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Japanese KitKat Bears debut exclusively in Japan, but are they any good?

Oona McGee Jan 29, 2022
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Join us as we break into this limited-edition box of Valentine’s Day chocolates.

Just last week, we heard Japan would be getting a brand-new KitKat unavailable anywhere else in the world. So as soon as they went on sale at 10:00 a.m. Japan time on 24 January, we were ready and poised to snap up a box online.

It’s lucky we made our purchase as soon as sales began because the boxes sold out online soon afterwards, and now they’re becoming even more sought-after than they were before.

▼ The new KitKat everyone wants to get their hands on is the Heartful Bear.

This box of six chocolates cost us 498 yen (US$4.32) plus postage, and according to Nestlé, they’re only being sold for a limited time to coincide with Valentine’s Day, which is a major chocolate holiday in Japan.

The box is covered in love hearts and even has the word “Love” across it, so it reads as both “Have a KitKat” and “Love a KitKat” at the same time.

This is the first time for Japan to receive a KitKat that’s not shaped like a long wafer or bite-sized ball, and the character they’ve gone with for this special debut moment is a sweet teddy bear.

▼ “Lovely milk chocolate wafer in the centre” is exactly how we like our bears.

Peering inside the box reveals even more love hearts to make the object of your affections feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The chocolates are all individually packaged, and each one is about the length of a finger and the width of two.

Every teddy bear comes with “KitKat” stamped on its feet and a heart-shaped ballon above its head that’s been stamped with one of three messages: “I ♡ U“, “For U” or “Thx!”

▼ Surprisingly, our box was filled almost entirely with love, with no messages of thanks and just one “For U”

You’d think these messages of love from the adorable bears would make us feel bad about eating them, but no — no, they didn’t. Instead, they made us even more curious to find out what they had waiting for us inside.

▼ Taking out a sharp knife, we sliced into a balloon heart and found…a classic KitKat wafer!

These teddy bears were beautifully moulded, and the chocolate gave way with a satisfying snap under the knife.

There was no skimping on the wafer here, as it stretched all the way through the chocolate from tip to toe, or should we say, tip to buttock.

We popped the bear’s head into our mouth, and were immediately surprised by the quality of the chocolate. For some reason, character chocolates like this often make us think they’re made with lesser quality chocolate, but that definitely wasn’t the case here.

▼ The wafer was fresh and crunchy, while the chocolate was dark, bitter and irresistibly smooth.

In fact, the Heartful Bear seemed even better than a regular chocolate Kit Kat. We figured this was because there appeared to be more chocolate wrapped around the wafer than a usual bar, which allowed us to really enjoy the taste of the chocolate, while the wafer played a more subtle melody in the background.

It’s a KitKat we’d definitely buy again without hesitation, so it’s a shame the Heartful Bear is only available for a limited time. Still, now that the character KitKat has made its debut here, we can’t wait to see if there’ll be more cute characters coming our way in future.

With so many unusual KitKat flavours here in Japan, imagine if we could get an edamame milkshake KitKat shaped like a real edamame? Or an aged whisky barrel KitKat in the shape of a barrel? If you’re reading this, Nestlé, please — make it happen!

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