Japanese Kit Kats

This page may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link.

A few years ago on Valentine’s Day, my husband Steve and I ordered Japanese Kit Kats from Amazon. We celebrated Valentine’s Day by trying out a couple of different flavors of Kit Kats, and each subsequent day we continued to enjoy the different flavors until the Kit Kats were gone (way too soon!).

We were aware that Japan had an assortment of Kit Kat flavors, so one of the things we did while on a recent trip to Japan was spend time trying to hunt down Kit Kats! As you can see we brought quite a few back!

Why is Kit Kat so Popular In Japan?

Kit Kat is one of the most popular chocolates in Japan, and I’ve read that Kit Kat sounds like “kitto katsu” which is a common Japanese expression of good luck. I also read that students taking exams or others in need of a good luck boost are given Kit Kats as gifts. 🙂

Also, an incredible marketing campaign by Nestle didn’t hurt! I read that they have run an award winning “Lucky Charm” ad campaign. Additionally in 2009 Nestle partnered with Japan Post to write messages of encouragement on the packaging and mail from 20,000 post offices. These promotional packages sold out in less than a month! This campaign was also award winning as you can imagine!

Japan Has SO MANY Kit Kat Flavors!

Japan has so many different Kit Kat flavors! Some of the flavors we came home with include:

My understanding is that some of the flavors are regional so are only available in certain areas. Some flavors are also limited edition so are only available for a certain period of time. A friend of mine told me about Tomato flavor so we looked for it but were unable to find it. Too bad as I would have loved to try the Tomato flavor Kit Kat!

Here is a wonderful assortment of Japanese Kit Kats which they were selling at Osaka Station. Check the price though! I wanted this so badly but the $50 plus price tag meant I was only going to take a picture of it. 🙂

My favorite so far has been the Wasabi Kit Kat. The Wasabi is NOT overpowering so I think it would be palatable to most people.