15 Best Japanese Chocolates: Popular Chocolate From Japan to Try

Japanese chocolate goes far beyond the classic bar. In Japanese stores, you’ll find crunchy chocolate bars, high-cacao chocolate, bite-size chocolates with letters on them, chocolate-filled pastry puffs, and matcha versions of popular brands. Many come in individually wrapped pieces or small trays, so they are easy to share.

In this guide, we introduce the 15 best Japanese chocolates, from best-selling bars to fun chocolate snacks. For each one, we explain what it is, why people love it, and which flavors to try first.

Japanese Chocolate List: 15 Picks at a Glance

How We Picked These Japanese Chocolates

We chose long-selling chocolates and chocolate snacks that are sold year-round in Japanese stores, and we covered a range of styles: bars, high-cacao chocolate, wafers, bite-size pieces, pastry, nuts, and biscuit snacks.

The numbers in this list are for easy reference, not a sales ranking. Product details and flavors come from each maker’s official website and press releases.

1. Ghana (Lotte)

What It Is

Ghana Milk is Lotte’s milk chocolate bar, known for its rich, milky taste and smooth melt. It comes in a 50g bar in a red box.

Why It’s Popular

Lotte calls Ghana Japan’s best-selling tablet chocolate (Intage SRI+, tablet chocolate sales value, January–December 2023). The range also includes darker and white versions, so there is one for every taste.

Must-Try Flavors

Ghana Milk, Ghana Black (50% cacao), Ghana White, and Ghana Matcha made with Uji matcha.

2. Chocolate Kouka (Meiji)

What It Is

Chocolate Kouka is Meiji’s high-cacao dark chocolate. The Cacao 72% version has a bright aroma and a refined bitterness, and its 65g box holds about 13 individually wrapped pieces.

Why It’s Popular

Meiji says Chocolate Kouka is No.1 in sales in Japan’s high-cacao chocolate market (Intage SRI+, brand sales value, December 2023–November 2024). Meiji lists 127mg of cacao polyphenols per piece of the 72% version and labels it a low-GI food.

Must-Try Flavors

Cacao 72%, and the more intense Cacao 86% and Cacao 95%.

3. Meiji Milk Chocolate (Meiji)

What It Is

Meiji Milk Chocolate is Meiji’s flagship milk chocolate bar, with a rich cacao and milk flavor. The standard 50g bar has a short, simple ingredient list.

Why It’s Popular

It is a classic Japanese chocolate that is easy to find and easy to share. Besides the bar, Meiji sells it as a 26-piece box and in larger packs.

Must-Try Flavors

Milk Chocolate, plus its sister bars: Black, High Milk, and White.

4. KitKat (Nestlé Japan)

What It Is

KitKat is a chocolate-covered wafer made with rich cacao chocolate and a very crunchy wafer. In Japan, it is sold in bags of small bars as well as full-size bars.

Why It’s Popular

Nestlé Japan says KitKat is the No.1 chocolate brand in Japan by domestic sales (Intage SRI+, chocolate category, January–December 2022). Japan also has many flavors you rarely see elsewhere, including matcha and regional souvenir versions.

Must-Try Flavors

The classic KitKat, Otona no Amasa (a less sweet “grown-up” version), Koi Matcha (rich matcha), Strawberry, and Orange Chocolat.

5. Alphabet Chocolate (meito)

What It Is

Alphabet Chocolate is a bag of bite-size milk chocolates, each marked with a letter of the alphabet. meito makes it from the cacao bean onward in its own factory.

Why It’s Popular

You can use the letters to spell out names or short messages, which makes it fun to share, although one bag may not contain every letter. Each piece is small, at about 5.2g.

Must-Try Flavors

The classic milk chocolate bag, plus Crispy Crepe, Strawberry, and Annou Sweet Potato.

6. Black Thunder (Yuraku)

What It Is

Black Thunder is a chocolate bar made with cocoa cookie and biscuit pieces, coated in chocolate. Yuraku describes its texture as “overwhelmingly crunchy,” and each bar is about 21g.

Why It’s Popular

The crunchy bite and low price make it an easy everyday treat. Yuraku adjusts the chocolate coating in 0.1g steps to get the balance right, and there are regional versions sold around Japan.

Must-Try Flavors

The original Black Thunder and the bags of Black Thunder mini bars.

7. Nama Cream Chocolate (Furuta)

What It Is

Nama Cream Chocolate is a bag of individually wrapped milk chocolates with a cream filling made with fresh cream. Furuta calls it its flagship product.

Why It’s Popular

The mellow milk chocolate and creamy center make each piece feel like a small treat. The individual wrapping makes it easy to share, and there is also a larger Mega Pack.

Must-Try Flavors

The original Nama Cream Chocolate, plus strawberry versions such as Kaoritatsu Ichigo.

8. Kinoko no Yama & Takenoko no Sato (Meiji)

What It Is

These are two chocolate snacks from Meiji. Kinoko no Yama (“mushroom mountain”) is a mushroom-shaped cracker topped with chocolate, and Takenoko no Sato (“bamboo shoot village”) is a bamboo shoot-shaped cookie coated in chocolate.

