That’s right, major snack company Calbee has recently announced a brand new limited edition potato chip flavor — Sakura Butter!

Sakura is always a favorite flavor in the spring, when the cherry blossoms bloom. While we’re used to seeing numerous sakura flavored sweets and drinks around that time, combining sakura and potato chips is certainly not something most people would think to do. 

Well, the folks at Calbee put them together anyway, and they’ve even added butter into the equation, which really may be a stroke of genius!

The Sakura Butter chips are actually a limited-time addition to Calbee’s “The Taste of Japan” line of potato chips, which features thick-cut crunchy chips with unconventional Japanese flavors. The catch is, these chips are only sold in select areas of Japan, in the Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions.

▼ Existing flavors in the Taste of Japan series include “Wasabii” (left) and “Mentaiko (seasoned cod roe) Butter” (right).
 

The new Sakura Butter chips will be available in the Kyushu region (Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ooita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa Prefectures) from February 1 and in the Chugoku region (Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima,Yamaguchi Prefectures) and Shikoku region  (Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kochi Prefectures) from February 22. The rest of Japan, alas, will only be able to imagine how delicious the fragrant sakura and rich butter taste together.

▼ At least we can appreciate this photo of the pretty pink packaging with plenty of spring and sakura imagery. The chips are expected to cost about 120 yen (US$1) for a 50 gram (1.76 ounce) bag.
 

If you’re visiting Japan and come across these chips, they might make nice souvenirs. It’s not everyday, after all, that you’ll be able to take home a crunchy, buttery taste of Japanese spring!