, such as Suntory, which offers a range of famous and unusual flavors worth trying, including Collagen Beer, "SUNTORY PRECIOUS," a smooth beer said to give drinkers beautiful skin, with Suntory also considered the world's first brewer of collagen-infused beer; Yebisu Beer, a Japanese beer brewed in the German style with a deep, smooth flavor; Kirin Ichiban Shibori, a beer made using only the first-press wort for a slightly sweet, bitter taste; Sapporo Nama Beer Black Label, a lager suited to beer lovers who enjoy a distinctive flavor; and Asahi, a brand well known worldwide.
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, and New Chitose Airport
8. Yubari Melon Jelly (Yubari Melon Pure Jelly) is a delicious melon-flavored jelly made from Yubari melon, a melon famous throughout Japan for its large, orange-fleshed fruit with a sweet, fragrant flavor and juicy, colorful flesh. This melon jelly has been served on Japanese airline flights for 10 years, and its smooth, sweet flavor that seems to melt in your mouth won the Monde Selection award for 5 straight years, from 2003 to 2007.
Price: 1 box (9 pieces) for ¥1,944
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, New Chitose Airport, and airports in Hokkaido
9. Chocolate popcorn Royce (Royce' Popcorn Chocolate) is another famous souvenir from Hokkaido, made from corn: popcorn coated in rich chocolate and topped with crunchy almonds, for a well-balanced salty-sweet flavor.
Price: ¥864 per box
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, and New Chitose Airport
10. Hokkaido glassware is another famous handcrafted souvenir from Hokkaido, well known for its beautiful, distinctive patterns and fine craftsmanship, suitable for gifting to someone special or for your own use. Options include glasses, ashtrays, plates and bowls, lamps, jewelry, glass flowers, and much more. The most famous and well-known glassware comes from Otaru, from the well-known Kitaichi store on Sakaimachi Street and the nearby Venetian Glass Museum, which displays glassware and also sells it as souvenirs; glass studios and shops along the Otaru Canal, which demonstrate glassmaking and sell glass products; and Glass Forest in Furano, in Furano city, which sells many kinds of glass products. The make-your-own glass workshop there has been closed since April 2024.
Where to buy: Kitaichi store and glass studios along the Otaru Canal, and Glass Forest in Furano
11. Yubari Melon Chocolate (Yubari Melon Chocolate) is a chocolate shaped like a melon cut in half, colored to resemble the real fruit, with an outer surface patterned like melon skin and a sweet melon fragrance, divided into small pieces that are easy to carry and not expensive. Besides the aroma, the taste is just as good, with a refreshing sweetness and soft chocolate that feels like eating real melon.
Price: 1 bag (12 pieces) for ¥410
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, and New Chitose Airport
12. Horse oil cream (Son Bahyu cream) is a local Hokkaido product widely known throughout Japan, used by Japanese people since ancient times. It's said to help treat burns, scalds, and hemorrhoids, and to reduce foot odor, and it can be used by people with skin conditions or allergies without side effects, since it's made from 100% natural fat taken from the base of a horse's tail and mane. It has a high absorption rate, helps prevent inflammation, and contains natural moisturizing ingredients, making it suitable for daily skincare for both the face and body.
Price: 40 grams for ¥2,700
Where to buy: Pharmacies and souvenir shops in areas of Hokkaido and Kumamoto where it's produced
13. White chocolate raspberry cookies (Hokkaido White Raspberry cookies) are white cookies in cute packaging, made from fiber-rich cereal coated in rich, sweet white chocolate and topped with dried raspberries for a fresh, tangy touch.
Price: 1 box (15 pieces) for ¥1,080
Where to buy: Most retail stores, department stores, New Chitose Airport, and airports in Hokkaido
14. Corn crackers (Sapporo Okaki Oh! Yakitokibi) are a famous grilled corn snack from Sapporo, an authentic Japanese-style rice cracker made from glutinous rice flour, baked crisp and mixed with dried grilled corn, seasoned with a savory scent and a salty flavor from a special soy sauce recipe for a smooth taste and satisfying crunch you can't stop eating.
