Cough-medicine-flavored KitKat anyone? It may not be to everyone’s taste, but this is just one of 300 weird and wonderful flavors flying off the shelves in Japan, which has become the world’s biggest market for the four-fingered snack. In true Japanese…
Cough-medicine-flavored KitKat anyone?
It may not be to everyone’s taste, but this is just one of 300 weird and wonderful flavors flying off the shelves in Japan, which has become the world’s biggest market for the four-fingered snack.
In true Japanese style, human workers are a rare sight at one KitKat factory in Kasumigaura, around 100 kilometers east of Tokyo.
Instead, dozens of robots manufacture four million bars a day at breakneck speed, from mixing the chocolate paste to wrapping them ready for sale.
KitKats have been around in Britain since 1935 and only arrived in Japan in 1973. But the Japanese market has a crucial unique selling point — a huge variety of different flavors.
It all started with a strawberry flavored KitKat in 2000 and the range expanded quickly — from flavors aimed at local taste buds such as sake, green tea and wasabi — to more exotic combinations like melon and mascarpone.
Access to KitKat factories is strictly limited and photos are kept to a minimum in a bid to preserve the secrets of the recipe.
