Frequenters of the Japanese import aisle in stores overseas may be familiar with Meiji¡¯s iconic Hello Panda chocolate snacks. What many may not realize, however, is that the panda-shaped cookies are no longer sold in Japan ¡ª and haven¡¯t been for more than three decades.
Hello Panda is a bite-size crunchy biscuit with a panda illustration printed on it and chocolate-cream filling. Meiji started selling the snack domestically in 1987 under the name Konnichiwa Panda, riding the wave of Japan¡¯s panda boom sparked by the birth of giant panda Tong Tong at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.
But despite the panda craze, the product struggled to stand out in Japan¡¯s fiercely competitive confectionery market, and Meiji stopped selling them just two years later, in 1989.
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