3 April 2009

CONTRIBUTED BY MEREDITH NOVARIO

I went to pay a bill at Lawson’s last night and treated myself to a Kit Kat. A PEACH Kit Kat. There is absolutely no limit to the flavors the Japanese are willing to turn into a Kit Kat. Who do I thank for that?

Craving green tea, a banana, a cafe latte, azuki beans or chestnuts? Pull up a chair and hunker down with a rainbow of Kit Kats. White with Hokkaido Milk not to be confused with French Bretagne Milk or Nasu Milk for that matter have all made solo Kit Kat debuts.

I found out (by that I mean that I consulted the all-knowing and always right Wikipedia) that Nestle produces Kit Kats here whereas Hershey produces them at home. Who knew?

Also read that Kit Kat sounds a bit similar to a Japanese expression kitto katsu meaning, “I hope you succeed” or “win without fail”.  And that because of that Kit Kats have been given as good luck tokens for school examinations and such.

And that right there is a great excuse to stock up on Kit Kats so that you have them on hand to pass out whenever someone you know and love needs a stick of success. Or you’re just craving a little bit of that winning feeling yourself like right after you get the kids down for the night.

13 COMMENTS

  1. They might not make it anymore. Many flavors are seasonal/limited time only. I used to enjoy one once in a while, but they have been difficult to find for a while now. Check the Family Mart on 58 at the light just before the light for 23 (as you’re heading north from Lester/Foster). They used to have some in there and that was the last place I could find them. The only flavors I’ve been able to find lately have been the regular and the salt and caramel. Oh, and I saw a dark chocolate flavor too.

  2. On our way back from Haneda Airport last weekend, we saw boxes of Soy Sauce Kit Kats, Intense Roast Soybean Kit Kats, Sweet Potato Kit Kats, and Wasabi Kit Kats. I now believe these strange and unusual flavors exist…..

  3. I loved the ‘good luck’ info- I didn’t know about that but think it’s awesome. Finding the various kinds of kit kats has been on of my families fun things we do. We’ve found that the farther you are from base, the more likely you are going to be to find the different flavored kit kats. You can find them at Lawsons, the Coocos that is a convenience store, Max Value and I’m sure other places. Our favorites so far have been bubble gum and apple vinegar kit kats. Ones we haven’t really like would be the V-8 looking ones or the benimo ones.

  4. I was at a Lawson’s today and could only find two types of Kit Kats- Strawberry and original. I guess I’ll have to shop around. The green tea variety sounds good.

    P.S. I hope your comment about Wikipedia being “all-knowing and always right” was made in jest…