Yesterday we finally took the much-awaited Pocky tour at the Glico factory in Kobe. Unfortunately it didn’t exactly blow our minds, though I must say that after viewing a few of the exhibits it seems someone else’s mind must have been blown in order to create them–if you catch my drift. The factory bits were okay, but after that you’re led into a room in which fairies demonstrate how biscuits and ice cream are made. I can chalk those displays up to the normal cuteness and randomness found in Japan, but the “Magic Show” that followed was totally unrelated to the factory and super bizarre.

This Caucasian girl appears on a television before being shrunk down Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-style into a kitchen set below. Then some fruit and vegetables turn into human friends, and they all begin dancing. Next, a demon appears, flying around on a fork. Somehow, they defeat the demon while twirling around, and the show is finished. Yeah, what?

From there, we were taken to see a 3D showing of “The Legend of Pocky,” in which Salt, Milk, Grain and Cacao (pictured above on the plastic bag) fight against an evil demon and create pocky while bumping and crashing along the way. Who knew pocky had such mighty origins? The tour kind of ended abruptly afterwards, so we ate some matcha, or green tea, pocky while trying to make sense of what we just experienced.

On our way out we were each given a box of Pretz featuring the pocky “heroes,” as well as an English explanation of some of what we saw that would’ve been useful prior to taking the tour rather than afterwards. Overall I can say our visits to Asahi & Kirin Breweries and the Nada Sake district and Yamazaki Distillery were much more delightful!

So long, Glico!