Kitto Katsu

One thing you can't help but notice when visiting any Japanese convenience store, motorway rest stop, market or even gift shop is the abundance of Kit Kats. That's because in Japanese 'Kit Kat' sounds a lot like 'surely win'. Often they are presented in cute little boxes and are given to students as good luck presents before taking exams. Even on single 'fun size' bars there is a space to write the recipient's name.

Due to the popularity of the Kit Kat in Japan they come in many special and limited edition forms. In Japan there have been over 200 different flavours released since 2000 ranging from ginger ale to soy sauce! This year the flavours have been regional. Lucky for me then that I was on a tour of Japan so made it my quest to find as many different Kit Kat flavours as possible. Here were my findings:

Blueberry Cheesecake - Jyo-Koushinetsu (found at Osaka Kansai Airport)

Brown Sugar Syrup (found in a motorway rest stop somewhere between Tokyo and Hakone)

 

Sakura Matcha / Cherry Blossom Green Tea (found at Osaka Kansai Airport)

 

 Cinnamon - Kyoto

 

Hot Japanese Chili (found in Matsumoto)

 

Japanese Strawberry (found at Osaka Kansai Airport)

 

Matcha (found both in Takayama and Osaka Kansai Airport)

 Strawberry Cheesecake - Yokohama (found in a motorway rest stop somewhere between Tokyo and Hakone)

 

Uji Matcha - Kyoto (found at Osaka Kansai Airport)

 

Wasabi - Shizuoka

 

All of the bars apart from the chili bar are white chocolate so taste very sweet. My favourite flavour was cinnamon as the spice cut through the sweetness nicely. I also liked the matcha (green tea) flavours. Matcha, unlike normal green tea, is a bitter flavour so goes really nicely with sweet things such as cakes, ice cream and white chocolate.

 

If you live in the UK you can buy some of the flavours at the Japan Centre.