Sakuraco
reviews and complaints

Embark on a culinary journey through Japan with Sakuraco's delightful snack boxes. Each month, you'll receive a carefully curated selection of sweet and savory treats that capture the essence of Japanese culture. From traditional wagashi to unique regional specialties, every bite is a taste of Japan's rich culinary heritage. The beautifully packaged box, complete with a charming plate or tea set, adds an element of surprise and joy to the experience. Whether you're a seasoned Japanophile or a curious foodie, Sakuraco offers a delicious way to explore the flavors of Japan from the comfort of your home.

Sakuraco is my absolute favourite subscription box! I'm always so excited to find out what each months theme is going to be, and it never disappoints! Each box is so well prepared and packed with such a wide variety of top quality snacks. I've tried so many different types of traditional Japanese treats thanks to sakuraco, I especially love the manju and mochi. The box also comes with one homeware item, this is what sets sakuraco apart from other subscription boxes, and they're always adorable items that I cherish and collect. The accompanying booklet guides you through everything in the box and is interesting reading for a Japanese culture enthusiast. Sakuraco is a fantastic subscription service that I thoroughly recommend!

I loved all the informations about culture of city of Nikko. Specially Toshogu Shrine and Shinkyo Bridge.
The box items that i loved the most:

- Kuzukiri: chewy,smooth. With the delicious black honey. Has a very nice cooling effect.

-Chigiri Kusamochi: I fall in love with those great mochi. I wish i could have much more amounts of those

-Sesame Anko Donuts: fluffy with so delicious red bean paste

-Thousand Samurai Procession Manju: loved it so much

-Soy Sauce Okogemeshi: lovely rice crackers with soy sauce

-Patchwork furoshiki: I had the purple one. Elegant

-Seven Flavor Senbei: enjoyed it so much

The only one item i didn't like is Waka Ayu Marshmallow: it is supposed to be fish shaped. I received it so distorted and melted may be due to hot weather. When i tasted it i smelled raw eggs in it. Didn't like it

It's pricey but the box reflects what you pay for!
Absolutely loads of sweets inside, a full colour plush looking booklet with little write ups on all the items and some very interesting information about prefectures and national holidays, a sweet little traditional print with a message from the sakura-co team on the back and a cute little rice bowl with Sakura print.
The shipping was timely and with no customs to pay! I was a little worried it would get stuck seeing as I'm in the UK and the box came from japan. (Which I was shocked about! I assumed it would come via America honestly)
I'm very impressed with the box! I've had Tokyo treats before now and had gotten bored with the sweets. I think perhaps I'd outgrown it as I'm much less interested in anime these days.
As I write this the box for next month hasn't been announced but I'm very excited to see what it could be!
If you're on the fence with buying and have a little extra cash around at the moment I'd go for it. I'm not disappointed in any way.

Sakuraco is a company that delivers Japanese snacks, tea, and cakes right to your doorstep. I recently received my Sakuraco box and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it arrived. The presentation of the box was beautiful, with each item carefully placed and wrapped.

One thing that stood out to me was the balance of treats between sweet, less sweet, and nigai (a matcha-style bitterness). It was perfect, and I appreciated the variety. The detailed explanation booklet that came with the box was also a nice touch. It gave a great introduction to the history, culture, and ingredients in each item, and the English was perfect (native-level).

Some of the items, like the monaka mochi fugu, came with an extra tableware item (the sakura-themed bowl). The interactive nature of dissolving the monaka fugu to reveal the mochi and red bean sweet soup was very fun. It added an extra level of enjoyment to the experience.

The snacks, tea, and cakes all seemed to be carefully sourced to induce powerful smell memories of Japan. The roasted aromas of the monaka wafer cake and soybean powder were rich in baisenka (the same roasted aroma which gives houjicha its distinctive scent). The red bean confection was smooth and very fine-grained, so you know it's a bean-based dessert without being too mealy. The baumkuchen was delightfully moist, yet not too compliant.

Overall, I was impressed with the balance and depth of Sakuraco's offerings. This was my second box, and it was executed just as artfully and completely as the first. I highly recommend Sakuraco to anyone who wants to experience the taste and culture of Japan from the comfort of their own home.

