If you’re looking to magically blend your wafer-orientated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fantasies and the most sophisticated of international shopping surrounds, then you’ve got to pay a visit to a Kit Kat Chocolatory in Japan.
Although there’s eight of these posh chocolatier-themed Kit Kat stores scattered in various locations throughout the land of the rising sun, I chose to visit the most revered chocolatory, located in the glamorous food hall of the Daimaru department store at Tokyo Station.
This chocolatier-cum-retail outlet, set among displays of chocolates laced with diamonds and other posh patissier treats, is a far cry from your regular Aussie department store or supermarket choccies stand.
Adorned with red crystal chandlers hanging from the ceiling and glass cabinets, the artisan stall delicately showcases some of Japan’s most revered confectionaries. A smiling white-gloved hostess hands out free Kit Kat samples from a silver tray at the front of the chocolatory, while another smartly dressed employee stands behind the cashier, processing the afternoon’s Kit Kat purchases.
Saturday shoppers are lapping up the gourmet ‘I Love Fruit’ range – featuring blueberry, raspberry, passionfruit, yuzu and strawberry flavours – and ‘I Love Tea’ flavours – including green tea; black tea, oolong tea, roasted green tea and green tea with roasted rice. There’s also individually wrapped Sublime Kit Kat fingers for sale in white, milk and bitter chocolate, and decorated mixed Kit Kat chocolate boxes themed ‘thank you’, ‘special’ or ‘congratulations’.
Although it may seem slightly eccentric to go to such great lengths to display a simple chocolate wafer, Kit Kats are more a symbol of luck and a prestigious gift than merely a snacking option in Japan.
...people started sending Kit Kats to students doing their university entrance exams to cheer them up, as Kit Kat sounds like ‘you’ll surely win’ in Japanese.
“More than 15 years ago, people started sending Kit Kats to students doing their university entrance exams to cheer them up, as Kit Kat sounds like ‘you’ll surely win’ in Japanese,” explains Ryoji Maki, marketing manager for confectionary business group, Nestlé Japan.
“In January 2003, we found that the sales started jumping up in Kyushu (a south-west island of Japan), so we did some research to find out why. We asked students what they have as a lucky charm. Number one was a traditional lucky charm that they get at temples and shrines. The second top answer was Kit Kat.
“The particular example was in Kyushu but many people around Japan are now buying Kit Kats as a lucky charm. And these days, Kit Kats are loved by everyone.”
The word ‘love’ seems to underestimate the Japanese obsession with the Nestlé brand. Kit Kat is Japan’s most popular regional product, with 32 flavours sold throughout the country’s various outlets.
There’s the standard set of Kit Kat products, sold at supermarkets: the best selling Otona-no-amasa green tea; the second highest seller, Otona-no-asama (dark chocolate) and the original Kit Kat. Then there are four flavours sold exclusively to tourists at Japan’s international airports – Japanese Strawberry; Uji green tea; Sakura green tea; and Hokkaido melon with mascarpone cheese.
, based on locally grown ingredients already proven to be popular in specific Japanese localities. For example, rum and raisin is sold only in Tokyo; red bean sandwich is available in Kanto and Hokuriku; and Wasabi Kit Kats can be bought as souvenirs of Shizuoka and Kanto.
A tempting display of Kit Kats in one of Japan's chocolatories.
“If I travel to Okinawa, I find Kit Kat there with sweet potato. It is a popular and famous food in the area so if I visit, I will buy some Kit Kat and bring it back with me to my home as a memory,” says Maki.
Finally, the Kit Kat Chocolatory, created and run by one of Japan’s most famous chocolatiers, , sells 10 flavours marketed to a more refined, adult palette – strawberry maple, butter and orange cocktail noir.
Chef Takagi, who has been working with Nestlé to create Kit Kat’s flavours for more than 13 years now, says the two-year-old premium chocolatory range is his proudest creation.
He explains the ‘I Love Fruit’ range uses powered fruits (not artificial flavours) and the Sublime range of chocolates uses more cocoa, citing 66 per cent in the bitter variety. “You’ll understand it when you eat it,” he says, with an air of confidence. “We are professionals of chocolate making. [As chocolatiers], we hand-make chocolate from a variety of ingredients. In the case of the Kit Kat, it is unlike hand-made chocolate because it is mass-produced in plants. But there is no compromise with taste and texture, and that is remarkable.”
Chef Takagi reveals that he’s also working on a new range of refined ‘adults only’ chocolatory products, adapted specifically to each region. Although more varieties seem like marketing madness (isn’t 32 enough?), Maki reassures me that there’s always room for more Kit Kats, as the demand for quirky new flavours is hardly satisfied in Japan.
“We are pioneers in the chocolate market in Japan,” says Maki. “As long as Kit Kat does it and sells all of these kinds of flavours, it’s not considered to be so crazy. We are just seen as innovative and new.”
Photography by Yasmin Noone
