So, everyone is universally pretty crazy about chocolate, but for the most part, chocolate and sweets aren't something we typically consider "Asian". Yet, with the influx of Western culture and desserts, chocolate has risen in popularity in Asia, especially in Japan.
Bear in mind, Japan was isolated for a period of time, and there were very few ports that could actually receive European goods. One of the few European peoples allowed into Japan for trade were the Dutch, and they did bring the drinking version of chocolate with them, but it was largely restricted to the upper classes in Japan. (Tofugu) The first solid chocolate bar was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era, and interestingly:"... was marketed as チョコレート , but with the kanji 貯古齢糖. Interestingly, those kanji individually mean "save", "old", "age", and 'sugar'." (To
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| Ice Cream Flavored Chocolate! |
During the American occupation of the second World War, chocolate was brought along as a treat for civilian children. (Tofugu) In fact, one of the first English phrases that Japanese children learned was often, "Give me chocolate!" (Tofugu)
Japanese chocolates are unique from chocolates around the world in that they are usually individually wrapped to maintain their unique flavors, including but not limited to a special hazelnut flavor (Tofugu), and some of them are not even necessarily chocolate: for example, a Kit-Kat flavor that is popular in Japan is green tea!
Link: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-chocolate/
Video: To give you an idea of how crafty Japanese chocolatiers are, watch this video, which is a game show that has contestants take a bite! Is it chocolate... or not? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEcC7LGXDQc
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