You can design your own original Kit-Kat package with any photograph you like of your family, friends, pet, or whatever, and have that picture on a pack of regular, dark, or green tea Japanese Kit-Kats.
Kit-Kat Japan’s 「チョコラボキットカット」 (“Kit-Kat Chocolate collaboration”) website
Click here to go the Kit-Kat Japan website where you can design and order original Kit-Kat packages (site is in Japanese only).
Kit-Kat Japan is famous for their numerous unique flavors.
(Click here to see a post I wrote about some of the many different flavors.)
Right now, Kit-Kat Japan is offering 「パンプキンプリン味」 (“Pumpkin Pudding Flavor”) Kit-Kits for Halloween.
Here are a few photos I took around Tokyo yesterday.
Public mailboxes in Japan are orange and have two slots. One for domestic mail and one for international.
But in late December, they’re changed…they become one slot for 「年賀状」 (New Years Postcards) and the other slot for all other mail.
Click here to read a post I wrote that explains a lot about New Years in Japan…including 「年賀状」 (New Years Postcards).
Until early January, the left slot is for 「年賀状」 (New Years Postcards) and the one on the right is for other mail.
「年賀郵便」 (New Year's mail)
Yesterday was 「天皇誕生日」 (the Emperor of Japan’s birthday). It’s a national holiday in Japan.
On Japanese national holidays many buildings such as post offices and 交番 (Police Boxes) display the 「日の丸」 (Japanese flag). It can also be seen on the front of city buses and along streets.
Putting the flag away in the evening.
「パンダ・クロース」 ("Panda Claus")
This panda reminded me of a sign I saw last March in Ueno about the panda that the zoo will be getting.
Click here to read my post about it.
Also, I have a few posts about the many different flavors of Kit-Kat in Japan.
Click here to see the most extensive post.
Well, I saw a store in 東京駅 (Tokyo train station) that sold many of the flavors.
This store sold many flavors, including 「わさび」 (Wasabi), 「いちみ」 (Chili), Strawberry Cheesecake, and the store's recommendation: Blueberry Cheesecake.
I wrote a post last year that my oldest daughter took (and passed) her high school entrance exam…and that I gave her a special Kit-Kat chocolate before her exam (Click here to read it).
Well, last week my second daughter took her high school entrance exam for the same school that my oldest daughter attends.
Just as I did for my oldest daughter, I gave my second daughter a package of special Kit-Kat chocolate to wish her luck.
「ミルクコーヒー味」 ("Milk Coffee flavor")
Today the results of the exams were announced. My daughter passed! 🙂
So beginning this April, my two oldest daughters will go to the same high school (my youngest will still be in junior high).
***
Also, as I wrote yesterday, it snowed in the Tokyo area last night.
There wasn’t much snow in Tokyo this morning…but I had to go to a rural area to the north of Tokyo. There was more snow up there this morning.
I took a few photos with my cell-phone camera.
Here they are (click them to enlarge):
Snow on a mailbox.
***
Tomorrow is the Japanese holiday 「節分」 (“Setsubun“).
Click here to read my post from last year in which I explain this holiday (and some other Japanese holidays in February too).
Last January, I wrote about Kit-Kat Japan‘s special chocolates for kids taking their school entrance exams (click here to read it).
I gave a box to my oldest daughter last winter when she was taking her high school entrance exams.
This year, my second daughter is in the ninth grade (final year of junior high school), so she’ll be taking her high school entrance exams next month. I’ll be buying the chocolate for her next month.
But right now, Kit-Kat Japan has another special box.
It’s 「お年玉 Kit-Kat」 (“Otoshidama-Kit-Kat“).
(Otoshidama Kit-Kat)
「お年玉」 (Otoshidama) is gift money given to children at New Years time.
It’s a Japanese tradition. Kids can receive special envelopes of money from all of their adult relatives at New Years until they turn twenty-years-old.
This Kit-Kat box has a special envelope pocket on the side to put money inside and a space to write “To” and “From”.
It also has a tiger on the box because 2010 will be the “Year Of The Tiger“.
Usually Japanese kids get 「お年玉」 (New Years gift money) in envelopes like these:
++++++++
And, unrelated, the “2010 Tokyo Marathon” will take place on 2010 February 28.
Last March, I wrote about the “2009 Tokyo Marathon“.
Click here to read it.
I don’t eat alot of お菓子 (junkfood), especially milk-chocolate (I think bitter chocolate is better)…so I don’t usually buy Kit-Kat.
But I bought some recently for my daughter’s High School Entrance Exam (Click here to read about that).
I know, though, that there are quite a few flavors of Kit-Kat…but I didn’t know that they are exclusive to Japan. I thought that since Kit-Kat is a Western (English) company, that all these flavors are worldwide.
It seems that the unusual Japanese Kit-Kat chocolates are a popular souvenir with visitors to Japan from overseas.
I see these Kit-Kat chocolates all the time, so I’ve really thought nothing of them. But people who don’t live in Japan find them fascinating, it seems.
I have no idea how many flavors of Kit-Kat there are in Japan, but here are a few:
「柚子こしょう」 ("Yuzu-koshou"..."Kyushu-taste spice")
For Valentines
「キャラメルプリン味」 ("Caramel Pudding flavor") for Halloween
This can be mailed (front view)
(back view)
Another one for students taking their school Entrance Exam is 雪見桜 (Yukimizakura). The name implies cherry-blossoms in the snow, and the chocolate is pink and white swirl:
「雪見桜」 (Yukimizakura)
「大学いも味」 ("College Potato flavor") for College Entrance Exams takers.
