George: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out all the differences
between Kit Kats in Japan and the US.
This is "Food Wars."
In Japan, our Kit Kats come in four sizes,
big little pouch bite,
minis,
and bar,
and classy one, Sublime.
So, one thing to note here regarding mini sizes,
the regular Kit Kat is 11.6 grams,
but the flavored minis, such as matcha,
are said to be slightly smaller, 11.3 grams.
So I'm going to weigh them now to confirm.
So, let's weigh a regular-flavor Kit Kat first.
It weighs 11 grams.
But it doesn't show the decimal points,
it says just 11 grams.
Let's weigh matcha flavor.
12.
It's actually heavier than regular flavor.
Interesting.
Japanese Kit Kats have become popular all around the world,
and the US, of course, is no exception.
I just want to mention at the top here,
we're going to be talking about Kit Kats
that are native to our countries.
I know you can get them online.
I think Walmart.com has some of them.
Fantastic. They're imported. We know. Thank you.
In the US, our Kit Kats come in nine sizes.
Starting from the smallest,
we have a Kit Kat minis unwrapped,
then the thins,
miniatures,
snack size,
standard four finger,
the Big Kat.
From there, we move up to king size, which is,
a piece accidentally broke off
and then I accidentally ate it.
The Big Kat king size.
So it looks like it's just two Big Kats.
And the biggest size, the XL.
A bag of Kit Kat bites should have 11 bites.
Let's count in Japanese.
Ichi, ni, san, shi, go,
roku, shichi, hachi, ku, juu,
juuichi.
11 bites.
And according to the bag,
the combined weight should be 50 grams.
So let's weigh all 11 bites.
Ooh!
It weighs 52 grams.
Good deal.
All of our US sizes come in a variety of units,
depending on your Kit Kat needs.
So many varieties.
Here's a few worth mentioning.
The minis. The biggest bag of minis unwrapped
you can get is 419 grams.
As the title implies,
these things are unwrapped little bites.
It's sold like it's for sharing, but get real.
Whoever sticks their hand in here first, it's their bag.
For the miniatures, according to Amazon,
you can get up to 4-pound bags,
aka 1,814.37 grams.
And what it looks like, they just sent me
a bag that's loosely 4 pounds of Kit Kat minis.
All the bars have their various packs.
None of them seem unusual.
I will, however, mention that
the biggest single purchase of a Kit Kat item you can get
is the king-size 24-pack.
The total here is 2,040 grams,
about 4.5 pounds of Kit Kat.
Here's all the Kit Kats exclusive to the US.
And here is all the Kit Kats native to Japan.
Kit Kat in Japan is made by Nestlé
and is one of the best-selling candies in the country.
One of the reasons for its popularity
is that Kit Kat has a good-luck charm in Japan
because the name Kit Kat in Japanese is Kitto Katto.
And Kitto Katto sounds like "kitto katsu,"
which means "you will surely win."
So the Kit Kat brand became associated with good luck.
And these Kit Kats are often given to students
before their exams.
For the past 20 years,
Kit Kat has introduced more than 350 unique flavors.
Wow!
Some of them are discontinued, unfortunately,
and some of them are regional,
so we couldn't get them by the filming of this episode.
Gomen ne!
So here are a few standard Kit Kat flavors in Japan.
Coffee break.
But it doesn't taste like coffee,
but goes well with coffee.
So I brought my coffee with me today,
so let's see how it goes.
Itadakimasu.
It's actually pretty good,
much better than expected.
So, next we have
melon.
Mm!
It's so melon.
It has way too strong melon flavor.
Next, we have chocolate orange.
Overall, not bad.
Next, graham cracker.
This is fantastic.
Next, I'm gonna go
cheesecake.
This is marvelous.
If you're a cheesecake person like me,
you will definitely like this.
Next, strawberry cheesecake.
You get some decent strawberry flavor
and cheesecake flavor at the same time, which is amazing.
Next, apple cinnamon.
I'm not a big fan of this.
There is a lot of cinnamon in it,
which makes this horrible.
Pistachio.
Look at this cute squirrel!
Kawaii ne!
Kawaii!
It's not great, but not horrible either.
Next, pudding.
Mm!
