(More) Kit Kats in Japan

I came, I saw, I bought Kit Kats.

As I have mentioned before, I like to collect Kit Kats from different regions in Japan. It started out innocently, but has sort of developed into an obsessive and nerdy hobby. I'm not even living in Japan at the moment, but I still occasionally check the Nestle Japan website for Kit Kat updates. FYI, there's a new thing where you can order custom-made Kit Kat packaging, complete with your own photo and message. How bloody cool is that? I'll have my face on a Kit Kat wrapper, thanks.

On my recent visit, I was able to tick off several items on my Kit Kat bucket list. First, I came across the special edition Tohoku region Kit Kat in a souvenir shop at Aizu Tajima station in Fukushima. This was a Zunda-fumi, or Edamame Soybean flavoured Kit Kat. It was created by Nestle to support Tohoku after the earthquake, and 10 yen of each chocolate bar sold went to the relief fund.

A few days later we were riding the Tokaido Shinkansen line to get to Nagoya. At Nagoya Station, I picked up a cool box of Kit Kats designed to represent the four major stations on the Tokaido line: Shin-Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto and Nagoya. Each individual chocolate bar even has a little picture of the different types of bullet trains! Although the flavour of this variety is a simple milk chocolate, I like to imagine people buying these so they can eat a Kit Kat at each stop on the line. At least, that's what I would do.

To my immense excitement, in a souvenir store at a shopping mall in Odaiba, Tokyo, was a whole stand of Kit Kats. Although I had found many notorious flavours on my last trip to Japan, there was one that I had missed out on - the crowning glory of Japanese Kit Kats: Wasabi. And it was here. The Shizuoka-Kanto regional edition, Tamaruya-Honten Wasabi. I laughed like a maniac and purchased it immediately, knowing it was destined for some poor, unsuspecting victim's Christmas stocking.

All too soon, the trip came to an end, and I found myself at Narita Airport, with 800 yen to my name. In what is becoming a slightly embarrassing tradition on each of my Japan trips, I ended up spending my very last yen on a box of Tokyo Rum and Raisin flavoured Kit Kats. Because I'm classy like that.

Kit Kats in Japan: A Journey

As a chocoholic, one of my main goals in Japan was to collect as many Kit Kats as possible. In New Zealand, we just have the standard milk chocolate, caramel, and cookies 'n cream chocolate bars. But I had fond memories of enjoying green tea, apple and strawberry flavoured Kit Kats during my time as an exchange student in Hiroshima, and I knew there were many more out there, with new seasonal and regional varieties being added each year.

Kit Kats are especially popular in Japan because the name 'Kit Kat' pronounced in Japanese sounds like 'Kitto Katsu', which roughly translates to 'certain win'. In this sense, Kit Kats have become an unusual good luck charm in Japan, particularly among students sitting exams who need a little bit of the old Nestle sweetness to help them towards a 'certain win'.

Green tea and vanilla

'Adult Sweetness' Raspberry

Over the course of five months, the Kit Kat collection became quite impressive indeed. Each Kit Kat came to have a story behind it - a memory of where, when and how it was obtained. A rainy day in Kyoto saw the procurement of Yatsuhashi cinnamon and Houjicha roasted tea flavoured Kit Kats, where the lady at the souvenir shop laughed and said 'foreigners love Kit Kats, don't they?'

On our trip to Miyajima, we had been disappointed because the famous floating torii had been under construction. The disappointment was quickly replaced by delight upon discovering a pack of Hiroshima Golden Citrus Kit Kats.

On the first day of summer, a reluctant visit to 7-Eleven to pay the bills resulted in the triumphant discovery of a new vanilla ice cream flavoured Kit Kat. I bought three packs, then had to get extra money out to pay the bills.

Yatsuhashi cinnamon and Houjicha roasted tea

Golden Citrus Blend

Vanilla ice cream

News quickly spread of the Kit Kat collecting mission, and soon I was bombarded with advice by Japanese friends and fellow exchange students - where to go to buy them, what flavours to look out for. I remember on a group trip to Nara, a Japanese friend gallantly went into souvenir shops asking on my behalf if they stocked any special Nara Kit Kats. It had turned into a highly competitive treasure hunt, with everyone wanting to bask in the Kit Kat glory. No expense was too great: 1050 yen, or about $16, was recklessly spent on a box of Rilakkuma hotcake flavoured Kit Kats, which came in a big fancy box, but only contained 12 little chocolate bars...

Rilakkuma hot cake

Part of the final collection

I didn't eat any of my Kit Kats until a couple of weeks before I left Japan. They were too precious, like little edible relics of my life in Japan. Then I realised they weren't going to all fit in my luggage, so I thought, bugger it, and we ended up eating most of the five months worth of Kit Kats in one night. I thought I would never be able to eat another Kit Kat again. But alas, guess what my last purchase in Japan was - at Kansai International Airport, past immigration, in the Duty Free shopping area, using my last remaining yen. Yup. Kit Kats.

Sakura green tea and 'peace' strawberry, packed into hand luggage

Blueberry cheesecake... also packed into hand luggage