Price: 1 box (6 pieces) for ¥648 / 1 box (10 pieces) for ¥1,029
Where to buy: Stores at New Chitose Airport
15. Hokkaido cosmetics Besides these famous snacks made with summer fruit ingredients, cosmetics and perfumes containing a variety of flowers, Hokkaido seaweed, or other natural ingredients also make for interesting souvenirs. No matter how much time passes, Japanese cosmetics remain trusted and popular products, thanks to their quality and effective results. Choices include popular brands and cosmetics specific to each area and season, such as SK-II, Hada Labo, Tofu Moritaya tofu mask, SHISEIDO, LAUREL, one of Hokkaido's companies specializing in products with natural extracts, honey-based skin cream, horse oil bath products, and even supplements such as DHC or Meiji Amino Collagen.
Where to buy: Pharmacies, general stores, department stores, and the 2F domestic terminal at New Chitose Airport
16. Fashion items Clothes, shoes, and bags are another easy-to-find souvenir, with reliable manufacturing quality, and summer fashion in particular is ideal for shopping, since the designs suit hot weather. Popular brands include MISCH MASCH, Uniqlo, Play Comme Des Garcons, Onitsuka Tiger, Asics, Vans, and New Balance, while bag brands include Saori, Bao Bao, Issey Miyake, and Pleats Please, along with various accessories and other small items. Some brands are sold overseas too, but prices are often lower in Japan, and some models are only sold in Japan.
Where to buy: General stores and department stores
17. Lavender products Hokkaido Prefecture has fields of colorful flowers spread across many towns, earning it a reputation as a land of flowers. If you visit to take photos and enjoy the gardens, don't miss buying flower products from each farm to take home, such as lavender seed pillows, lavender-scented perfume, lavender oil soap, and lavender flower sweets, along with many other souvenirs made from other kinds of flowers.
Where to buy: Souvenir shops at each farm and general department stores
18. Instant food Whether it's instant noodles or other Japanese dishes, even though many are sold outside Japan, Japan offers a wider, more unusual range of flavors, along with a richer taste and chewier noodles. Choosing instant noodles as a souvenir is another option that can make the recipient excited to try them. Sapporo Curry, a soup curry cube, is a famous Sapporo dish; Yoshimi (Soup Kare, Hokkaido curry soup instant) isn't just a thick curry cube like those from other regions but has a distinctively delicious flavor. There are also many other instant food items to choose from, including various seasonings, yakisoba, wasabi, green tea, and Nissin Cup Noodle, which remains quite popular.
Where to buy: Supermarkets and general department stores
19. Hokkaido seafood Because of its island geography, Hokkaido Prefecture is one of Japan's most famous seafood regions, guaranteed for both cleanliness and freshness, including processed and dried seafood products that can be bought as souvenirs to take home, as well as many frozen seafood options, such as dried squid, rice-stuffed and seasoned squid, frozen Alaskan king crab, dried scallops, ruibe-cured salmon from the sato suisan brand (thinly sliced fresh salmon marinated with wheat and soy sauce, mixed with salmon roe), Sumibiya Sanma Donburi from the Kinkai Shokuhin brand (seasoned saury grilled over natural charcoal for a fragrant, delicious flavor), and Ika Dosanko Meishi from the Marumo Shokuhin brand.
Where to buy: Supermarkets, general department stores, and the airport's International 3F floor
20. Local products In a country so rich in art and heritage, local crafts are a must, and some can only be bought in the area where they are made, such as paintings, fans, scarves, handkerchiefs, carvings, lamps, and various dolls. Most are designed with references to stories from the Edo period and are largely handmade, and lucky charms from each town's shrines also make souvenirs that carry meaning and good fortune for the recipient.
Where to buy: Shrines or local shops in each town
