Kakigōri (かき氷) is a Japanese shaved ice dessert flavored with syrup and a sweetener, often condensed milk.

[8] The traditional way of making kakigōri uses a hand cranked machine to spin a block of ice over a shaving blade.

[9] Popular flavors include strawberry, cherry, lemon, green tea, grape, melon, "Blue Hawaii", sweet plum, and colorless syrup.

A flag with the kanji sign for ice kōri (氷) is a common and traditional way for an establishment to indicate that they are serving kakigōri.

When the owner was thinking of a name for it, he noticed the picture of a polar bear was printed on the labels of the condensed milk's can.

Another account is that Mujaki, a coffee shop in Kagoshima City, started to sell the kakigōri, put milk syrup, sanshoku-kanten (colorful agar), yōkan (soft azuki-bean jelly), sweet beans and fruits in a pattern that resembled a polar bear when seen from overhead, so it was named shirokuma.

One of the brands found in stores, Marunaga Seika, received the Long Seller Award for their continuing work in enriching the Shirokuma distribution.

[15] Ujikintoki (宇治金時 or うじきんとき) is a type of Kakigōri that is made from shaved ice, flavored green tea syrup, sweet bean paste (Azuki bean), mochi, and green tea ice cream (抹茶アイスクリーム, Matcha aisu kurīmu).

[16][17] Ujikintoki is named after the small city of Uji, in Kyoto Prefecture, famous for its green tea and Sakata Kintoki, who is known as Kintarō in Japanese folklore.

[20] Yakigori (焼き氷) is a type of Kakigōri where liquor, often brandy is poured on top and then lit on fire.