Japanese snack foods
The Japanese snack food market has grown from the intensive competition between domestic and international enterprises. Major manufacturers focus their operation mostly to one segment of the market – either sweet or savory confections. Savory snacks refer primarily to puffed or deep-fried products made with wheat or rice flour. Smaller segments like dried squid and seaweed are also common due to the significance of the fishery sectors in the domestic food market.Sweet snacks include a wider product range, such as sugar candy, chocolate, and milk-based desserts. Sweets dominate confectionery production in Japan, carried by the popularity of chocolate and biscuits as well as the importance of traditional confections, which are also in demand, for example, as part of tea ceremonies.