Sublime Gold KitKats - Yup, Gold

Organized very well but I wouldn't expect anything less.

I love KitKats…discovering the plethora of flavors here in Japan has been so much fun for me. When we lived here from 2008-2010 I had quite the collection and was happy to come back and continue hunting for them. They haven’t released one or two flavors each month like they used to, but it’s still exciting to find the new ones.

Wonder if this would work in my living room?

Last month I read an article about gold KitKats coming out at the end of December. They were to release 500 hand done gold leaf covered chocolate bars throughout the country. I didn’t know details, couldn’t find specifics and patiently waited. That day came….today.

I woke up early with one of my daughters and we hopped on an early morning train up to Tokyo. I had a plan, sort of. I knew the station and the store, but didn’t know exactly where to go after that. I read signs and double checked the station map to figure it out. We arrived around 9 am and got in line; the store opened at 10. I knew this store had 80 on hand and once gone, they’d be gone forever…until showing up on eBay for far more than ¥2016 ($16ish USD) retail price. It's a nod to the new year. There was a very long standby line of at least 50 people by the time we got up to the counter at 10:10 am. 

We got our tickets guaranteeing one per until noon. We stayed in line because nothing else, except for convenience stores in the station, were open. The hour went by quickly between people watching, playing Words with Friends and emailing my husband pictures of us. The gentleman above let my daughter hold the sign for a hilarious photo too!

I didn’t think we’d be lucky enough to get one, never mind two, but had to at least try. Glad we did...and will be taking a nap this afternoon :) 

Winter Solstice

Today's Google Doodle!

R2-D2 & Madeleines

Three plain and three chocolate from Ginza Cozy Corner. Oishii desu, they're delicious!

Star Wars Pastries at Ginza Cozy Corner

Cookies need to dry, the weather is perfect and a chain bakery, Ginza Cozy Corner, has a promotion with "Star Wars" going on until December 21st. I ventured out and found one up in Yokohama. This particular store didn't have everything pictured on their website, but I was happy to find what I did. I'll post more pictures soon...I did buy something. :)

I'm sitting on a train heading home and wanted to share this. Thank you, Blogger for iOS!

ETA more pictures at 2 pm JST.

Keirō no hi (敬老の日)

September 21st is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. Here's today's Google Doodle; a bento box for each Grandma and Grandpa. 

Strawberry Adult Sweetness Kit Kats

That's right...another adult Kit Kat. They're white chocolate. Adult or not, I loved these. And good thing...they're a bag of 12 minis!

Kit Kat Easter Fun Run in Tokyo

Have any plans for Sunday at 9 am?

Participants have to apply by March 31st and are chosen via lottery. They're encouraged to dress up as the Easter Bunny and will get a bag of the Easter Kit Kats after the run/walk.

I Want One

We were shopping at Homes last month and came across two walls of the wonderful Japanese toilet seats. This was the closest he's come to taking me seriously about buying one so I'm [a tiny bit] optimistic. I wrote about my weird obsession with fancy Japanese toilets in 2009 and you can read that post here.

On a side note, Homes is a cross between Target, JCPenney, Home Depot/Lowes, Marshalls and Petco.

Kit Kat Sandwich at First Kitchen

Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat....sandwich?!

First Kitchen is a fast food chain in Japan. Today was my first time in one and I would compare it to a Burger King in the U.S.

Not only do we have a plethora of Kit Kat flavors, but now we have a Kit Kat sandwich! The details can be found at First Kitchen's website.

This became available on Thursday but between school field trips, homework, making cookies and rain I wasn't able to make it out until today.

You can see the size of the sandwich with my hand in the first photo. I think it's comparable to the size of a Thomas' English Muffin. The bun was spongy and a little sweet...almost like a steamed pork bun. The description says it has whipped cream but it was more like Cool Whip to me. Not very sweet and not much flavor (for an American palette). The orange peel was great...it looked (albeit larger) and tasted like the orange peel Starbucks used with its Orange White Mocha in January. The Kit Kat was Kit Kat Café which is made for dipping in hot drinks. It seemed to be more crunchy than others I've had. I bought one from the display in front of the register and will have it tomorrow morning with a cup of coffee.

It was good and once my daughters taste it they'll try to convince me to pack this "sandwich" in their school lunches instead of the usual turkey or PB&J.

Apple Pie with Carrot Easter Kit Kats

That's not a typo, they really are apple pie with carrot flavor. I didn't taste much carrot and wonder if they added the flavor since rabbits are synonymous with carrots.

There aren't many Japanese Christians, but what I noticed when we lived here from 2008-2010 and again this time around, the commercialization of holidays is becoming the norm. Check out this post or this one, both about Santa Claus and Christmas from December 2008. This is the first time Nestle has connected Kit Kats with Easter.

In a recent post about Japanese Kit Kats I talked about them being popular and marketed to students. These continue to do so. I asked a man on the train platform to translate the packaging for me. According to the kind gentlemen who spoke excellent English, Nestle is saying Easter is an ii sutaato or "great start." April also happens to be the start of the school year in Japan, so they're playing that up.

