Who is Kai?

Maria and Kai on Kashiya yokocho (candy lane) in Kawagoe, Japan

Maria and Kai on Kashiya yokocho (candy lane) in Kawagoe, Japan

Welcome to the Kai’s Candy Company blog! We plan to use our blog to keep you updated on our eternal quest to seek out the world’s coolest candies. Kai is not an official member of our 3 person company. But he provided the inspiration for starting our business. Kai is my 7 year old son. My family and I spent some time in Japan last year, and he was crazy for the very cool candies you can get in Japan that are unlike any candies here in the US. Candies that look like exact replicas of Pokemon characters. Candies with all kinds of intriguing flavors. Candies that look exactly like sushi (but certainly don’t taste like it!). The Japanese have a tradition of hand-crafting really wonderful hard candies that is something of a lost art here in the US.

After we returned from Japan, he kept asking for these candies, and we looked around, figuring someone must be importing them. But no one is. So we decided to give it a try ourselves. We’re starting with a small set of candies we commissioned from a candy maker in Japan who uses the centuries-old traditional kumi ame (rolled candy) technique for making candies by hand. This particular set of candies doesn’t look “Japanese” though - they’re candies for the current US Presidential election campaign. We have Obama candies, McCain candies, and others - take a look!

We’re really excited to grow our business. Over time we hope to steadily expand our selection of fun, unique, and tasty candies from around the world!