In case you are wondering what’s the limited edition flavor of the month in the Kit Kat world is right now, well, rejoice because Nestle has just released the Cafe Latte version and it’s pretty nice. If you like really sweet chocolate, that is. It is VERY “cafe” and EXTREMELY “latte”. Rich and full taste all the way. I even got a little canned coffee aftertaste. Oh, and it is Hokkaido milk of course.

Summer is about to start, and if you know Tokyo, you know that summer means ice cream, soft cream, ice cubes, and anything that is cold and can prevent you from going insane because of the heat and the lack of beaches to go to.

Häagen-Dazs is well aware of this and ready. They have released a new (Japan only?) crispy sandwich with macha (Japanese green tea) and kuromitsu (brown sugar) ice cream. They put a few posters here and they’re apparently focussing on how voluptuous the ice cream is, because it is made of tea or something. Makes me wonder if I want to eat something that looks like it will melt on my hands after the first bite.

Is “24″ popular in Japan? Apparently it is. Proof is the CalorieMate’s new ad on TV and on big billboards everywhere in Tokyo, which proves once again that when you’re a star in Hollywood, you should do Japanese commercials and laugh all the way to bank.

So, in the new CalorieMate TV commercial (TVCM), you have two guys bitching about life while doing nothing and one guy complains about a test the next day, and the other replies that “it’s not 24″, whatever that means. Then you have an helicopter descending from the sky, and Keifer Sutherland. He shouts 24-style instructions to someone at CTU on his mobile phone, and the SWAT team run behind him. And so, because he’s kinda tired and needs energy but balanced food because he doesn’t like junk (remember, he’s Jack Bauer ok.), he takes a big bite in a CalorieMate bar. Then, the screen becomes a series of several rectangular screens next to one another, in a typical 24 way, and we hear the “bip bip bip” of the clock ticking… They made a special promotional website just for it, so you should go visit it here.

So, you wonder, what is CalorieMate exactly? Basically, a bar of flour mixed with margarine and sugar. According to the official page in English, CalorieMate is:

- A balanced nutrient meal.
It contains a proper balance of all types of nutrients, including proteins, fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

- It provides a handy way to calculate energy consumption:
One can = 200 kilo-calories
One block = 100 kilo-calories

- It provides about half the adult daily intake of essential eleven vitamis in a single can or pack (four blocks).

- It is easy to take with you and have anytime, anywhere.

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Plus, if you haven’t slept in 24 hours and your brain-dead slutty daughter is making your life hell, you can eat a block and look cool just like Jack Bauer in the middle of Shibuya.

I have to confess I have no idea how it compares with normal white KitKat, because I never tried them, but this new (limited edition?) of Hokkaido Milk White KitKat is not bad at all. Overly sweet, but that is to be expected with white chocolate in general, they apparently added some extra creamy goodness, Hokkaido milk that is. Considering the packaging and the theme, it’s kinda sad that it came too late for White Day, but who does really care? Oh, and there is milk chocolate inside, which softens the sweetness of the white chocolate and goes really well with bitter coffee.

Note: Hokkaido is the big northern island of Japan where winter is very harsh and summer nice and mild, and it is well known in Japan for its milk (and dairy products) and its potatoes.

If you are really desperate to try it, someone (NOT related to 3Yen) is selling some on ebay, or you can leave a message in the comments and we might send you one… :)

Edit: Is it “KitKat” or “Kit Kat”? The logo looks more like “KitKat” to me, but apparently, the official Kit Kat Japan website spells it “Kit Kat”. mmm…

A little while back, when exams preparations were at their peak, I noticed this coffee can in my convenience store. What caught my eye was the staring of the guy printed on the can. He seems to be angry, but he isn’t. He’s very awake and ready to fight. And written on the left side is “160mg of caffeine”, which is 30% more than the usual amount in canned coffees. This is the equivalent of Jolt Cola for the coffee world. I didn’t buy it, because I don’t have exams and I need to sleep 14 hours per day in order to be not-so-cranky all the time, but also because i said on the label that it has a “bitter and dry coffee taste” as it is usually the case with these type of power-oriented manly food items. But I am sure it sold very well at the time.

So what will you give to your loved one on Valentine’s day? In Japan, if you are a guy, the answer is easy: nothin’!! Because here, Valentine’s day is when GIRLS give guys presents. And not any present: chocolate.

And not any chocolate either. In general, these chocolate are divided into two types: giri choco (obligatory chocolate) and honmei choco (chocolate for the man the woman is serious about). Giri choco is given by women to their superiors at work as well as to other male co-workers. If a woman is not an office lady and she actually has friends, she would give chocolate to her male friends. A woman will usually buy a few boxes of giri choco in the several hundred yen range, and may give a more expensive box of honmei choco (and sometimes another gift, but it doesn’t seem that frequent) for her “special someone”.

In the 1980’s was introduced “White Day”, which comes one month later, on March 14th, when men who were lucky enough to receive chocolate gifts on Valentine’s day usually give to the women who gave them chocolate a more expensive box of chocolate or something more elaborate if they have a bit of imagination.

Of course, both are something that every shops, even convenient stores, look forward to and promote shamelessly with all kind of chocolate-based sweets, starting from mid-January onward.

So, you guessed it, many brands come up with special flavored chocolate on these occasions, limited edition of course, and promote them actively for about two months. And so did Nestlé this year. After the “lemon cheese cake” and the “macha” (traditional Japanese powder green tea) variations that you cannot find anywhere else than Japan, here comes the “passionfruit” KitKat, designed by very un-famous “Le Patissier Takagi”, especially for Valentine’s day (as one can easily understand from the hundreds of yellow hearts on the box.

It doesn’t taste bad and since KitKat is fairly popular in Japan anyway, I am sure this particular version will sell well this season.