There are 13 different designs in all and 12 minis in each bag. One in every 30 has the "Lucky Easter" design. We only opened three, but the first was that one. Lucky me?!

I thought they were very good and sweet. I didn't taste much carrot though; probably for the best. One of my daughters didn't like them and the other wouldn't try. They reminded me of the Nagano Apple Kit Kats I got on our trip to see the Nagano Snow Monkeys. You can click here to see that post.

I hope your spring is off to an ii sutaato!

Adult Cocoa Kit Kats

No, not "Fifty Shades of Gray" Kit Kats! Not adult as in adult. In one of my recent posts I talked about Kit Kats being marketed for exams and students. Well to balance that out and remind adults they haven't outgrown them, Kit Kat/Nestle Japan has one just for us. The word "cocoa" is on the front of the box and I asked the cashier exactly what it meant...she said it's dark chocolate. I think they tasted like a cup of hot chocolate, but wouldn't consider them dark chocolate compared to what the average American palette is used to.

Yokosuka & Ikego Floor Plans with Dimensions

I had a very hard time finding interior pictures of houses and floor plans of Yokosuka and Ikego housing in 2008. Having lived here from 2008-2010 we knew what furniture to bring and what to store this time around. Below are what you'll find in Ikego and the tower layout is the same as the three bedroom tower on the main base of Yokosuka. You can click here to read my post about the Yokosuka Housing Office and how the process worked for us in January 2015.

Ikego three bedroom townhouse first floor

Ikego three bedroom townhouse second floor

Ikego three bedroom tower/high rise/apartment (nine floor buildings)

Ikego four bedroom townhouse first floor

Ikego four bedroom townhouse second floor

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011

Yahoo Japan

Tomorrow, March 11, 2015 marks the 4th anniversary of the Japan earthquake. The Japanese National Police Agency reported 15,889 deaths, 6,152 injured and 2,601 missing. When we lived here before I traveled up to Fukushima with the girls for the Soma-Nomaoi Festival. The area was beautiful and people very kind and gracious.

On March 10, 2011 we were living in Hawaii. I had LASIK eye surgery that morning and spent the afternoon and evening asleep. I woke up to breaking news about an earthquake in Japan. Shortly after the tsunami warning alarms going off and we could hear them through the closed windows and running AC. We lived on Ford Island, an evacuation zone. We had no idea how severe the earthquake was, but we were able to get in touch with our friends and former neighbors still living here. Not long after the earthquake the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melted. I immediately thought of the people we met and the time we spent there in 2009.

On March 11th Yahoo Japan will donate ¥10 towards the recovery for each person that searches "3.11." Last year Yahoo donated ¥25 million or about $215,000 USD. More details can be read here; the text will below the video will have already been translated into English.

Screen shot from my computer after searching "3.11" this morning.

Updated 3/11/15 to add search page screen shot.

Setsubun (Bean Throwing Festival)

Setsubun is a bean throwing festival held every February 3^rd. It's the first day of spring according to the lunar calendar. Setsubun is about getting rid of evil and bringing in fortune. People throw beans out windows and doors of their homes and also go to shrines and temples. We went to Seto-Jinja Shrine to participate in the festivities. When we lived here from 2008-2010 I took the girls to Hasedera, a temple in Kamakura. It's not a national holiday, but it's celebrated throughout Japan. Even Google celebrated...see the screen capture from my computer below. 

We hopped on the train as soon as school was out and stopped at a convenience store to pick up oni (ogre or monster) masks and some beans. You’re supposed to eat the number of beans to match your age for good luck and fortune. As much as I love the roasted soy beans, I didn't eat 35…I did have eight though. The girls each ate their age in beans and were sure to count aloud while doing so.

We got to the shrine a few minutes after they had started but were still able to get a good spot to stand in. The girls were so excited to catch beans and after a few minutes remember doing it before. We went to a small shrine, but at the larger ones in Tokyo they'll have sumo wrestlers and celebrities throwing the beans. They're in little packages that fit in my palm. On some packages are stickers...if one you catch has a sticker you win a prize. We didn't win a prize, but, to be honest, it's about the experience and culture submersion for us. I think it's important. 

We didn't catch any beans during the first set. A gentleman in front of us gave the girls one packet each. So sweet and generous of him! There were bows all around and hugs too. While the priests and important members of the shrine were throwing beans the MC was yelling "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" That translates into Out with demons! In with fortune! You'll hear him if you watch the 45 second video below. If you subscribe and get the posts in your email you may need to click the link at the top of the message to view the video on the website. 

Making an offering & prayer

We were there for maybe 90 minutes and had a wonderful time. People were so kind and welcoming to us. A few even translated for us to let us know what would be happening, when and what it's meaning was. The later it got the more kids arrived. At the end the adults moved to the back and all the kids were in front. On the way out we bought the traditional Setsubun food, eho-maki. They're sold at grocery and convenience stores too. When people eat them they face the direction that's good luck for that particular year. This year it was west-southwest.   

Our beans, roll and masks at home