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JagaRico: The Japanese Snack’s Best Dad Jokes — Explained!
JagaRico is one of Japan’s most loved snacks — and arguably the most hilarious. Here are some of its best dad jokes, explained in English.
Good snacks make you salivate. But do they make you laugh? JagaRico (じゃがりこ) does both.
If you’ve ever had the patience to look at the back of your JagaRico cup before peeling open the lid, it should’ve hit you with a joke before hitting your tastebuds.
Calbee, the food company that invented JagaRico, boasts a collection of more than 110 flavors. And every one of them has its own set of Japanese dad jokes called dajare (駄洒落) or oyaji gyagu (親父ギャグ) on the back.
“On each product, there are two dajare,” said Matsui Atsushi, brand manager of JagaRico, in a 2018 interview. One dajare is a play on words with the flavor’s name. The other dajare is designed into the barcode.
“I hope that it sparks conversation. Even to have somebody eating alone to giggle at it would make me happy,” said Matsui.
JagaRico dad jokes have in fact caught the attention of many hungry snackers on Japanese social media. So we thought to put these dajare to test with our English readers and Japanese learners here.
