Gift for male Japanese penpal from a Cdn

Okay everyone here is the deal.

Im 20, he is 21. I am from Toronto, Canada, he is from Osaka. Basically, we have sent quite a few emails back and forth and now we have sent a few post letters containing photographs. But I would like to send him an actual gift.

He has expressed an interest in Canada and has even been to the Vancouver,Rockies,Jasper area. I am in Toronto.

Long story short, I am at a loss of ideas as to what to send him. Obviously something unique and possibly only found in Canada. But thats tricky and ignorant of me considering I am not aware of what may only be available exclusively in Canada ...



Im so lost ...

Japanese love baseball, how about a Bluejays cap or shirt?

Food is often a token of deep appreciation. I once sent a couple of mangoes to a Japanese penpal of mine and she loved them so much she wrote me back!

So why not send him a small (8 oz.) bottle of Canadian maple syrup? Be sure to send Grade B, since Grade A is pretty light and lacks the earthiness of Grade B.

Or if you live in the Pacific Coast, why not a small jar of preserve of blackberry or other native fruit? Your JPN penpal will find it nice to taste something he would never find in Japan.

Hi. I am a Japanese immigrant and living in Toronto too.

There is always similar topic in a site called ''e-maple'' which has Japanese BBS for Japanese in Canada.

In the BBS, these are some samples of gift ideas which was very appreciated. Maple sugar & maple butter (not syrup), salmon jerkey, Dare's maple cookie (if he likes sweets), cute-labeled jams (such as Greaves in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Especially Rhubarb is not available in Japan).

As you said that he'd been to BC and Alberta already, I believe he have bought a bottle of maple syrup already. Most of Japanese visitors buy it once but it's not appreciated as we expect because most of people don't know how to use it. Pancake is not so popular in Japan.

It would be a good idea to give Bluejays cap or shirt if he likes baseball. Do you know what kind of sport he likes? Also consider Mapleleafs or Raptors if he likes hockey/basketball.

Don't forget 2010 winter olympics! You can buy T shirt, towel, jacket, etc at the Bay at Yonge and Queen.

Ice wine is only available in this area but I don't think a good idea if he likes to drink. I gave it to three people but none of them were appreciated because they expected the taste same as regular wine, not desert wine.

candy! The kinds that are unique to canada. Everyone loves candy.