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  • 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]

  • [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.

George: From calorie count to portion sizes,

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