This one is 東京限定 (“Tokyo only”):
濃きなこ ("Rich soy powder")
This one is 東京限定 (“Tokyo only”) too:
しょうゆ風味 ("Soy sauce style taste")
「林檎」 (Apple flavor)
Banana
「キャラメルマキアート」 (Cafe Latte with Caramel)
Cookies+
「大納言」 (Sweet bean)
ダブルベリー (Double Berry)
「伊藤久右衛門」 (Japanese green tea)
ほうじ茶 (Roasted Green Tea)
苺味 (Strawberry flavor)
Kit-Kat in a jar
きなこ (Soybean flour)
さくらんぼ味 (Cherry flavor)
みかん (Tangerine)
「白桃＆黄桃」 (White peach & Yellow peach)
Mild Bitter
Muscat grapes
This next one is おしるこ味 ((O)-shiruko flavor)…Click here to read my post about 汁粉 ((O)-shiruko).
「おしるこ味」 (Oshiruko flavor)
プリン (Pudding)
すいか (Watermelon)
White chocolate
ゆず (Japanese citrus fruit)
And then there are the “exotic“-series Kit-Kat chocolates:
"Exotic Tokyo"
"Exotic Tokyo; White"
"Exotic Tokyo; Sakura"
"Exotic Hokkaido"
"Exotic Hokkaido; White"
"Exotic Kyushu"
"Exotic Kansai"
There are alot more Kit-Kat flavors in Japan, too!
I took a few of the photos above with my camera…but most of them are from Kit Kat Japan‘s website.
Today my oldest daughter will take her 高校受験 (High School Entrance Examination).
She’s a 中学校三年生 (Ninth grader (last year of Junior High in Japan)).
In Japan, the school year is 四月から三月まで (from April til March).
小学校 (Elementary School) is grades 1-6, 中学校 (Junior High) is three years (grades 中1～中3…(equivalent to grades 7-9 in the U.S.)), and 高等学校 (High School) in Japan is also three years (the equivalent to grades 10-12 in the U.S.).
Both 高等学校 (High School) and 大学 (College) have Entrance Exams.
My two younger daughters made a card for my oldest to wish her Good Luck on her test today.
I bought her a box of special Kit-Kat chocolates for students taking School Entrance Exams.
Kit-Kat is one of the popular snacks parents give their kids when they’re taking an Entrance Exam. Kit-Kat is popular because it’s name sounds like “I’ll surely pass!” in Japanese.
(Click here to read another post that I mention another flavor of Kit-Kat for High School kids taking the College Entrance Exam.)
The packaging of the Kit-Kat that I bought is like a postcard…and it can actually be mailed.
Well, to my oldest daughter:
ガンバッテね！ (Good luck!)
Today we went to 巣鴨 (Sugamo).
Do you know 巣鴨 (Sugamo)?
It’s a part of Tokyo often referred to as 「おばあちゃんの原宿」 (“The Old Ladies’ Harajuku“). This is because 原宿 (Harajuku) is an area popular with young people because that area is full of clothes stores, restaurants, etc that young people like…and 巣鴨 (Sugamo) is popular with the older generation because it’s full of clothes stores, restaurants, traditional Japanese snack shops, etc that they like.
My oldest daughter didn’t join us because she and her friend, ironically, went to 原宿 (Harajuku) together today.
This is the entrance to the popular 地蔵通り (Jizou-doori), the shopping street in 巣鴨 (Sugamo) that has many shops and restaurants that old people like. (You don’t have to be old to appreciate them, though…I like traditional Japanese snacks, food, and souvenirs, too 🙂 ).
Here’s a video I took of this area:
This street can be compared to the popular 竹下通り (Takeshita-doori) in 原宿 (Harajuku)…except for the age difference between the shoppers on these two streets.
The 地蔵通り (Jizou-doori) shopping street in 巣鴨 (Sugamo) was especially crowded today and there were many vendors because many people were going to the 高岩寺 (Kouganji Temple) for 初詣 (first Shrine visit of the year)…usually people go to a 神社 (Shinto Shrine) for 初詣 (first Shrine visit of the year), but going to a 御寺 (Buddhist Temple) is fine.
This is the entrance to 高岩寺 (Kouganji Temple)…the sign with the temple’s name is written right to left (寺岩高), which is the way Japanese used to be written (now it’s either written horizontally, left to right (→) and top of the page to bottom (↓) (like English)…or vertically, top to bottom (↓) and right of the page to left (←)).
So we went to 巣鴨 (Sugamo) for 初詣 (first Shrine (Temple) visit of the year) and we bought some 大福 (a traditional Japanese snack).
Speaking of snacks, soon Japanese kids will be taking entrance exams for high school or college. My oldest will be taking her high school entrance exam.
When we went into a convenience store, I saw a shelf of snacks that are supposed to be lucky for kids taking exams. One of the more popular ones is the American chocolate bar 「キット・カッツ」 (“Kit-Kat“). The reason that Kit-Kat has become popular for kids taking exams is because the chocolate’s name sounds like 「きっと勝つ!」 (Kitto-katsu!)…which means “I’ll definitely pass!”.
Supposedly, Japan has the most flavors of Kit-Kat in the world. I’ve have seen many flavors including some like “Green Tea Kit-Kat”, “Exotic Tokyo Kit-Kat”, and “Banana Kit-Kat”. (Although I’ve never tried any of them. I don’t eat much candy or chocolate.)
But this one was obviously made especially for kids taking college entrance exams in Japan since the package is decorated with Sakura Cherry-Blossom flowers (and symbol of Springtime in Japan (when the school-year begins)) and a school uniform hat. The flavor is 「大学いも味」 (“College Potato Taste“). Sounds odd for a chocolate bar! Could be good, though…I don’t know—I didn’t buy it.
Tokyo Five 
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