This box of Japanese snacks from Sakuraco is absolutely stunning! I was blown away by the care and attention put into the packaging alone. The box itself is so pretty that I almost didn't want to open it! But when I did, I was greeted by a lovely postcard and a detailed booklet about the current month's theme (I got April 2021). The booklet was filled with information about the history of the Japanese tea ceremony, as well as beautiful pictures and explanations of the snacks inside.

I could tell that every snack was carefully curated and chosen with intention. Some of them even came from local vendors in Japan, which made me feel like I was getting an authentic taste of Japanese culture. I loved learning about the different tastes and flavors, and I felt like I was getting a real education about Japanese snacks.

One of my favorite parts of the booklet was when Sakuraco asked one of the makers if they had a message for the Sakuraco family. The maker said that they had put their heart into making their signature kintsuba, and they hoped that people all over the world would be able to feel the emotion and put a smile on their face. I thought that was such a sweet and genuine touch, and it made trying the matcha kintsuba even more special.

Overall, I think this is the most refined and elegant Japanese snack box I've ever seen. It's clear that Sakuraco puts a lot of thought and care into every box, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for future subscribers. If you're looking for a fun and lovely subscription box that will give you a taste of Japanese culture, I highly recommend Sakuraco!

I wanted to share for you all my experience here. I looked at this and other reviews and agonized over the very high price point before purchasing a box. Especially with the converted Canadian price and shipping cost, this is VERY expensive for a small box of snacks ($50)) I eventually decided to try one and while it is quite a delightful unique offering, they lack severely in customer service and they are a bit dishonest and sneaky. It is very easy to accidentally sign up for a second subscription (when you think you are just extending your first one) and end up with two of the same very expensive box. And if you buy one month, it automatically renews you for a second one even if you start a 3 month subscription (like I did). For me this also didn't look obvious on their hard to find/navigate portal.
It's very difficult, contrary to what the FAQ says to find and be in the right circumstances to skip a box. And when you try to work with them on the fact that you have two of the exact same very expensive treat being packed to be sent to you they simply don't care and will not work to rectify the situation at all.
To me that's very dishonest and misleading and they seem to do it purposefully. I feel ripped off, and when I planned in my bidget and splurged, I was planning to pick 4 different boxed I thought looked most interesting, instead I have two of the same box and the September box shipped before I had a change to see what was in it and select it. And they basically said oh well too bad.
For this reason, as soon as my 3 box commitments are met I will not be renewing this service.
If you have lots of spare cash and aren't picky about maximizing your spend, skipping months etc. then the treats are mostly excellent and unique. But if you think you may need any complexity or this is a big financial decision, then I would not recommend this.

At first, I was impressed by the speed of delivery and quality of the products 2 years ago when I started with a one-year subscription, however things have deteriorated greatly and to make things worse, I was renewed a full year subscription without any warning and refused a refund despite complaining several times. Their system is totally abusive. In fact, the first year I was incited to renew my subscription for 3 months or 6 months with the gifts that they advertise as an incentive to renewal, which normally should confirm that it won't be renewed unless you decide to actively renew your subscription by yourself. Instead, I was charged for a whole year again (that's several hundreds USD) without any warning, and despite complaining and bringing that valid and logical argument above, was constantly replied, nearly made fun of in fact, that the automatic renewal is clear on the website, which is a blatant lie! This is such a dishonest organization! To make things worse, for the past year, the quality of the products have declined a lot and instead of receiving the box before the beginning of the month it's supposed to apply to, I receive it at the end of the month. It's constantly the same kinds of snacks, particularly brown sugar hard snacks or the same types of rice crackers are nearly in every box, and some low quality local junk foods that have nothing to do with a Japanese tea time experience have become more common, too. There were even a few dried beans in a tiny plastic pouch in one of the boxes that were hardly edible at all... and something I've never seen anyone eat in more than 25 years spent in Japan! I normally love Japanese snacks and there are so many things they could include there that are scrumptious, but the contents are actually tiny and/or ordinary and so repetitive. Fluffy breads (previously one a month up to last year) have all but disappeared in the past months, it's dried stuff all the way and really not that fancy nor high quality at all. I even got some broken cookies in one recent box (which wasn't from a damage in the packaging) and a limp one in another one, mentioned it and there was no compensation either. Run away! Their service is not interested in the customer's satisfaction and horribly dishonest.

While the quality of their products ranges from decent to good, Sakuraco are very much a business operating in bad faith. Their renewal service is designed to intentionally keep you hooked endlessly, providing "streaks" that are eliminated the instant you cancel your subscription in advance. On top of this, they have a hidden no refund policy with zero flexibility, which you can find here in Section 4: https://sakura.co/terms-of-service. Combined with the lack of a renewal reminder—even for annual subscriptions—it is clear that Sakuraco are more interested in nickel-and-diming money from consumers with dishonest trickery than providing a service that by nature encourages you to resubscribe for the quality of their products.

So, I was scrolling through my Tokyo Treat box and came across an ad for Sakuraco. Being a huge fan of traditional Japanese sweets, I decided to give it a try. I ordered the April box and was eagerly waiting for it to arrive.

When I finally got my hands on it, I was a bit disappointed. The box contained some inedible stuff like porcelains, which I'm not too fond of. To make matters worse, my cup was somewhat chipped below the sakura pattern. However, I didn't let that dampen my spirits and decided to give it a try anyway.

As I started to taste the cakes, I realized that some of them were dry as I had feared. But, to my surprise, over half of the other items were good and I actually loved some of them. Despite my mixed feelings about the box, I'm still willing to give it another try.

I'm hoping that the May box will be a better experience for me. However, I do wish that we could trade the porcelains with more snacks instead. Overall, my first Sakuraco box was less satisfying than my first TT box, but I'm still willing to give it another chance.

Sakuraco, let me tell you, they ain't no good. I thought I was getting a good deal when I signed up for their 3-month subscription, but boy was I wrong. They didn't make it clear that it was 3 months at a time, so imagine my surprise when I got charged another $140+ for another 3 months that I didn't even want. And get this, they didn't even bother to notify me via email or anything. I had to find out the hard way when I checked my bank account.

So, I immediately reached out to them to cancel and get a refund. But guess what? They ignored my email at first. I had to go through their ticket service page just to get a response. And what did they say? No refunds. Can you believe that? They straight up scammed me and now they won't even give me my money back.

I'm telling you, stay away from Sakuraco. They're false advertising and scamming people left and right. And to top it all off, they even threatened me by saying they'll hold the boxes I already paid for if I try to dispute the charge with my bank. It's just not worth it. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else.

The snacks that you get from Sakuraco are pretty decent. They're not the best, but they're not the worst either. Every month, you get a box of snacks that are similar to the previous month's box, but with a few changes to match the theme of the new month. The ceramic that comes with each box is not always worth the price you pay for it. It's usually made out of plastic and looks and feels cheap.

The biggest problem with Sakuraco is that they don't tell you that they will automatically renew your subscription. This can be a big issue if you don't want to continue with the service. They also refuse to prorate the rest of your subscription if you decide to cancel. This means that if you paid for a full year's subscription, which costs $540, and you cancel after a few months, you won't get any money back. This is a major problem because you're stuck paying for a service that you don't want.

It's frustrating that they won't give you a partial refund, especially since they ship out the box the day after they charge you. It seems like they could easily stop the shipment and refund you for the remaining months, but they choose not to. This is a major issue because it feels like they're taking advantage of their customers.

Overall, Sakuraco is an okay service. The snacks are decent, but the ceramic that comes with each box is not always worth the price. The biggest issue is the automatic renewal and the lack of prorated refunds. If you're thinking about subscribing to Sakuraco, make sure you read the fine print and understand the terms of the subscription.

The boxes from Sakuraco are pretty good, but I gotta say, their policy is kinda sketchy. I had to deal with their customer service and it was a total hassle. I cancelled my subscription, but somehow I still got charged and they were gonna send me six more boxes! Like, what the heck? I reached out to them and they gave me some BS about how they have auto-renewal billing and I should have checked my Order Summary. Like, who has time for that? They said they couldn't refund me and they were gonna send me the boxes anyway. I mean, I guess it's my fault for not reading the fine print, but still. It's not like I'm made of money. Anyway, just a heads up if you're thinking about subscribing to Sakuraco. Make sure you read everything carefully or you might end up with a bunch of boxes you don't want.