Taste the Japan beyond
Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.
Japan has 47 prefectures, and most trips stop at three. Kashido is a monthly Selection of okashi (snacks), tea and crafts from the other 44, one at a time. Each is chosen there in person and comes with a printed Photobook of that month’s prefecture.
Free to join. First read of the stories, a postcard from the prefecture if you want one, and first word when we open.
Okashi from Toyama
From the maker’s counter
The Selection
Photobook No. 01
A craft from the same place
Chosen in person
One prefecture at a timeLeave the list from any email we send.
What’s different
Four things you will not get from a Japanese snack box.
Most Japanese snack boxes are a sampler. Kashido is a month in one place, and everything in the Selection can tell you where it came from and who made it.
One prefecture, all the way in.
Not a little of everything from all over Japan.
Every Selection comes from a single prefecture: its okashi, its tea, its makers, and the month we spent there. Japan has 47. Most visitors see 3.
33,000 km so farChosen there, by the founder.
Not ordered from a catalog.
Shota drives to the prefecture, sits with the makers and tastes everything before it goes in. Nothing enters a Selection that he has not stood in front of.
One counter IwakuniSold at the maker’s own counter.
Not the things you can find in an import shop.
Most of what we send is not sold online and does not ship abroad. A lot of it is made in runs too small to leave the town.
Photobook No. 01A printed Photobook, every month.
Not a leaflet in the bottom of the box.
A printed Photobook of the month, and the Journey Articles: interviews with the makers and with the people who keep the local festivals and crafts going.
What arrives
One month, item by item.
123
456
The Toyama Selection · photo and callouts are placeholders until the real flat lay is shot
- 1Item nameTown · sold at the maker’s shop only
- 2Item nameTown · made in runs of a few hundred a season
- 3Item nameTown · not sold online
- 4The craft or teaObject · maker · town
- 5The Photobook, No. 01Printed. Shota’s photographs of the month.
- 6The contents sheetEvery item, where it came from, and who made it.
The Okashi Selection
The prefecture’s okashi, the Photobook, the Journey Articles.
8 to 12 okashi from one prefecture, the printed Photobook of the month, and the Journey Articles before anyone else.
Prices are announced at opening. A premium monthly Selection, priced well above the snack boxes. People on the list hear first.
The Okashi & Craft Selection
The same Selection, plus one object from the prefecture that stays after the okashi is gone.
Glass, lacquer, paper or ceramics, or a tea, from the same prefecture and chosen at the workshop. Kiri wood box with longer plans (to confirm).
Prices are announced at opening.
Tell us in the survey which one you would reserve.
Nothing is charged to join.
The first stories come to your inbox before anyone else.
Behind one Selection
About 120 candidates go in. Around 10 come out.
The Photobook and the Journey Articles
The part people keep.
The okashi is gone in a week. The Photobook stays on the shelf, and the articles are where the makers say what they would never put on a label.
We only pour when the weather is right, and some weeks that means we do not pour at all. My father worked the same way. People ask why it takes so long. It takes as long as it takes.
Name, glassmaker, town · Journey Articles No. 01
My grandmother sold these from this counter, and her mother before her. Nobody had ever asked me to send one abroad. I said yes because he sat here and ate three of them first.
Name, okashi maker, town · Journey Articles No. 01
The lotus root comes from the field behind the shop, and the sugar from two towns over. That is the whole recipe. The rest is the season, and knowing when to stop.
Name, okashi maker, Iwakuni · Journey Articles No. 01
The founder
I go myself. Every month.
I drive out, I sit down with the maker, and I taste the things that were never built to travel. Nothing enters a Selection that I have not stood in front of. Some months that means one prefecture and 11 days on the road.
I started this way as a student, driving around Japan in a van with friends and no destination, stopping in the towns most people pass through. 30 countries later, I still think these places are the best-kept secret I know.
Updated September 2026
If this is the kind of thing you would want on your shelf, join the list.
We open in late 2026.
FAQ
Questions we get asked.
How is Kashido different from Bokksu, Sakuraco or TokyoTreat?
Those services send a mix of snacks from all over Japan each month. A Kashido Selection comes from one prefecture, is chosen there in person by the founder, and arrives with a printed Photobook and articles about the people who made it. Most of what we send is not sold online and does not ship abroad on its own.
What happens after I join the list?
The first stories arrive by email before they are public: interviews with the makers and pages from the Photobook. If you would like a postcard from the prefecture, tell us where to send it. Then a note when we open. You can leave the list from any email we send.
Is it only okashi (snacks)?
There are two Selections. The Okashi Selection is the prefecture’s okashi with the Photobook and Journey Articles. The Okashi & Craft Selection adds one object from the same prefecture: a tea, glass, lacquer, paper or ceramic piece.
When do you open, and what does it cost?
We plan to open in late 2026. People on the list hear the date first. Prices are announced at opening. Kashido is a premium monthly Selection, priced well above the snack boxes. Nothing is charged for joining the list.
Do I have to commit to several months?
Plans and their lengths are announced at opening. Joining the list commits you to nothing.
Can I send it as a gift?
That is one of the things we ask in the short survey after you join. If you are thinking of it as a gift for someone who loves Japan, tell us there and we will write to you about it before we open.
Which countries do you ship to?
Worldwide. Shipping is calculated by country at checkout. Customs duties and local taxes, where they apply, are the responsibility of the recipient.
Before we open,
the road comes to you.
Kashido opens in late 2026.
Join the waitlist and, until then, this is what reaches you.
You’re on the list.
Thank you for joining. I’ll be sending you the first stories from parts of Japan most people have never heard of, and news as we get ready to open.
Leave your address at the end of the questions below, and I’ll send you a postcard from one of the prefectures. Just a small thank-you.
When we open, you’ll hear it from me first. I’ve spent two years dreaming up Kashido, and I can’t wait to show you the Japan you haven’t met yet.
ShotaKashido Founder
See you in your inbox.
The first stories are on their way. Until we open, Instagram is where we put what does not fit in a Selection.
Follow along- 1First read of the stories.Interviews with the makers and pages from the Photobook, from places most visitors never reach, before they are public.
- 2A postcard from the prefecture, if you want one.One of the month’s photographs, posted to you from Japan, wherever you are.
- 3First word when we open.Prices, the first prefecture, and how to reserve.