[Sunday日Culture] Chaltteok Ice Cream, Did It Come Out in Japan First?

Marshmallow-Wrapped Form Released
Diversified into Over 50 Flavors

Editor's NoteOn a lazy Sunday for both body and mind, a reporter from the International Department brings you an interesting read related to Japanese culture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Do you like ice cream? I usually don't eat sweets much, but strangely, I find myself craving ice cream more in winter. Especially in winter, there is nothing more pleasant than eating ice cream inside a warm, heated house.

The reason I suddenly brought this up is because today's main subject is none other than 'Chaltteok Ice.' This is a steady seller in Korea, where soft glutinous rice cake wraps around ice cream. If you have toured convenience stores, a must-do course on a trip to Japan, you might have seen a similarly packaged ice cream there. It is 'Yukimi Daifuku,' released by Lotte Confectionery in Japan.

'Yukimi Daifuku' released by Japan Lotte. (Photo by Japan Lotte Land website)

Chaltteok Ice was introduced in Korea five years after Lotte launched Yukimi Daifuku in Japan, so today seems like a good opportunity to learn about the predecessor of Chaltteok Ice.

Originally, Yukimi Daifuku has a different ancestor. In 1980, Lotte Japan released an ice cream called 'Wataboshi,' which wrapped ice cream not in glutinous rice cake but in marshmallow. Ice cream wrapped in marshmallow?I'm very curious about how that tastes... Anyway, the market response at the time was quite good, and the product developers wondered, "What kind of ice cream would better suit Japanese tastes? How about ice cream wrapped in glutinous rice cake?" They succeeded in developing ice cream wrapped in glutinous rice cake. Since the rice cake hardens easily when it meets cold ice cream, they had a hard time finding the right dough combination.

Yukimi Daifuku's name targets seasonal demand. Winter is a season when ice cream in forms other than bars, such as sandwich-type ice cream with bread, sells better in the distribution industry. Yukimi (雪見) literally means "watching the falling snow." The name captures the sentiment of eating ice cream while putting your feet under a kotatsu, a Japanese heating device, and watching the snow fall outside with a warm body. You can interpret it as "glutinous rice cake eaten while watching the snow."

In fact, the name was almost 'Tsukimi (月見),' which means "watching the moon" and refers to the Mid-Autumn Festival in Japan. The ice cream developer found a package design in the archives showing a rabbit and family enjoying ice cream under a full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival instead of snow. It seems that the idea of a rabbit pounding rice cake during Chuseok is common to both countries. Therefore, in 2018, Japan actually released a limited edition package targeting the Chuseok season.

Yukimi Daifuku with a rabbit design released by Japan Lotte. (Photo by Japan Lotte Land website)

Ah, so if you ask whether the taste is the same as in Korea, it is completely different. In Korea, it reminds one of mugwort rice cake with red bean filling, but the Japanese product has white dough with vanilla flavor. Lotte also releases seasonal limited flavors like chocolate, and as of September 2021, they have introduced 50 different flavors. Looking at the released flavors, there were strawberry, peach, green tea, pudding, and sweet potato flavors, among others.

In Korea, the spicy cheese tteokbokki flavor of Chaltteok Ice was also released and became a hot topic. Yukimi Daifuku is also sold in Southeast Asia and other regions, with flavors tailored to each country's characteristics.

Why was the flavor reminiscent of mugwort rice cake chosen in Korea? I asked an official out of curiosity, but unfortunately, there are no related records in Korea, so it is difficult to know why a different flavor from Japan was released.

Although the names differ, this glutinous rice cake ice cream is loved in both Korea and Japan, and its long history seems to contribute to the nostalgia. My father often bought ice cream on his way home from work in winter, so eating ice cream in winter brings back childhood memories for me. Even now, many new products flood the market, but naturally, I find myself reaching for the ice cream I have eaten since long ago. Do you have any foods that bring back memories?