In a country full of pumpkin-spice everything, I found special Halloween Kit Kats in Seattle, and they were somehow not pumpkin flavored. The American Halloween Kit Kats this year are orange-colored white chocolate abominations, as they apparently are every year.

They 1. have no Halloween flavor and 2. taste like pure sugar. The first ingredient is sugar. I just checked the back of a couple bags of KitKats from Japan (大人の甘さイチゴ and passion fruit), and the first ingredients were chocolate and the components of the wafers; sugar is much farther down on the list. This year’s Japanese Kit Kats are the same flavor as last year: Pumpkin Pudding (パンプキンプリン).

 ♪ハロウィンを楽しもう♪
ハロウィン定番のデザート、”パンプキンプリン”の甘くて優しい味わいが口いっぱいに広がります。ハロウィンのために作った、「キットカット　パンプキンプリン味」でハロウィンをさらにお楽しみください。

Let’s enjoy Halloween!

A standard Halloween dessert, pumpkin pudding has a sweet and gentle flavor that fills the mouth. Enjoy Halloween even more with pumpkin-pudding flavor Kit Kats. (Nestle Kit Kats Mini Pumpkin Pudding Flavorネスレ　キットカット　ミニ　パンプキンプリン味)

Wendy commented,

I tried the pumpkin kit kats this year. They are better than last year, and look better too. Last year they were purplish… This year they are orangey. They taste is very sweet and not too much pumpkin. Pretty similar to last year I think, just a different colour.

I know Japanese manufacturers have an obsession with limited-time seasonal items, and that’s great. What I don’t get is the lack of innovation from the non-Japanese side of the company. Americans love pumpkin-flavored things the way the Japanese love sakura. And yet here we are, with Japan getting a variety of pumpkin-flavored Kit Kats (last year was Pumpkin Pudding, two years ago was Pumpkin Cheesecake), and here I am with the chocolate equivalent of a sugar packet.

I am rage blogging about candy. Send help–and Kit Kats.

Find a Halloween-themed treat in Japan? Send it my way at Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, or in the comments!