Nestle makes unusual Kit Kat flavour combinations for Japan, but the product name is also meaningful: It sounds like kitto katsu or, roughly translated, 'surely win'. That's why so many students nibble on Kit Kat bars for good luck before taking their uni exams.
International brands with a luxury image are particularly desirable, in chocolate as in nearly every other product category in Japan. The upmarket French chocolatier Frederic Cassel recently created a kimono of chocolate to showcase its premium products, sold through three company stores in Japan.
La Maison du Chocolat is known in Japan for its ganache. Tailoring its products to local tastes, La Maison du Chocolat emphasises mild milk chocolate and caramel in Japan rather than the darker bittersweet flavours that sell so well in its French stores. Yes, this brand is on Facebook.
Sapporo-based Royce' is expanding beyond Asia, with creamy, fresh chocolates sold through company-owned shops in Brunei, Vladivostock and New York City. This brand's unique selling proposition is quality, including the use of farm-fresh milk sourced from farms surrounding its Hokkaido factory. Just getting started in New York, Royce' has only a few Facebook likes for that location.
Finally, with Valentine's Day only weeks away, an unusual new twist on chocolate has been emerged: The ability to mold chocolates with 3-D printed faces of the giver or the recipient. Not surprisingly, the chocolate faces have gotten a lot of media attention lately.
