Pocky Day is a holiday observed every year on the 11th of November. It celebrates the Japanese snack food manufactured by the Ezaki Glico food company. These snacks are coated biscuit sticks named after the Japanese onomatopoeic word “Pokkiri,” which supposedly resembles the sound of the snack being cracked into.

Pocky is a global brand sold in over 30 countries and regions and can easily be found in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, China, and the United States. It is so popular it even won the Guinness World Records for 20 years as the world’s best-selling chocolate-coated biscuit brand in 2019. That is quite an accomplishment, so it is easy to see why it has earned its own holiday.

The History of Pocky Day

In 1966, Ezaki Glico released Pocky Chocolate for the first time. Five years later, they introduced other flavors, including Pocky Almond, which was released in 1971, and Pocky Strawberry, which was released in 1976.

Over the years, Pocky has seen an increase in popularity and can be found in over 30 different countries and regions. It is not only extremely popular all across Asia but also in Europe and the U.S.

Since 1966, there have been over 19 billion boxes of Pocky sold, and the number of boxes estimated to be sold every year is somewhere in the 500 million box range.

Pocky Day originally began on November 11th, 2012, as Pocky & Pretz Day. It was created as a marketing campaign by Ezaki Glico to promote those two products. The date November 11th was chosen because it is 11/11, which looks like a Pocky stick next to a Pretz stick.

Although this “holiday” has only been around since 2012, Ezaki Glico has been doing promotional events around Pocky and Pretz since 1999. Since Pretz is mainly sold in Asia, National Pocky & Pretz Day would become Pocky Day in the U.S.

Some Quick Facts About Pocky

Since we are talking about this iconic sweet snack, we thought we would take a few moments and list some of the things we have learned about it. Although Pocky might look like a simple snack, it has a rich history behind it that few snack foods have. So, let’s take a few moments to learn something about this snack as we enjoy Pocky Day.

• When Pocky was released in 1966, each stick was individually hand-dipped in chocolate.
• Unofficially, Pocky Day began in 1999; officially, it began in 2012.
• Pocky holds the Guinness World Record on Twitter as the most-tweeted brand name within 24 hours. That happened on November 11th, 2013, with over 3.7 million tweets.
• There are over 50 different flavors of Pocky.

Observing Pocky Day

Pocky Day can easily be observed by picking up some Pocky and sharing them with friends and family members. And there are quite a few flavors that people can choose from while celebrating this day.

There are Cookies and Cream Pocky, Strawberry Creme Pocky, Almond Crush Pocky, Crunchy Strawberry Pocky, Matcha Pocky, Chocolate Banana Pocky, and, of course, Chocolate Pocky. Of course, those are only the brands that we could find near us.

Depending on where a person lives, they may find other types of Pocky to enjoy. Everyone can let us know what types of Pocky they enjoy by using the hashtag #PockyDay on social media.