David is laughing at me. He asked me if our lives are so uneventful that the only thing I can think of to blog about is a couple of KitKat bars….I’m sort of blogging about KitKats, but only because they are a good example of what I am going to go on about today. We often get annoyed in our supermarket as they get a really good product in, we buy it for a couple of weeks and then we never see it again. This has happened with countless things: a good wine, a type of cake, a breakfast cereal, a type of tea etc etc. Usually luxury items now I come to think of it.
I think I finally get it however. The fact that these items are a novelty makes them appealing to the Japanese market and they sell out. People are always interested in something new, especially if it is foreign. If we were always able to get say, a particular French style cheesecake, it probably wouldn’t sell that well. We Europeans don’t understand this because we rely on particular items being there every week just for when we happen to fancy them.
The best example of seasonal novelties like this has to be the KitKat bar. I have seen so many varieties during my time in Japan, but now I know not to get too attached to them as they will only be around for a few weeks. For autumn / Halloween this year Nestle have brought out two types: caramel flavour and conker flavour (OK, chestnut then). I can send you one if you like, but you have to get your orders in fast before they sell out.
