Located at: 11160 Beach Blvd #126, Jacksonville, FL 32246
The beauty of Jacksonville is its diverse culture. It is a Jacksonville June Bug promise to punctualize on that.
Japan is a country filled with much unique and fun products that we don’t see here in the United States – “Japan is living in 2050” as they say.
Ebisu is a Japanese lifestyle store that carries hundreds of Japanese products such as anime merch, snacks, and much more.
What makes Ebisu stand out from most Japanese stores is the experience.
Ebisu provides their customers with an actual Japanese shopping experience with it’s cultured ambience.
Snacks and Beverages
Japan has so many uniquely flavored snacks and drinks for us to try.
In Japan, it’s very common for companies to be meticulous; whether it’s the packaged or simply living up to the standards and promises of what is being sold.
Let’s go through some of the snacks sold at Ebisu. Remember these are only some snacks and Ebisu consists of way more snacks than the ones mentions. Consider these Jacksonville June Bug picks.
Calbee Kataage Crispy Black Pepper Potato Chips – These black pepper potato chips are a delight for any potato chip fans. The Calbee company made sure that these tasty chips bring out that salty black pepper. Although the flavor is punctual, it’s wonderfully palatable; it’s such a simple flavor when you think about it and yet, the taste is so complex. This snack is surely a must-try product and is perfect for those with a conservative palate.
Calbee Kansai Dashi Soy Sauce Potato Chips – Now in Japan, as well as the rest of the world – there are snack flavors that may confuse us since we are so used to eating our regular, every-day snacks. We are not talking about plain old lays here. The Jacksonville June Bug loves to try foods that we consider “weird” because it’s fun whether we end up loving or hating the product. The soy sauce-flavored Calbee potato chips are definitely a winner if you love the salty flavor of soy sauce.
Buldak Artificial Spicy Chicken Flavor Ramen Cup – This ramen cup is easily up there for those that have a knack for spicy food. These packs of ramen are sold in levels of 1x spicy, 2x spicy, and 3x spicy. These are very difficult to come by in a regular American store so make sure to get them while you can. WARNING – THESE ARE VERY SPICY.
Sakuma Chocolate Milk Candy – Straight from Japan, this milk candy is a semi-hard candy that lacks overbearing sweetness and introduces a smooth milky flavor to your taste buds. The flavor is based off of mille-feuille biscuits which is a sort of puff pastry. We definitely recommend this if you’re in search of trying something new.
Sangaria Strawberry Milk Drink – Everybody loves strawberry. Skittles, starburst; you ask someone what flavor is their favorite, you will most likely hear strawberry. This strawberry milk drink may seem like it has a predictable taste, but in reality it’s not like regular strawberry milk flavor; but a tad bit on the watery side with just as much taste as you’d get with regular strawberry milk.
Ramune Premium Carbonated Soft Drinks – Now if you’ve heard of any Japanese soda drink, it’s more than likely Ramune Premium Carbonated Soft Drink. These sodas are packaged with a very distinct shape and form of opening. The trick to open these is to use the cap provided upon opening the package to push the glass marble down to relief the pressure; it’s quiet a creative design. With the original Ramune flavor being lime-lemon, there have been 57 different flavors so far and Ebisu has several flavors to choose from.
Anime
Now, it’s no secret that Japan is known for not only it’s delicious food and drinks – but also their anime culture. There has been thousands of Japanese anime titles produced throughout the years and they are not stopping there.
As much as anime may not be for everyone, it’s always fun to indulge in the paraphernalia and learn a little bit of what they’re about. You may even discover a new anime that you enjoy!
At Ebisu there are dozens of anime merchandise that can be purchased; from cups, ramen bowls, socks, slippers, keychains, pens, even toilet paper. Yes – there are Hello Kitty and Pokemon themed toilet paper for sale.
Claw Machines
It’s very common in Japan to run into claw machines – in fact, it’s more common than the United States; especially the fancy looking ones.
There are a few claw machines stationed in Ebisu with prizes consisting of little toys for the smaller machines and stuffed toys for the bigger machines.
We’d like to present you, the reader, with an biased highlight from our visit to Ebisu – you can win Kirby stuffed animals in one of the machines. We put emphasis on Kirby since he’s factually the best Super Smash Bros. character and there is absolutely nothing that can be said to the Jacksonville June Bug to change my mind.
All jokes aside, you can also find other stuffed toy options placed outside the claw machines on the shelves; and yes, you can also find Kirby on the shelves.
Personal Care
Japanese companies have a lot of pride in their products and it shows. One things about the Japanese is that they take personal care very seriously with an emphasis on skin care.
At Ebisu, you can shop through dozens of Japanese care products; shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap bars, skin treatment, lotions, toothpaste – the list goes on.
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