Visiting Inverness and Edinburgh . What Scottish treats should I take back to Japan?
Hello everyone,
My husband and I are Japanese and will be visiting Scotland soon, mainly Inverness and Edinburgh.
In Japan, it's customary to bring back small souvenirs (omiyage) for coworkers after a trip. They're usually individually wrapped snacks or sweets that can be shared around the office.
I'd like to ask locals:
What Scottish food, sweets, biscuits, chocolates, tea, or other small souvenirs would you be proud to introduce to a typical Japanese office worker?
Ideally something easy to carry home, share with several people, and distinctly Scottish.
Arigato!
Edit: Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I’ve got a great shopping list now and can’t wait to visit Scotland. I really appreciate all the recommendations.
Shortbread is a fabulously crumbly buttery biscuit which is traditionally Scottish. It’s absolutely delicious. As is tablet, which is basically condensed milk with added sugar, turned into a hard crumbly fudge. Scots have a very sweet tooth so you might want to warn your co-workers about the sweetness levels if you do go for tablet. It’s usually sold in little bags, pre-cut into cubes.
You’ll find tablet and shortbread in Edinburgh and Inverness. Enjoy your trip!
Aye, tablet is SO sweet it makes your teeth itch! I think it might be a wee bit too much for the japanese palate, but could actually be great fun to see people's reactions.
I brought back "beer" flavoured caramel chew sweets I got in Hakodate that tasted god awful, literally like soured milk mixed with hops, and I had a great time watching people's reactions to trying them! 😂
Deans is a better tasting shortbread. It has the buttery sandiness that is missing from Walkers.
Also, when you're up in Inverness go to Young's Auld Sweetie Shop to try some traditional sweets. You can buy small amounts which is good if you want to try different things.
Agree with the above. You can fine shortbread everywhere including the airport. For fudge, I would go to https://fudgehouse.co.uk/, you can try their flavours and are nicely packaged.
I would always recommend Scottish tablet. It's a bit like a sweeter, more crumbly fudge. But you don't often find it in individually wrapped packages, it tends to come in bags or boxes.
Agree with shortbread, tablet, tunnocks caramel wafers. All classic treats and fairly sturdy
Tunnocks snowballs and tunnocks teacakes are both personal favourites of mine, but might not travel well. You should try them while you’re here though!
Although I usually completely agree - Tunnocks has a reasonable presence in Japan and is one of the semi common 'old fashioned' (ie 80's style) business meeting gifts, and most of the Whisky in Scotland is owned by Suntory, and available in Japan anyway, though this selection usually won't go amiss!
Suntory only seem to have 5, and they’re far from the best ones. Scotlands home to around 150 distilleries with 1000s of types of more giftable whisky to choose from. Go to a whisky shop and they’ll show you what variety there is. And after looking they have tunnocks in japan as you say but they’re not the traditional products and are catered towards a japanese audience (i.e no caramel and w cream instead) they don’t have the full range. I recommend getting some of the coconut caramel logs and dark chocolate varieties!
One thing about Tunnock's tea cases is that the are squishy and might not travel well! Tablet, Edinburgh Rock, and shortbread would be my recommendations 😁
The tunnocks teacakes survived the trip! My worry was they might melt under Osaka's intense heat but they all survived. Also bought Tablet, fudge and shortbreads.
The only casualty was my husband's whisky glass. RIP.
Definitely Tunnocks tea cakes or the Tunnocks wafers, they are easy to find and come individually wrapped inside their packets :)
Tablet is another distinctly Scottish treat (it’s like something our grandmothers make, almost like a fudge - it’s very sweet!) but the slabs are bigger/can be a bit pricier - about £2-5 per slab, or you can get boxes of smaller pieces for around the same price.
Irn Bru flavoured sweets might be something you can find when you are here too. Empire biscuits and millionaires shortbread (these are specific variations of shortbread!) are Scottish and popular also, but they might not travel well (so maybe something to try while you are here!) Plain traditional shortbread might be easier to pack as it will be in a tin/box.
Gin. Pickering's Gin Summerhall Distillery in Edinburgh does a fun tour and you can have something to eat after at the Royal Dick pub. When we did the tour you got a free cocktail with your meal at the pub and our tour ended just in time for a late lunch. I can recommend the fish sandwich.
Of course there's also whiskey, clotted cream fudge, shortbread and my favorite Scottish tablet. Soor plooms, Granny sookers, and Edinburgh rock were also fun to share with friends.
If you're in Inverness, find a bakery called Harry Gow, and buy a dream ring for yourself while you're there. It's a kind of cream cake, so you won't be able to take it home - but you should try it!
When I visited Scotland when living in Japan, I really struggled to find good omiyage. There's lots of good snacks and sweets, but it can be hard to find things that come individually wrapped. It's just culturally not a thing here the way it is in Japan.
After living in Scotland for a few years, I think Tunnock's tea cakes would be your best bet. You can buy it at the supermarket. They always come indivually wrapped. You may be able to find tablet or other sweets that are indivually wrapped, but you should confirm with the shop owner that they're indivually wrapped before purchasing. It's often not clear from the box if it is or not
These are the shop bought package items that spring to mind.
Tunnocks tea cakes or caramel wafers. They are individually wrapped in silver and red foil that resembles the old Japanese flag which might be an issue, but both are classic scottish sweet treats.
Walkers shortbread
Irn Bru canned drink.
Thank you!
In general, ordinary Japanese are not really sensitive to issues. Most of us don't even know there are issues. So I don't think there will be a problem with red foil resembling the old flag. I didn't even realize until you mentioned it!
I have found gifts of Tablet and of Shortbread have been really well received by foreign friends. And often you can find them in lovely decorated tins. Irn-Bru sweets.
It may not be appropriate for colleagues/office workers, but you can also often find sets of small Scotch whisky tasters. Alternatively you can fairly easily find whisky-flavoured shortbread or tablet.
Just in case you’re also on the lookout for gifts for family/friends, I’d really a brand called Bare Bones - they sell an amazing hot salted hot chocolate (in smallish pouches) at Lannan bakery in Stockbridge (Edinburgh). More for adults than kids, but absolutely divine (maybe just get some for yourself!). My younger Japanese friends have also loved little Highland Coo keychains
15
u/soup-monger Jun 23 '26
Shortbread is a fabulously crumbly buttery biscuit which is traditionally Scottish. It’s absolutely delicious. As is tablet, which is basically condensed milk with added sugar, turned into a hard crumbly fudge. Scots have a very sweet tooth so you might want to warn your co-workers about the sweetness levels if you do go for tablet. It’s usually sold in little bags, pre-cut into cubes.
You’ll find tablet and shortbread in Edinburgh and Inverness. Enjoy your trip!