Lots of things are very different in Tokyo. The food is definitely one of those things. Some familiar name brands are available, such as Twinings Tea. These provide something of a comfort value in general, providing something familiar at least. It’s sometimes a bit disconcerting, though, to find unfamiliar products from familiar brands. Food manufacturers, of course, adjust their products to local tastes. Thus in Japan we not only have the traditional British McVitie’s Chocolate Digestive Biscuits, but we also have the unfamiliar “Bitter & Cocoa” digestive biscuit. This is a digestive biscuit with cocoa in the biscuit mix itself and relatively bitter dark chocolate half-coating.

They’re quite nice, although I can see where they might not fit the UK market’s sweet tooth. The Japanese tend to go for less sweet confectionery on the whole. The downside is that they’re sold in boxes of twelve split into four packs of three. Better for my waistline I suppose, since I’m less liable to eat half the packet in one evening, but it makes them pretty expensive.