BuildingMyBento

Do Osaka or Kyoto have any similar stores to the Tokyo station one?

TIA

AlwaysAisle

Daimaru Department Store at Umeda (Osaka station) has Kit Kat store at B1 food court level. I do not know if variety is same as Tokyo station store but only official Kit Kat store in Kansai area.

BuildingMyBento

Appreciate your reply, AlwaysAisle! Though, if it's anything like the official kit kat store in Ikebukuro, it's rather low on variety.

Regardless, will check it out.

jpdx

All Chocolatories have the same selection of very high end (overpriced IMO) kit kats -- no local variation. Your best bet for variety in Osaka is the Namba Donki, which a couple weeks ago had 1/2 dozen of the 800y boxes plus another 1/2 dozen of the cheaper bags (including sake, the bake special, an easter special, and the cranberry/almond singles in milk and white, which I never saw anywhere else in three weeks all over Japan).

drscoop

Is this a one-off store or are these dotted across Osaka? Will be by Osaka station in a few weeks and am under instructions to collect interesting kitkat flavours...

Also, on the same line, any suggestions on stores to look for around Hiroshima?

jpdx

Don Quijote is a nationwide chain, running some calmer neighborhood stores, plus some in busy areas predominantly frequented by tourists. The latter stores tend to be well stocked with Kit Kats, but I've seen them completely picked over. In Osaka, the Dotonbori and Umeda locations are a complete zoo (with higher risk of being out of stock), while the Namba location doesn't seem to be on the radar screen of the tours. If you only have a few minutes at Osaka station, the Umeda Don Quijote is a quick (if somewhat confusing) walk, and you should find some varieties there.

Hiroshima's "local" Kit Kat is the citrus mix flavor -- generally rates highly with Western gift recipients, and should be in stock almost everywhere if you go during Kit Kat "season" (i.e., not in summer, when they aren't sold to prevent melting). Some gift stores will also carry a few Kit Kats from neighboring regions, and the nationally available bagged ones. Even with minimal effort, you should be able to pick up a half dozen Kit Kat types.

drscoop

Fab... thanks very much.

2 quick questions - are the Don Quixote stores 24h, and when is "kit Kat season"? More to the point, when does it end? I'll be there mid-May - will I be in or out of luck?

PAX_fips

Don Quijote is called 'Donki' short - and opening hours can be seen via their shopfinder online (some have 24h):
http://www.donki.com/en/?pre=le
goes - to some extents - also for what is on stock.

Sidenote: my favourite: Wasabi-Flavour (got it at HND airport)
Too bad the Nestle webpage for kitkat doesnt tell where what is available, too

WorldLux

I was told that Wasabi-Flavour tasted like chocolate gone wrong. So far I only had Matcha (found in a 7/11 in an alley in Asakusa) and Strawberry. I liked them both very much.

Too bad, Nestle isn't selling these globally. The flavours I tasted would sell very well in Europe and the US.

AlwaysAisle

According to Nestle Japan website in Japanese, beside regular Kit-Kat products which are sold everywhere in Japan there are limited item Kit-Kats.

There are three kinds of limited item Kit-Kats.

Limited time Kit-Kat:
Sold short limited time only. Usually when a warehouse runs out of such Kit-Kat then it is over. No more availability. Currently website shows three such items:
Special Assault (white chocolate with rose and tea flavor)
Easter Special (custard pudding)
Sweet for Ladies (raspberry)

Regional Kit-Kat:
Sold only at specific region of Japan. Currently website shows 20 such Kit-Kats. Tokyo is rum raisin, Kobe is Kobe pudding, and Okinawa is beni imo (purple yam).

Airport restricted area Kit-Kat:
Sold only at international airport departure gate area, specifically made for duty free sales only. Currently website shows four such items, Hokkaido melon kit-Kat, Japanese strawberry Kit-Kat as example.

jpdx

The "regional" pitch seems to have run its course, as more and more regional Kit Kats are available outside their respective regions. Well stocked Donkis or the specialty store in the basement of Tokyo station or even some of the stores at NRT will have half a dozen+ boxes from faraway regions.

I think the most meaningful distinction for first timers trying to make sense of the Japanese Kit Kat scene is bagged vs boxed vs Chocolatory.

Bags are 300-500 yen; some will have standard Kit Kats, while others can be fancy flavors -- various green tea versions, raspberry, egg custard, sakura and soy bean, sake, and even the bake version (that's supposed to be heated in a toaster oven). Some of these are seasonal, but they're recurring and nothing "special." These can often also be found (often with a delay) in Japanese grocery stores abroad (e.g., Marukai or Uwajimaya's).

"Regional" boxes come with a dozen small Kit Kats for 800 yen. There are also some smaller boxes in some cases (5 pcs). These include fancy green tea flavors, strawberry, pudding, citrus, wasabi, cheesecake, hot pepper, apple, etc. There isn't much change over time, although some flavors have disappeared (including, lamentably, the best Kit Kat ever, Cinnamon, sold around Kyoto). There are also "airport" boxes, which are smaller (4 pcs, IIRC) and rumored to be local, but really aren't (currently melon and strawberry) as well as some fancy convenience store editions, e.g., the cranberry/almond Chololatory knockoff. These editions can then have a revival as bagged version.

Chocolatory sells very expensive small gift boxes -- single sticks (Kit Kat Sublime) for about 250 yen and gift boxes that range up to $30 with fruity flavors (strawberry, passion fruit, etc) and weird concoctions (strawberry maple, butter, pistachio grapefruit, etc.). I think the Chocolatory brand now aims at the gift giving market more than the regional kinds, and indeed Chocolatory product sees more frequent changes and occasionally sells out. Chocolatories used to be pretty rare (Ikebukuro and Tokyo station only), but I've now seen them in Osaka, Fukuoka, and Kyoto, and they're probably elsewhere, too.

There's no firewall between the respective kinds -- already mentioned, there's a convenience store special (and now bagged) "by Chocolatory," and there's a fancy gift box version of sake (shaped like a bottle) and a bagged version of sake. In some cases, you'll be able to taste a difference between the expensive and mass market kinds, but sometimes not. Note that the vast majority of specialty Kit Kats are white chocolate based; seems as though dark and milk chocolate are much harder to combine with the flavors on offer.

drscoop

Thanks for all the helpful advice on here tracking down kitkats.

I'm in Japan right now and the current finds are as follows:

Hiroshima DonQuixote:
Adult sweetness matcha green tea
Dark matcha green tea
Easter break custard pudding
Sake
Mint
Raspberry
Momiji manju berry
Kyoto green tea

Tokyo Chocolatory:
Pistachio and grapefruit
Strawberry maple

Tokyo station shopping city / Shokoku Gotochi Plaza
Purple sweet potato
Amaou strawberry
Shinshu apple
Rum and raisin
Panda okinawa green tea earthquake fundraiser
Wasabi
Strawberry cheesecake

Osaka DonQuixote Dotonbori - nothing not already acquired

Osaka Chocolatory / Kansai airport - still to be searched....

FlyinHawaiian

Calcifer

mapleg

For those looking for something differnet, they are selling bakeable kit-kats

https://japantoday.com/category/feat...e-cream-flavor