Mm, it's disgusting.
It's way too sweet.
Let's go next one.
We have strawberry milk.
Ah!
Holy crap.
This is nasty.
This is the worst one.
So, this is the last one.
I've got cookies and cream.
This is the best thing I have ever had in my mouth.
Sorry to interrupt.
But believe it or not,
the US does have a few exclusive flavors
you can't get in Japan.
First up,
pumpkin pie.
Yo!
This tastes exactly like pumpkin pie.
Yeah, they hit it out of the park with that one, wow.
Key lime pie.
This one's so good.
It tastes just like key lime pie.
These are both fantastic.
Fruity cereal.
What cereal is this?
Is that Froot Loops?
Tastes exactly like Froot Loops.
Gingerbread.
Raspberry creme.
I love this one.
Yo, Joe,
Yuelei.
All right, try it, let's go.
What do you guys think?
Yeah, yeah, Starbursts, good call.
Witch's brew?
"Crispy wafers and marshmallow flavored cream."
These are great.
Yeah, it has, like, a frosting flavor to it.
Then we got glow in the dark.
Wait, what's supposed to glow in the dark?
The packaging or the ... ?
That's not fun!
I thought this was going to glow in the dark!
The packaging?
Let's see it, let's give it a shot.
Nothing's glowing.
All right. Lights back on.
It's a regular Kit Kat.
This is regular. How disappointing is that?
Thumbs down.
Birthday cake.
Close to a frosting and sprinkles flavor.
Man, these are all really good.
Also in the US, you can get a lemon crisp flavor.
Sold out everywhere.
It was like a Supreme drop.
The second those hit the shelves, they were are gone.
Also Kit Kat in the US has this line called Duos.
As you can see, three different flavors,
two flavors in one.
We got mint and dark chocolate.
Mocha and chocolate.
Eh, I'm already,
I'm not predicting this is going to be anything special.
It's just OK.
Strawberry and dark chocolate.
Is the way I'm eating these annoying?
I mean, it's not terrible, but.
Maybe strawberry and chocolate would've been too sweet,
but with the dark chocolate, I'm just not into it.
So these were fun, right? These were fun?
No?
All right, back to Japan.
Kit Kat has a collection of flavors
inspired by the many regions and prefectures of Japan.
So I'm going to start with this, Mount Fuji,
the highest mountain in Japan.
It's 3,776 meters high.
And the flavor is strawberry-cheesecake flavor.
How can I open this?
Here we go.
It looks great.
It's pretty good.
But it tastes exactly the same
as that one that I tasted 10 minutes ago.
All right, next one is this Shinshu apple.
Shinshu is kind of very old way
to call Nagano Prefecture.
And Nagano Prefecture is located in the center of Japan
and is famous for delicious apples.
And, finally, they turn into Kit Kat.
Ooh.
This is the nicest chocolate I've ever had.
Next, we have Amaou strawberry.
So it's basically from Kyushu.
Kyushu is Japan's third-largest island
and is located southwest of Japan.
And Amaou is the best brand of strawberries in Japan.
Marvelous, again.
Next, I'm going to go with this one.
Ito Kyuemon Uji matcha
and Ito Kyuemon Uji hojicha.
Uji matcha and Uji hojicha are named after Uji city,
where they're grown.
And the difference between matcha and hojicha is
matcha is matcha, right?
Matcha is a green tea.
But hojicha is a roasted green tea.
Let's go with Uji matcha first.
Whoo!
Matcha is always perfect.
How about hojicha?
It's as beautiful as my heart.
Let's move on to the next one.
We have beni imo.
Beni imo, which is purple sweet potato.
It's from Okinawa.
So, Okinawa is Japan's southernmost prefecture
and is famous for beni imo.
Okinawa is my favorite place in Japan.
I love this.
It has just right sweetness.
We've got azuki sandwich flavor from Nagoya.
So, Nagoya is located in between Tokyo and Osaka
and is famous for its azuki sandwich.
Azuki is sweet red bean paste.
So sweet red bean paste sandwich.
Oh.
It's not my taste at all.
Momiji manju flavor.
It's from Hiroshima.
So, Hiroshima is located in the southwest of Japan
and is famous for its momiji manju,
which is kind of maple-leaf-shaped cake
filled with sweet bean paste.
