The Choc of the New

One of the most depressing things about travelling in Japan is how bland and indistinguishable its towns and suburbs are. The same shops, the same restaurants, the same kind of buildings, the same clothes on the same people. Blindfold me, drop me off in front of the station in a medium-sized Japanese city and, if it weren't for the weather, I wouldn't have a clue whether I was in Shimonoseki or Asahikawa.

One of the charming things about travelling in Japan is that the inhabitants of those bland, bring towns don't find them bland and boring at all. They regard them as dazzling, fascinating and unique - in their history, their attractions and above all their food. Wherever you go, the most insiginificant of halts will have a souvenir shop and a restaurant serving the "famous" regional crafts, sake, sweets and noodles. This belief has been institutionalised in the omiyage, the souvenir which all conscientious travellers are expected to bring back for family and colleagues after even a brief trip out of town. Every station has stands selling representative local produce which to the proud locals are inevitably the finest in all of Japan.

In Nagasaki, it's the sweet sponge cake called "castella", in Hiroshima it's oysters, and in Hokkaido it's tins of local bear meat. So what might it be in Tokyo - the greatest of all Japanese cities, a civilisation-within-a-civilisation, where the greatest artisans, cooks and inventors have converged for centuries? What is the one product above all others that can stand as the emblematic souvenir of Tokyo?

See the photograph below, taken at Tokyo station the other day (click on image for enlargement):

Having pondered the question for four centuries, the people of Tokyo have chosen as their defining treat - the "Exotic" Tokyo Kit Kat!

Hooray for the Exotic Tokyo Kit Kat!

Bonus Japanese Kit Kat fact:Japanese Kit Kats come in a range of flavours unknown to Kit Kat lovers in other parts of the world including (from memory) Cappucino, Green Tea, Passion Fruit, Fruit Salad, Martini-With-Olive-And-Twist and Squirrel Dropping. (I may have got a couple of those wrong.)

Second Bonus Japanese Kit Kat fact: Japanese lawyers often greet new clients nervous about litigation by offering them a Kit Kat. Why? Because the Japanese prononciation of Kit Kats - kitto katsu - also means 'Indubitably, we will triumph'.

Comments

[Alexandra Willoughby]

When you were in Seoul, did you notice what this "ubiquitous soul of Asia" offered? They have something equivalent to Tokyo Kit Kat, but even more glamorous. Tined spam, as in luncheon meat......

[James]

I gave one of those exotic Tokyo Kit Kat boxes as an x-mas gift for the folks back home last year. Not sure if they dared to try it!

[Chen]

"One of the most depressing things about travelling in Japan is how bland and indistinguishable its towns and suburbs are."

The saddest thing is that the distinction is rapidly losing in China, too.

How about Tokyo Banana?

[Richard Lloyd Parry]

You think you're joking, Mr Chen - but they really do sell Tokyo brand Banana Chips, in that same station.

Talking of which, here's a link to my faourite Shonen Knife song, 'Banana Chippusu'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wa95CvhESQ

[Jeremy]

Have you tried the Sakura Kit Kat.....? A Spring time classic.....In Scotland we deep fry them...

cheers,
jsh

[Mark]

Also, Tokyo Tamago/Goma Tamago(Sesame Egg) Got to love those. Am becoming a huge fan of strawberry Kit Kat but my heart lies with the Tokyo Banana and the moreish white egg.
Beats some iridescent pink rock from the seaside any day.

[Chen]

I don't think I was joking, Mr Parry. Your chips is interesting, but what I meant was another one which I do think is the most famous omiyage in the Tokyo Eki http://www.tokyobanana.jp/.
But, only that I don't know any 'fact' about it as "kitto katsu'.
Congratulation to your second prolific period, by the way. Ganbatte!

[Ron]

"One of the most depressing things about travelling in Japan is how bland and indistinguishable its towns and suburbs are."

What Japan did you visit?

[rev.paperboy]

Visit? He's been living here in Tokyo for ten years.