Gifts from Calgary/Canada?

[troutman]

[JBR]

Callebaut chocolates

[Phaneuf3]

^^^^
I'll see you and raise you:

[North East Goon]

Bring some live gophers, see if you upset the balance of things. You know - really leave your mark.

[IliketoPuck]

That episode of the simpsons where Bart brought a frog to Austrailia and destroyed the natural ecosystem.

Bring a non-indigenous rapidly multiplying animal.

[socktape]

Not easy to pack but....

Beer.
Big Rock, Wild Rose, some other local Brew.

[Byrns]

Bring some chocolate bars or other candy they might not have... (eg Coffee Crisp)

[Vex]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Some beef jerky and pemmican.

The custom's guys have given me a hard time for this in the past (I just had some on me to eat whilst traveling). Is this still an issue? I don't see why it would be a big deal.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

That episode of the simpsons where Bart brought a frog to Austrailia and destroyed the natural ecosystem.

Bring a non-indigenous rapidly multiplying animal.

Mountain Pine Bettles.

[Boblobla]

People are pretty sensitive about Canadian beef over seas with all the mad cow nonsense. I got hassled in England about some jerky I had in my bag that I forgot about. At least the dog smelled that and not my coke though.

[Vex]

Originally Posted by socktape

Not easy to pack but....

Beer.
Big Rock, Wild Rose, some other local Brew.

Good idea, I'll have to do some customs research.

[Tron_fdc]

I go to China quite a bit, and I take a carton of Players Green Death unfiltered cigarettes. They love that stuff for some reason.

When I was working in Korea they loved honey. Apparently there are no honey bees over there due to the pollution, so the stuff is maaaaad expensive to import. Whenever the Koreans came over here they would buy 20kg's of the stuff and take it home.

Something gawdy, bright and annoying (like novelty lighters) are always a crowd pleaser.

[Vex]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

People are pretty sensitive about Canadian beef over seas with all the mad cow nonsense. I got hassled in England about some jerky I had in my bag that I forgot about. At least the dog smelled that and not my coke though.

You know the world has gone to hell when beef jerky is a controlled substance.

[Vex]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I go to China quite a bit, and I take a carton of Players Green Death unfiltered cigarettes. They love that stuff for some reason.

When I was working in Korea they loved honey. Apparently there are no honey bees over there due to the pollution, so the stuff is maaaaad expensive to import. Whenever the Koreans came over here they would buy 20kg's of the stuff and take it home.

Something gawdy, bright and annoying (like novelty lighters) are always a crowd pleaser.

I took some people from Japan camping and they were the most blown away by Rice Krispie squares of all things. Each of them took a jumbo sized box of Rice Krispies. The things we take for granted...

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

Bring some live gophers, see if you upset the balance of things. You know - really leave your mark.

There is a thriving trade in gophers as pets in Japan already!

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Vex

You know the world has gone to hell when beef jerky is a controlled substance.

Hell, like anyone in the UK isn't mad already.

Rang my mum at the height of the mad cow scare several years ago and asked how things were going, her reply

'Great, beef has never been cheaper, I'm filling up the freezers with joints'.

[FurnaceFace]

I asked a friend of mine who is married to a woman from Japan, and frequents the country regularly. I asked him for his views:
----------

Rules I have seen laid out:

1. Make it a consumable.
1.1 Make each item very similar. See NOTE below.
2. Make it something expensive with a label on it.
3. Don't make it homemade (unless you know the receiver).


With that said, here are my experiences.

As cliched as it is, nothing can go wrong with the gift of maple. Laura Secord has some good, albeit typical, omiyage (souveniers). Maple leaf shaped anything works. Chocolates, hard candy, sugar. It all works well. Sobeys and other stores have maple flakes in the syrup section.
Light and non-breakable.

Dollarama used to sell Maple Cream Cookies, 350 grams for a buck. Labelled "from Canada" and everything. Now the label is not so good, something about "processed in Canada", and there's a big ol' Dollarama $1.50 tag printed right on the packaging. Depending on the closeness of the recepients, these still might work. They are still just as good as the Dare ones that can be bought at Superstore for $3.50. Relatives still love them.

Japan is a country of two chocolate bars: Snickers and KitKat. Tell this guy, as a side note, that about 50 different kinds of Kit Kats are available in the land of the rising sun. Don't leave Narita before hitting the shopping area in the arrivals area. So, any different chocolate bar might work, depending on the audience. Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Bar go along way with the in-laws.

Rice Krispie Squares. Seriously, a box of Rice Krispies, a couple bags of marshmallows (they are outrageously and I mean outrageously expensive in Japan, if they can be found at all), margarine (no need to pack, this can be found in Japan), someone's kitchen and the time to make them, friends for life made. In a pinch, a box of pre-made ones work well. It is rice, after all.

Smoked salmon. It's ridiculously expensive at YVR, super cheap at Superstore before travel.

Salmon jerky. Should be easy to find in Calgary.

Ice wine. Difficult to transport, wins hearts, though.

This also is cliched, but the art of omiyage is that "it's the thought that counts". The very fact that you thought about bringing something weighs far more heavy than the item itself. Keep it sweet, keep it small, make it thoughtful. Maybe wrap it up neatly, but this is a first time visit, ignorance of the rules can be broken as the Japanese won't be expecting the gifts.

NOTE:
A thing to potentially get caught on: if the recipients know each other, they will compare. Watch this as this can be seen as favoritism.

[coaster]

Maybe too left coast but some nice cedar encased gift packs of smoked salmon.

[Berger_4_]

Rye!

[Yeah_Baby]

Please don't take cowboy anything.