From our other sites
The story
Saitama Prefecture’s famous confection “Jumangoku Manju” is being resold online at prices higher than the manufacturer’s official retail price, according to a report by TV Asahi (ANN) that included direct interviews with resellers. The official online store is currently temporarily suspended, and resellers appear to be listing the buns to meet demand from customers who still want to get their hands on them. On 5ch, threads buzzed with a wide range of topics — surprise at how genuinely delicious the buns are, the fact that name recognition varies by region even within Saitama, and comparisons to reselling problems with other sweets.
Famous manju buns resold online above manufacturer’s price — reporters confront resellers directly
Sat, Sep 5, 12:45 PM (JST)
TV Asahi (ANN)
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
lol (a nod to "Saitaman," a running joke/parody hero mocking the prefecture's low popularity)
but I tried it and was blown away — this stuff is actually delicious.
I'm a Saitama native, but honestly, this is too refined for my taste.
So good! TOO good!!!
Doesn't the manufacturer sell it online themselves?
They do — it's currently at their "Thank You Day" price.
Box of 20 for ¥1,728 plus shipping.
https://www.jumangoku.co.jp/product_cat/net/
People do it even when there's an official store.
On Amazon, if the actual item or a similar one ranks high in search results,
resellers buy it up and relist it at a slightly inflated price.
If it doesn't sell, they just drop it; if it does, they restock and repeat.
Plenty of people find ordering direct from the manufacturer a hassle for one reason or another.
food hygiene manager qualification?
The health department really needs to crack down on stuff like that.
As long as you're not handling anything that touches
actual food safety, I don't think you need one.
If you're really from Saitama, Jumangoku Manju is the first solid food you eat after breast milk.
You're actually from Gunma, aren't you? (a running joke that treats neighboring Gunma as some obscure, almost foreign land)
Classic Saitama-resident thing — there's basically no connection between the different parts of the prefecture.
It's expensive.
Even though it's temporarily suspended right now, there's an official store selling it for even less.
Whenever I'm picking out souvenirs, other options always look tastier to me.
Name recognition-wise it's definitely number one, though.
I usually go with Hakuro-ho myself.
Doesn't western Saitama not even have Bairindo either?
The Kurumikko "offcuts" (discounted broken pieces of a famous Kamakura walnut caramel cookie) always sell out and end up getting resold on Amazon and Rakuten…
Stop buying it all up.
It's not like it's something you absolutely have to buy.
That guy's such a shameless scene-stealer lol
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GcLkz6kbEAA6dLq.jpg
Wait, you eat rice with manju buns as the side dish?
It's temporarily out of stock right now.
There are people who suddenly crave it the moment they can't get it,
plus folks who'll pay a markup on resale sites just for the points.
Huh?!
It's gotta be Ekiso Pie, no contest!
(°∀°) Just go with lemon — lemon's the one
(°∀°)つ here, have a lemon drop
(°～°) ka-ro-rin-ko-ro-rin (playful nonsense mimicking an old candy jingle)
One Mamadol alone is filling enough to get through two bowls of rice.
Jumangoku has a lot of cute staff and the customer service is great.
(°∀°) Even bundled with Gokabo, I still wouldn't feel like making the trip all the way from Tohoku.
Don't you get it? It's people far away who can't buy it in-store who are the ones buying it.
Background and Talking Points
Jumangoku Manju is a long-established Saitama confection famous for its ad slogan “So good, too good” (“umai, umasugiru”), and the “So good! TOO good!!!” reply in the thread is a direct callback to that catchphrase. According to the article, the official online store is currently temporarily suspended, which appears to be fueling demand for resold buns priced above retail. The thread also raised the question of whether reselling snacks requires a food hygiene qualification — though reselling unopened, unprocessed products generally doesn’t require one in Japan, a point the original article doesn’t address. Commenters also brought up reselling issues with similar sweets, suggesting this isn’t a problem unique to Jumangoku Manju.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Saitama’s Famous “Jumangoku Manju” Resold Online Above Manufacturer’s Price — Reporters Confront Resellers.”
Leave a Reply