It tastes exactly the same as this one.
Sweet red bean paste.
Japanese people love sweet red bean paste.
Hokkaido azuki and strawberry flavor.
Hokkaido is the largest
and northernmost prefecture in Japan
and is famous for its azuki.
Much better than the other azuki flavors.
Why wasabi?
And it's from Shizuoka,
and Shizuoka is located along the Pacific coast
and is the top wasabi-producing region in Japan.
Believe it or not, it's actually pretty good.
Let's go! This one!
Strawberry cheesecake flavor again.
It's from Yokohama.
Yokohama is located next to Tokyo,
but Yokohama is not famous for strawberry cheesecake.
I don't know why they chose
strawberry-cheesecake flavor for this.
It tastes exactly the same.
Same!
Next we have Tokyo banana.
So, Tokyo banana is a banana-shaped
sponge cake with cream filling,
and it is very popular souvenir of Tokyo.
And they turn into Kit Kats.
Ta-da! Ooh!
It's gross.
When you come to Tokyo, you should try Tokyo bananas,
but you should not try Tokyo banana Kit Kats.
Rum raisin.
It's from Tokyo.
Tokyo is not famous for rum raisin.
But it says, "Rum raisin's gorgeousness
and fanciness matches the image of Tokyo."
There is a shot of rum.
I don't like it!
It contains a lot of alcohol.
Ooh.
Nande?
Last one!
Sake flavor,
which is a Japanese traditional alcohol made from rice.
This is a really interesting one.
Oh.
Personally, I like it.
And this is an acquired taste.
So, when it comes to sake flavor,
we were supposed to have yogurt sake, yuzu sake,
limited-edition Japan sake umeshu,
but these were not available at the time of filming this.
And we have Kit Kat desserts.
We have Kit Kat Colliders,
which I could not find at the filming of this,
but it looks to be almost like vanilla-flavored cups
with Kit Kat chunks broken up in it.
Oh, man, I ate too many Kit Kats.
And then we have these.
These Kit Kat ice cream cones.
Eh.
I hit a wall real hard.
I hit a giant Kit Kat XL wall,
and I officially do not want to do this anymore.
Better, but not by much more.
Yeah, so that's it for the US.
Sorry we have so few flavors.
Japan has a Kit Kat called Otona no Amasa,
which translates to "sweetness for adults."
Ow! R-rated!
Don't let your kids watch this part!
All right, so it's a line of Kit Kat flavors
that are a little more bitter
and less sweet than regular Kit Kats.
So, here we have Otona no Amasa strawberry,
white,
and dark matcha
and dark chocolate.
All right, so let's give it a try.
First.
This is just straight-up dark chocolate,
as you can imagine.
Strawberry.
Ooh, it's actually tart.
This is good.
All right, so let's move on to the next one.
We've got dark matcha.
Mm.
This is so deep.
Much deeper than the other matcha flavors.
So, last one, we've got Otona no Amasa white chocolate.
This is the best one
among these Otona no Amasa chocolates.
Just right sweetness.
All right, so let's do matcha taste test.
In Japan, matcha-flavored Kit Kats are so popular.
Over the years, we've introduced 13 different,
different, different, different matcha flavors.
But currently, we were only able to get these three.
So let's see how different they are.
First, dark matcha.
Deep matcha.
But it's also deep.
Ito Kyuemon Uji matcha.
So freaking hard to tell the difference.
But I'd say this one is the most delicious one.
Kyoto.
You can get it in Kyoto or order online.
So, here we have classy chocolates called Sublime.
So we have white Sublime
and raw milk Sublime
and a volcanic green Sublime
and orange volcanic Sublime,
yellow,
ruby Sublime.
All right, so let's try some out.
I'm getting sick of the sweetness.
Itadakimasu.
It doesn't taste anything!
I was thinking that it'd taste like strawberry
or raspberry or something, but.
Did I get COVID?
COVID-19?
OK, let's keep going.
All right, so I'm going to go yellow volcanic.
Volcano! Pew!
Ooh!
This is the bitterest.
I've got orange.
Bitter.
Now I'm so scared.
Green Sublime.
