Our love for Japanese food doesn't stop at sushi and sashimi - it extends to sweets and confections as well. Think the famous Tokyo Banana cake and Shiroi Koibito 'white lover' cookies. But as much as we love these Japanese goodies, they're kind of reserved for special occasions because of expensive they are to buy in Singapore.

The solution? Go to Japan!

Okay, okay - before you start throwing rotten veggies at me, I know that flights to Japan are expensive. But Japan is one of the top travel destinations of Singaporeans anyway, so if you're already planning to head there, you might as well.

If you too have a sweet tooth and are visiting Japan anytime soon, here are some snacks you 'die die' must buy home. Plus, they make great gifts for your office and colleagues!

Top 5 Japanese snacks to buy from Japan

If you're thinking of dabao-ing food souvenirs from Japan, here's a helpful price list of how much they cost.

Some of these snacks are now sold in Singapore and at Don Don Donki. You can also get these snacks online via retailers on platforms like Shopee.

Tokyo Banana - from $5.65

If you don't know what Tokyo Banana is, you must be a dinosaur or something. It's a sponge cake snack that's filled with banana cream filling.

Tokyo Banana prices

I wish I could say it's not worth the hype and that I'd never pay that much more for it, but the sad truth is that I would because I genuinely enjoy this snack. The smallest box is $5.65, which is $1.40 per piece. That's not half bad for 'cake'.

The Tokyo Banana snack is super popular, so quite a few online and offline retailers sell it. But since there's so much competition, the markup is not as high too.

Shiroi Koibito 'white lover' biscuits - from $6.78

The Shiroi Koibito 'white lover' biscuit features a white chocolate slice, sandwiched between two 'cat tongue' cookies. If you're looking at Japanese food souvenirs in general, it probably only loses to Tokyo Banana.

Shiroi Koibito biscuit prices

The smallest size is the 9-piece box, which is $6.78. That's about $0.75 per piece, which is quite reasonable. Although slightly more expensive (~$0.80 / piece), most people get the 27-piece one at $21.48 because that one comes with a nice metal tin.

Calbee Potato Farm Jaga Pokkuru - $9

This Calbee Potato Farm 'French fries' snack from Calbee is originally from Hokkaido, but even if you're not heading so far up north, you can still buy it at the Tokyo and Osaka airports.

Calbee Potato Farm Jaga Pokkuru prices

The Singapore-Japan price difference for this is quite dramatic. On Qoo10 Calbee shop, it is $20 for the box of 10, which again, is double the price. And that’s excluding any extra shipping fees since it delivers from Japan. 

Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory biscuits - from $10

Of all the snack brands listed, Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory is the only one with an official store in Singapore. Let's compare the prices.

Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory salt and camembert cookie prices

This is another one of my personal favourites, albeit expensive. Even in Japan, it's at least $1 plus per cookie. In Singapore, it's more expensive by 30 per cent.

The prices quoted are for the cheaper classic flavour, salt and camembert cheese. The honey and gorgonzola flavour is slightly more expensive.

Ichiran instant ramen - $19

Ichiran Ramen is a famous tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen restaurant chain in Japan. Despite the snaking queues, most tourists aim to at least eat there once. Of course nothing can beat the freshly made ramen, but if you can't afford the time and/or energy to wait several hours, you can buy their instant noodles.

Ichiran instant ramen prices

It's quite expensive, even in Japan. It's $19.03, which comes up to about $5 for 1 serving.

Don Don Donki used to sell it for $39.90, which is a whopping 37 per cent more than the price in Japan. Now, the cheapest price I can find locally is $36 on Shopee Mall.

This article was first published in MoneySmart.