The reference box
What Sakuraco costs and includes
Sakuraco sends traditional Japanese snacks and tea from small makers across Japan, packed around a new theme each month. Recent boxes followed an autumn moon festival, Mt. Fuji, and Okinawa. It comes in one size, and the comparison below uses the month-to-month price.
- Contents
- Up to 20 items: wagashi and other sweets, savory snacks, a tea to pair with them, and one home good such as chopsticks, a ceramic piece, or a furoshiki cloth. A 24-page guide covers the theme and the makers.
- Price and billing
- $37.50 a month. Prepaid plans cost $35.50, $33.50, or $32.50 a box for 3, 6, or 12 months, charged upfront. A tea add-on costs $10 a month.
- Delivery
- Ships from Tokyo. Shipping is $16.99 a box to the US and Canada, and US orders add an import duty of about $5 a box. A monthly box delivered to the US comes to about $60.
- Customization
- None. Sakuraco doesn’t offer a vegan, vegetarian-only, or halal box.
- On Cratejoy
- No. Sakuraco sells direct, and none of the boxes below are Sakuraco products.
Compare the boxes
| Box | Best fit | Cost and commitment | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sakuraco Reference box |
Wagashi, tea, and a home good | $37.50 a month, plus $16.99 shipping and about $5 US import duty. | Monthly, from Tokyo. |
| Bokksu | The same idea from another curator | $39.99 a month, plus $13.99 shipping and $3 US import duty. | Monthly, from Japan. |
| Onsen Box | Japanese teas and hot-spring wellness goods | $93.60 a month. | Monthly, from Japan, in the first week. |
| Simple Loose Leaf Tea | Tea drinkers who can skip the snacks | About $15 a month for two pouches. Free shipping. | Monthly, from the US. |
| Kokoro Care | Regional foods to cook and snack on | $85 a season on subscription, $95 once. Shipping and US or Canada duties included. | Every three months, from Japan. |
| TokyoTreat | Kit Kats, chips, ramen, and sodas | $37.50 a month, with the same shipping and duty as Sakuraco. | Monthly, from Japan. |
Every monthly box here, Sakuraco included, costs less per box on a 6- or 12-month plan.
The alternatives
Closest match to Sakuraco
Bokksu vs Sakuraco
Best for: A subscriber who likes the Sakuraco format and wants a different curator’s picks.
Bokksu ships 20 to 22 Japanese snacks, sweets, and a tea from Japan each month, sourced from family makers and themed around the seasons. Its culture guide lists each item’s origin, flavor notes, and common allergens.
What feels familiar
Traditional sweets and savory snacks, a new tea each month from matcha to hojicha, and a printed guide to the theme.
What changes
Bokksu describes its box as snacks and tea, with no home good. Delivered to the US, a monthly box comes to about $57, a few dollars under Sakuraco. Prepaid plans add extra gift snacks.
Teas and hot-spring goods from Japan
Onsen Box vs Sakuraco
Best for: The Sakuraco fan who liked the tea and the regional finds more than the sweets.
Onsen Box is a Japan-based seller that builds each month’s set around the country’s hot-spring towns. A box can hold rare herbal teas, organic first-harvest teas, local health foods, and onsen bath additives.
What feels familiar
Regional teas and local specialties packed in Japan, with a mix that changes by season.
What changes
Wellness takes over from snacking, so expect bath goods next to the tea. At $93.60 a month, it is the priciest box on this list.
Just the tea, for less
Simple Loose Leaf Tea vs Sakuraco
Best for: The subscriber who stayed for the tea pairing and can do without the snacks.
Simple Loose Leaf Tea Company sends two to four pouches of loose-leaf tea a month, each good for about 12 cups, with tasting notes and steeping instructions. You fill out a tea profile or choose a green-tea-only plan, and the green teas on its list include sencha and genmaicha.
What feels familiar
A monthly tea you didn’t choose, with instructions for brewing it well.
What changes
There are no snacks, and the teas come from US tea companies and small farms across Asia. Two pouches cost about $15 a month with free shipping, less than Sakuraco charges for shipping alone.
A seasonal Japanese pantry
Kokoro Care vs Sakuraco
Best for: A cook who wants Japan’s regional pantry foods along with its sweets, and would rather pay four times a year.
Kokoro Care ships a package of seasonal foods from Japan every three months, each item made by a local farmer or small-batch producer. The fall 2026 box has houjicha yokan, miso candied sweet potato, smoked daikon pickles, a smoked tofu bar, and five-grain udon, with an English brochure of producer stories and recipes.
What feels familiar
Small Japanese makers, regional specialties, and a box that follows the season.
What changes
It arrives quarterly and leans toward pantry foods you cook with. The $85 subscription price includes shipping and import duties to the US and Canada, which works out to less than $30 a month. You can also buy a single package for $95.
Modern snacks instead of wagashi
TokyoTreat vs Sakuraco
Best for: Someone who would trade wagashi and senbei for seasonal Kit Kats and a bowl of ramen.
TokyoTreat is Sakuraco’s sister brand and shares its prices, shipping fees, and help center. The box swaps small makers for big snack brands such as Pocky, Hi-Chew, and Calbee, plus Japan-only Kit Kat flavors, noodles, and drinks like Ramune. A 20-page booklet explains the snacks.
What feels familiar
A themed monthly box on the same billing, with a booklet to read while you taste.
What changes
The snacks turn modern and full size, and the drinks lean toward sodas over tea. The home good is gone, and the monthly cost stays the same.
The honest part
When Sakuraco is still the better fit
Keep Sakuraco if you want wagashi, a tea, and a piece of Japanese homeware in the same box. Bokksu comes closest on the snacks and tea, but none of the other boxes here promise a home good every month.
Keep it, too, if tea is half the appeal. For $10 more a month, Sakuraco adds a second Japanese tea, seven bags, to the same box, with no second subscription or shipping fee.
How we chose these boxes
We started from the reasons people leave Sakuraco: the delivered price once shipping and import duty are added, a wish for different snacks or more tea, and diets it doesn’t cater to. Then we went through Cratejoy’s Japanese snack and tea boxes and kept the ones with a working buy button. No traditional Japanese snack box on the marketplace is taking orders right now, so we added three outside brands that ship from Japan. The photo at the top is Sakuraco’s own product photo of its snack box, set with tea and wagashi.
Questions before switching
What is the closest alternative to Sakuraco?
Bokksu. It ships 20 to 22 traditional Japanese snacks and a tea from Japan each month, with a guide to every item. The main difference is that Bokksu doesn’t include a home good.
Is Sakuraco worth it?
That depends on how much you value the small makers and the home good. The box costs $37.50 a month, but shipping to the US adds $16.99 and import duty adds about $5, so a monthly box delivered to the US costs about $60. A 12-month plan lowers the box price to $32.50.
Does Sakuraco ship to Australia?
Yes. Australia is in the same shipping group as the US, Canada, and the UK, at $16.99 a box, with delivery 7 to 28 days after the box ships.
Can I buy one Sakuraco box without subscribing?
Not directly. Sakuraco only sells subscriptions and suggests signing up for the monthly plan and cancelling after the first box. Kokoro Care sells its seasonal package as a one-time purchase for $95.
Is there a Japanese snack box for vegan or halal diets?
Sakuraco doesn’t offer a vegan, vegetarian-only, or halal box, and none of the snack boxes here promises one either. Read each brand’s ingredient information before you order.