It tastes exactly same as these two. So bitter.
Next we have milk Sublime.
It tastes exactly the same as regular flavor.
I prefer this one.
Last one, I've got white Sublime.
Compared to the Otona no Amasa white chocolate,
it's much better.
I'm done.
Hey, guys, it's Harry.
I can't let you do a Kit Kat episode without me,
because Kit Kats were actually invented in the UK in 1935.
They would eventually be distributed by Nestlé
across the UK, the EU, and Japan.
But in the US, Kit Kats are made
and distributed by Hershey's.
If you watched our Snickers episode,
you'll know that there are some major taste differences
between the chocolate in the UK and the US.
Mostly that the UK's is way better.
I'm going to do a three-way taste test
between UK, US, and also a Japanese Kit Kat
to see if there's any major differences between the three.
And, Harry, thank you for sending me this
with your cute handwriting.
Thank you, Harry! Arigato.
Let's try UK Kit Kat first.
The UK one is obviously the one I'm used to.
The chocolate is very smooth,
not overwhelmingly sweet, and just very tasty.
The UK is already a lot richer.
OK, OK.
Can I try US Kit Kat?
I also couldn't find
just a standard American Kit Kat anywhere.
I guess we didn't bother importing the regular one.
The closest thing I could find
was this Kit Kat Duos mocha and chocolate one.
Something doesn't taste quite right about that.
Yep.
UK, US,
they suck.
They both have too much sugar.
Joe, Harry, try Japan's Kit Kat.
Mm.
Much smoother. Creamier.
In terms of picking a favorite,
I think the US one gets discounted immediately.
Then, between the UK and the Japan one,
it's kind of a different style of Kit Kat, I guess.
I would say Japan and UK are pretty neck and neck.
They seem very similar.
Japan's Kit Kat is the best in the world.
Ugh, I've eaten too much candy.
Ugh!
Perhaps we can pinpoint the taste difference
to the ingredients.
In the US, a Kit Kat is made up of
sugar, wheat flour --
[beep]
Our Kit Kats have the following.
Looking over the ingredients,
I noticed our Kit Kats have cocoa butter and chocolate,
although it does not specify
what that chocolate is made up of.
Do we assume it is the same
as the Hershey's chocolate bar?
I don't know.
Whereas the Japan Kit Kat has cocoa mass,
cocoa butter, and cocoa powder.
Now, if we're to believe that Nestlé in Japan
holds their chocolate to the same standards
they do in the UK, it would mean
that it would have a higher fat and cocoa content.
According to the UK rules,
"a product must contain no less than 25% cocoa solids
to be considered 'milk chocolate.'"
The US definitely does not go by this rule.
Our Kit Kat is made up of palm oil,
where theirs is vegetable oil. Same in the UK.
It is cheaper, but it's also worse on the environment,
adding to deforestation,
increasing greenhouse [gas] emissions,
and water pollution.
So it is bad on the environment and tastes worse.
Fantastic.
But good news for all you vegans,
Nestlé has created a vegan Kit Kat,
with substituted milk with a rice-based alternative,
but availability is currently limited,
so they are not available in the US or Japan.
This is a US Kit Kat miniature,
and it is 8.5 grams.
It's the closest size we had to Japan's mini.
This is 42 calories,
2.2 grams of fat,
6 milligrams of sodium,
5.8 grams of carbs,
4 of those are sugar,
and 1 gram of protein.
In Japan, the mini is the most popular size.
It's 62 calories
and 3.5 grams of fat,
3.5 to 11.4 milligrams of sodium,
8.99 to 19.4 grams of total carbs,
and 0.9 grams of protein.
The most common Kit Kat size in the US
is the four-finger bar.
210 calories,
11 grams of fat,
7 of those are saturated,
20 milligrams of sodium,
28 grams of carbs,
23 of those are sugar,
and 2 grams of protein.
The closest size we have to that in Japan
is the Kit Kat bar.
It contains 224 calories.
The most caloried Kit Kat in the US we got
is the Kit Kat XL.
Now, I unwrapped it here so you could see
just how big it is.
It contains 640 calories.
The most calories you will get in a Kit Kat in Japan
is the big little pouch bite.
This bag is 275 calories.