Quote:
Originally Posted by emilysturdivant
Don't worry! I understand the difficulty of over-analyzing something that doesn't necessarily have much significance. Unfortunately, since this is an analysis so I have to treat it with importance, but I will try to represent that I'm using this possibly inconsequential item to look at more essential cultural trends.
Does the Japanese relationship to Kit Kats or other originally Western products have anything to do with them being originally from the West? Have the Western elements been weeded out of the product because consumers dislike the associate or are the Western influences valued and enhanced? Or does no one care?
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I hate to use you as an example but I really have trouble with the use of the term "Western" by non-Japanese scholars (and weaboos alike).
Are you aware Japan has already had 470-year exchange with Europe? More things in Japan originally come from the West than they so blindly seem to believe.
KitKat has been here since 1973 and many Japanese don't know it came from another country. Why should we know? It isn't of importance. It's made in Japan and it does us no good if we know which brands are origianlly Japanese and which aren't. Japan has been producing chocolate since 1878. Chocolate isn't foreign food to us.
What are the Western elements of KitKat that you speak of? We already had all kinds of chocolate products by 1973 and KitKat didn't surprise us one bit. Nothing was so new about it.
Just tell me what non-Western country welcomes Western influence more happily than Japan. Almost all of us wear Western-style clothes everyday. We watch foreign movies all the time. Millions of us go abroad every year. Close to no one eats three Japanese-style meals everyday.
That Nestle Japan keeps producing new flavors for KitKat has nothing to do with the Japanese not liking its original flavor. We have always liked to do things, including eating, according to the season for thousands of years. We had long been doing so when we first encountered Westerners. So it has nothing to do with the West. Do some research in Japanese confectionery (Wagashi) and you will know what I'm talking about. We want our food to look and taste different every season. If a chocolate maker wants to cater to that habit, it will come up with unique flavors each season.
This may accidentally explain, at least partly, why M&M's and Snicker aren't doing well here. Everyone is complaining they are too sweet for the Japanese palate but they haven't listened to us so far.