Ishiya Shiroi Koibito (literally ‘white lover’) is a European-style langue de chat cookie manufactured in Sapporo, Hokkaidō and we visited their factory at Shiroi Koibito Park during our trip in 2018. It’s easily one of the most famous and popular souvenirs from Hokkaidō and Japan generally. First sold in 1976, it won first prize in Monde Selection in 1986 and now its annual sale of two hundred million cookies ranks second in souvenir unit sales in Japan.

The cookies come in multiple formats, ranging from boxes to tins in various sizes. This is a tin of 24. Each tin is contained in a cardboard box that is pre-wrapped in dark blue paper illustrated with white snow and silver snowflakes. The cardboard box is white and featured a grey line drawing of Mount Rishiri on Rishiri Island in Hokkaidō, which reminded the founder of a Swiss mountain. All this is a reference to the origin of its name: after returning home from skiing one December, the founder casually remarked: It has started snowing white lovers.

The side of the tin featured a blue line drawing of the front elevation of the Ishiya Factory in Sapporo, Hokkaidō.

The cats on the tin are likely a reference to the langue de chat (literally ‘cat’s tongue’) cookie.

Each tin featured a hinged lid, with 27 cookies in three stacks of nine.

Each Shiroi Koibito cookie is individually sealed in packaging illustrated with white snowflakes on a dark blue background and labelled Chocolat Blanc et Langue de Chat.

These cookies consist of a square of white chocolate sandwiched between rounded square langue de chat (unlike the longer, more rectangular versions in Europe)

The cookie smells sweet with a hint of vanilla and dairy. Upon tasting, the crispness of the langue de chat is immediately noticeable before reaching the softer slither of white chocolate, after which the cookie melts in our mouth in the most delicious way to leave a barely-there sweet aftertaste. The cookie has a fine crumb and a light meringue-like crunch that reminds of tiny sugar crystals, while the white chocolate melts to a luxurious creaminess that’s rich with the flavour of dairy for which Hokkaidō is famous.

This is larger tin containing 54 pieces (18 Black, 36 White). It follows a light blue on white colour scheme.

Visitors to Shiroi Koibito Park in Sapporo customize their own tins in this size by replacing the central image of Mt Rishiri with their own photo.

As a testament to the long popularity of Shiroi Koibito, this is the tin from the early 2000s.

The lid is edged in a gold colour and not hinged as in the current version. The illustration on the tin now featured on the Ishiya Shiroi Koibito Black packaging, which we’ll feature soon.

This Ishiya Shiroi Koibito White contained 27 cookies. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan.