A Fluorescent Green, Japanese Kit-Kat Bar?!?

By Donnie | Articles

Okay so on my way back from the Sony audition, I went into one of the convenience stores to grab something to eat. I grabbed an onigiri (torii gomoku, 鳥居五目because it’s my favorite), some mentos, and some water. I walked the counter and made my purchase, turned to walk away and did a full spin because out of my peripheral vision, I saw a Kit Kat bar I’d never seen before. On the package there was a picture of a fluorescent green Kit Kat. It really didn’t look all that appealing, but it was out of the ordinary.

I could recognize only some of the kanji on the package, so I figured it would be good Japanese practice for the day. I asked the attendant what some of the kanji were on the package and he explained. This special Kit Kat was made from Zundafumi, ずんだ風味, which (from what I’m told) is a sweet, soybean snack that is famous in Sendai. The kanji in yellow at the top says, 東北を応援しょう!, Tohoku wo ouen shou!, “Let’s Support Tohoku.” This Kit Kat actually helps to raise money for earthquake relief efforts. The pink oval on the left corner of the package says:

1個あたり10円をきふ、
いっこあたりじゅうえんをきふ、
Ikko atari jyu en wo kifu

ikko=one piece/unit sold,
atari=is like the word “per,”
10 yen,
kifu=to contribute or donate

**wo-is a Japanese particle that is needed for the sentence to make sense.**

or in other words,



Same great crispy, wafer goodness on the inside!

For every Kit Kat sold, ten yen will be donated to relief efforts.

So not only was I satisfying my sweet tooth, I was helping the world at the same time…YAY!!

In the end, I must say the original, milk chocolate Kit-Kat is definitely the better-tasting of the two. But I do think it’s a cool idea to try to use something that Sendai is known for (Zunda fumi, ずんだ風味) to help raise money in lift peoples’ spirits. I don’t know how well these Kit Kat bars would sell in the U.S. but I’m sure on Halloween, Nestle could sell loads of these things (well I guess they sell loads of everything they make, anyway). We don’t hear so much about the earthquake in the news anymore or about the reconstruction efforts, but it’s going to be going on for a long time. So if you see one of these Kit-Kat and want to try one. You should buy one, because every little bit helps.




It's really fluorescent green...

Thanks for reading,

Donald Ash

P.S.-There are some other cool Kit Kat flavors here in Japan that I didn’t even know about. Thanks, Amanda.

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  • Nanami says:

    Hmm.. seems like an interesting flavor. I would give it a try. I am the owner of a certified huge sweet tooth. I really wanted to try the Sakura flavored ones that were released in April near my birthday but I couldn’t get any imported to the USA.

    What other flavors have you tried?

    • Donald Ash says:

      Honestly, this is the only strange Kit Kat I’ve ever tried. They made a Sakura Kit-Kat, Nanami? Wow! I wish I hadn’t missed that one!

      • Nanami says:

        There’s green tea too from what I understand. If I can find some pictures of it I will link you to them later. They look yummy!

        • Sandrine says:

          There’s also Cheese Kitkat! The flavour is between cheese and chocolate… And it smells strange… Really not the best one but one strange thing anyway! Maybe you can find it in Mandai supermarket.
          You can also try the multicolor Mikado: biggest Mikado I’ve ever seen. Flavours are: blueberry, green tea and others. There are really good. You can find it in Village Vanguard (and maybe don Quichotte).
          Bon appétit!

          • Donald Ash says:

            Please tell me you’re joking about the funny-smelling, cheese Kit-Kat. It kind of makes my skin crawl a bit. Cheesecake, maybe. Funny-smelling, cheese…no way 🙁

          • Mana says:

            There’s even soysauce Kitkat!

          • Donald Ash says:

            I heard about that flavor, but didn’t have the heart to try it just yet, lol.

  • Amanda says:

    Hey quit stealing my thunder! I just did a potst all ’bout kit kats lol. But this is cool actually I’m gonna link to this on my post.

    • Donald Ash says:

      No way! I wouldn’t steal your thunder.

      That’s kind of Twilight Zonish…are you in my head or something? Are we secretly related and don’t know it? I had no idea how many different types of Kit Kats there were here. I like your post. I need to link your’s too 🙂

  • Vivian says:

    SWEET! sweets supporting tohoku, chocolate…i am allll for it.

    nanami…i’ll send u japanese choco if you send me american one, ha ha. 😛 american choco is not all that great, but sometimes i just wanna twix, etc.

    conbini are SOOOOOOOO bad. you go in to get like a drink…and walk out with 10 items

    almost as dangerous as DAISO, other 100yen shops!!!

  • Donald Ash says:

    Vivian, why did you have to say Twix?!? A severe weakness of mine. I used to KILL those things back in the U.S.!

    • Vivian says:

      HAHAAAA>..TWIX

      i have american kit kat and mini reeses in my house right now. ha haaaaaa. 🙂

      japanese kit kat tastes diff for sure…choco is dif.

  • Dinene says:

    This is awesome Donald. I love your blog and those green kitkats. I also miss getting iced green tea from a vending machine at the train station. Missing Japan!!

  • Jessica says:

    Was trying to figure out what flavor these were. Thanks so much for posting. I had a question, do you know if these are a limited addition?

    • Donald Ash says:

      Sorry for the late reply Jessica. Honestly, I’m not certain, but I think they are a limited edition Kit Kat. But if they’re keeping them around to help with relief efforts, my guess is they’ll be around for a while. Do you have a favorite type of Kit Kat here in Japan?

  • Jessica says:

    That’s the only one we have found so far. We’ve only been here a month but have 3 yes to look. 🙂

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