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Major snack manufacturer Lotte’s “Pie no Mi” (literally, nuts from a pie tree) is a favorite, long-selling snack in Japan, available in any convenience store or super market. The standard version of the simple yet tasty treat is made from countless thin pastry layers filled with a smooth chocolate filling baked to a crisp, flaky consistency. And if that doesn’t already sound good enough, they’ve now come up with a special, extra-large version of the pies. But like so many other limited edition sweets, the “giant” pies are proving to be quite difficult to come by, something that our very own Mr. Sato from the Japanese RocketNews24 site has found out the hard way.

These special Ōkina Pie no Mi Hakko Butter Pie (Large Pie Nuts: Fermented Butter Pie Style) are actually supposed to be three times the size of the regular pies, and will be sold only from April 30 until May 6, which coincides with the Golden Week holidays here in Japan. And what’s more, they’ll be sold exclusively at one location only, the Takashimaya Department Store in Shinjuku.

▼A close-up look at the triple-size Pie no Mi, which are filled with custard chocolate instead of regular dark chocolate — a box of eight pieces is priced at 1,080yen (US$10.50).
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Now, naturally, we were anxious to try the extra-large pies, so our Mr. Sato hurried to Takashimaya the very first day they came out, only to find that they were already sold out for the day. Lotte has announced that 6,000 boxes of the special edition snack would be sold in total, but it definitely looks like there’ll be fierce competition for the pies during the upcoming holidays! Although customers were limited to buying up to 10 boxes, the pies apparently didn’t last past noon the first day. (Yes, it was all a bit like what we had seen with the Sublime Bitter flavor Kit Kats at the Kit Kat Chocolaterie. )

▼The sign with a note attached telling us the pies were sold out for the day
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Well, it seems like anyone wanting to get their hands on the large Pie no Mi had better be prepared to get to Takashimaya very early in the day, since according to the staff at the shop, about 30 people had lined up from around 9:30am, thirty minutes before the department store even opened! And once the shop was in business, the pies were gone in about an hour.

If you’re serious about getting your hands on the large-sized pies and willing to spend an early morning waiting in line, they’re being sold at the “Season Event Square” on the B1 floor of Shinjuku Takashimaya, and you’ll want to wait at the basement floor entrance, which is where the line will be, and not on the ground floor.

▼The basement entrance where you need to line up for the Pie no Mi
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Oh, and for those of you not familiar with Pie no Mi, here’s a video that shows how the snack is made. We hope you enjoy looking at all that pastry and chocolate!

Original article by: Hidenori Sato
Photos: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]