Frequently Asked Questions

Various Japanese candies and snacks are pre-selected for each month’s box, with each month offering a new combination of popular, rare, and Japanese exclusive candies and snacks.

We have a long list, but let’s look at the three most important points.

1. We actively search for the best international shipping deals available.  We take saving our customers money very seriously, even if this means more work for us when we use different shipping methods for different countries.
2. We ship directly from Japan. Our snacks and candies have not languished in a sweaty container ship for a month before being “express shipped” from a foreign distribution center.
3. We offer monthly recurring packages that allow our customers to enjoy Japanese snacks each month without the bother of filling out paperwork each time. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time; after a subscription is canceled, you will receive the remaining boxes you have paid for, but no more subscription fees will be collected.
4. We don’t use fancy packing materials to fill in the voids snacks should occupy.  Our boxes are filled to the very top with delicious Japanese treats you can eat.

Bonus: We are a family that truly loves Japanese snacks, and Freedom Japanese Market is more than a business to us. We try all the snacks and do our best to include a variety of sweet, sour, savory (and crazy) snack selections in each pack. If we wouldn’t eat it ourselves, we won’t add it to our boxes!

Of course, we cannot guarantee that you will love everything in every box, however, we can guarantee that we put in a lot of time trying new snacks and will only include the candies we would want to buy for ourselves (or at least try once for the experience). We will never ship a box we would not want to give to a loved one.

Each box has about 6 to 15 candies and snacks depending on the size purchased. 

To keep our prices reasonable, we need to negotiate with suppliers. This means we currently are not providing customized snack boxes, however, please feel free to place requests (info@freedomjapanesemarket.com) for future packages!

We take our customers’ safety very seriously. If the person receiving this subscription has a severe allergy, we ask them to make sure to read the notes we include in each box as we do mark products containing nuts or dairy. We also ask our customers to keep in mind cross contamination is a possibility in many of the candies and snacks we send. When in doubt, it is probably safer to not eat that product and instead share it with a friend.

Yes! Our subscription box makes a great holiday, birthday, or graduation gift, and can be sent as a care package to loved ones in school and the military. Feel free to give one to some or all your family members.

If you would like two or three boxes for yourself, we would be happy to work something out.

If you order between the 1st and 14th of the month, your first package will be sent soon after the 15th. Future packages will be sent a little after the 15th of each month. If you order after the 15th of the month, you will automatically be sent that month’s box, and the next month’s box will be shipped a little after the 15th of future months.

Examples:

If you subscribe on the 10th of the month, your first box will be sent a little after the 15th. Your future boxes will be sent a little after the 15th of each month.

If you subscribe on the 22nd of the month, that month’s box will be shipped to you right away. Future boxes will be shipped a little after the 15th of each month.

We create new boxes on the 15th of each month, but occasionally, a product will get held back when being delivered to our office, or the post office will take a couple of days longer than expected to ship all of our outgoing packages. We always strive to have our boxes ship soon after the 15th, but we do not want to promise anything we cannot follow through on every time.

In order to keep our rates reasonable, we utilize SAL shipping (airmail to country, surface within the country), so packages take between 10 and 20 business days to arrive at our Club Members’ doors. This 10 to 20 day estimate is given by the post office, and in some cases (especially regarding packages shipped to Spain, Argentina, and Mexico), shipping can take longer. If you have not received your package a month after it has been shipped, please contact your local post office. In many cases, they have the package set aside after they were unable to deliver it the first time. Please contact us if the package is not at your local post office a month after it has been sent.

We will always give a refund if we have made a mistake on an order, however, we cannot offer refunds if the shipping address we are given is incomplete or contains the wrong information. Please double check your shipping information when creating your subscription.

To keep our subscription box prices low, we do not use tracking numbers for our boxes. We provide this service on our Services page for an extra fee (the additional amount of postage the post office charges for this service). Lost packages, however, are very rare, and the Japanese postal service is extremely careful. If you have paid for your subscription, you can rest assured that your package is on its way to your house.

No problem! Log in to your Freedom Online Japanese Market account (top of the page) and change your information.

If you did not create an account when you subscribed to our service, send an email to info@freedomjapanesemarket.com with the new shipping address and we will change it for you as soon as possible. Please note that we tend to be very busy right around the 15th of each month, and often do not have time to check emails, so make sure to contact us as far in advance as possible. If you will move after the 15th of the month, make sure to send us an email with your new address at the beginning of the month. Freedom is not responsible for undeliverable packages.

Although we try to send out our packages at the end of the month, we occasionally experience slight delays when a maker ships new or very rare snack to us. That being said, we do our best to get your package to you in a timely fashion. Packages usually reach their destination within 10 to 20 business days of shipment. Please note this is the estimate given by the post office, and is not a guarantee. Most packages are received in the first week of the month (for the previous month’s box). Please contact us if your package has not reached you by the 20th of the month after it was sent.

We work very hard to find the most affordable shipping avialable for each country.  We charge a flat fee — normally $3 for Puchi, $5 for Original and $9 for family for most countries — that covers a portion of the actual cost of shipping.  The remaining shipping costs we cover ourselves.  

The first payment is collected when the subscription is created and following subscription fees are automatically paid on the 15th of each month.  We collect the international shipping fee separately a few days after.

Our customer service team is only able to consider two types of returns: damaged / missing goods, or a mistake on our part. If products are damaged or missing from a box, please take a picture and send it to us via email within 48 hours of receiving the box. If you believe we have made a mistake in your order, please contact our customer support as soon as you can.

You can cancel your subscription at any time, without fees or penalties. Just remember if you cancel after a subscription fee has been collected, you will receive the remaining box you have paid for, but will not be charged for future subscription fees.

Example: If you cancel after paying for a box, you will receive the final box, but future subscription payments will not be collected.


Canceling a subscription is very easy and only takes a few minutes. Log into your “Customer Portal” and click on the cancel button. You will be sent a confirmation email shortly after. The remaining boxes in the plan will be shipped, and no further subscription fees will be collected. Please note that we cannot “skip” packages.

Note: Signing up for a customer account in checkout is not required.  If you did not opt to create a customer account when you created your subscription, you will first need to do so before canceling your account.  To create a customer account please just click on the “Customer login” at the top of our home page.  Then click the sign-up link next to the “New user?” line.  Please use the email you used to create the subscription to make a new account.  You can then sign into your account to cancel your subscription.  If you have any problems creating an account, please contact us (info@freedomjapanesemarket.com) using the email address you used to create your subscription.  

We pack all of our single orders within 48 hours of purchase. The post office picks up boxes from our office every other day, excluding public holidays and weekends. To keep our rates reasonable, we utilize SAL shipping (airmail to country, surface within the country), so packages normally take between 10 to 20 business days to arrive to your home. Please note that this is an estimate given by the post office, and they do not guarantee this delivery time. In some cases, shipping can take a little longer. Contact your local post office if your package has not arrived within a month of shipment. Contact us if the package has not arrived at your local post office a month after being shipped from Japan.

Note: Packages to some countries tend to take a little more time than others. If you are from Mexico, Spain, or a country in South America, please allow a little extra time for your package to arrive. Also, please know that packages being shipped to the east coast of Canada and the US often take the full 20 business days to arrive.