‘Noir, Japan’s Hard-Boiled Bittersweet Answer to Oreos’

Jake Adelstein (author of Tokyo Vice) on his blog Tokyo Paladin: For decades, Japan’s Oreos weren’t made by Nabisco at all. They were produced domestically by Yamazaki Biscuits, under a licensing arrangement with what eventually became Mondelez International. This was, by most accounts, a reasonable arrangement. The cookies were local. The quality was consistent. Nobody was complaining. Then Mondelez did what corporations do when things are working fine. The license expired, and Mondelez mo...