Why It’s Popular

Both use two kinds of chocolate, one with a strong cacao aroma and one mellowed with milk. Meiji also plays up the friendly rivalry between the two, asking fans which side they are on.

Must-Try Flavors

The original Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato, plus Strawberry and matcha versions.

9. Pie no Mi (Lotte)

What It Is

Pie no Mi is a bite-size pastry puff with 64 flaky layers wrapped around a mellow chocolate filling. Lotte makes the chocolate only for Pie no Mi, so it melts together with the pastry.

Why It’s Popular

Lotte says Pie no Mi is No.1 in sales in Japan’s sweet pie market (Fuji Keizai, 2023 brand share). There is also a Share Pack with individually wrapped pieces.

Must-Try Flavors

The original Pie no Mi, Deep Chocolat, and the Uji Matcha Share Pack.

10. Almond Chocolate (Meiji)

What It Is

Meiji Almond Chocolate is made with carefully selected almonds roasted over a direct flame and coated in milk chocolate made to suit them. The chocolate is polished to a jewel-like shine.

Why It’s Popular

Meiji says its almonds are hand-sorted to standards stricter than those of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The crunchy almond and smooth chocolate make a simple, satisfying combination.

Must-Try Flavors

The original Almond Chocolate, Fragrant Cacao, and Matcha.

11. Pocky (Glico)

What It Is

Pocky is a thin biscuit stick coated in chocolate. One end of each stick is left uncoated, so you can hold it without getting chocolate on your fingers. The standard box holds two bags.

Why It’s Popular

Glico says Guinness World Records recognized Pocky as the world’s best-selling chocolate-coated biscuit brand in 2020 and 2021. There are also thinner and larger versions, plus many seasonal and regional flavors.

Must-Try Flavors

Pocky Chocolate, Gokuboso (extra thin), and Giant Pocky.

12. Tirol Choco (Tirol-Choco)

What It Is

Tirol Choco is a small, individually wrapped square of chocolate. Each flavor has its own filling or texture, such as coffee nougat or milk cream made with fresh cream.

Why It’s Popular

Its small size makes it easy to try many flavors, and Tirol-Choco releases many seasonal and limited flavors alongside its standard lineup.

Must-Try Flavors

Coffee Nougat, Milk, White & Cookie, and the Variety Pack, which mixes four kinds.

13. Dars (Morinaga)

What It Is

Dars is a tray of 12 bite-size chocolate squares. Dars Milk is made with fresh cream and has a clean sweetness.

Why It’s Popular

The box is designed for sharing: the lid works as a stand and locks shut after opening, and the pieces aren’t individually wrapped, so there is no wrapper waste. Morinaga says White Dars is the No.1-selling white chocolate in Japan (Intage SRI+, sales value, March 2024–February 2025).

Must-Try Flavors

Milk, White, Strawberry, and the Premium Almond Praline.

14. Choco Ball (Morinaga)

What It Is

Choco Ball is a small box of chocolate-coated snack balls, such as peanuts with a crispy crust. Every box features Morinaga’s mascot, Kyoro-chan, and the box opens through a beak-shaped spout.

Why It’s Popular

Some boxes have a gold or silver “angel” printed on the spout. In Japan, one gold angel or five silver angels can be sent in for a prize called a Toy Can, and Morinaga says it sends Toy Cans to about 80,000 people a year.

Must-Try Flavors

Peanut, Caramel, and Strawberry.

15. Look (Fujiya)

What It Is

Look is a chocolate with four different fruit fillings in one box: banana, raspberry, strawberry, and pineapple. The standard box holds 12 square pieces.

Why It’s Popular

You get four flavors in one box, and the current version has a stronger fruit taste. There is also a family pack with individually wrapped pieces.

Must-Try Flavors

Look A La Mode (the four-fruit box), plus Milk Parade and White Lovers.

What Makes Japanese Chocolate Different

Japanese makers put a lot of care into texture and format. You’ll find chocolate combined with wafers, cookies, crackers, pastry, and nuts, and many products come in individually wrapped pieces, trays, or share packs. High-cacao chocolate, with the cacao percentage printed on the box, has its own market category too.

Japan also has many flavors you rarely see elsewhere, especially matcha, as well as regional souvenir editions of popular brands such as KitKat and Black Thunder. Seasonal and limited flavors appear often, so there is always something new to try.

Where to Buy Japanese Chocolate Outside Japan

The easiest way to get Japanese chocolate is to order directly from Japan with kachicollect. We only carry products made for the Japanese market, and you pay the listed price plus shipping, with no proxy fees. The total, including import duties, is shown at checkout in your local currency, and orders ship worldwide with tracking, arriving in about 7 to 14 days.

If you can’t find a chocolate in our shop, send us the product link from a Japanese marketplace. You’ll get an instant quote and can buy it directly on kachicollect.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular chocolate in Japan?

It depends on how you measure it. Nestlé Japan says KitKat was the No.1 chocolate brand by domestic sales in 2022, and Lotte says Ghana was Japan’s best-selling tablet chocolate in 2023. For more popular Japanese treats, see our list of the best Japanese snacks.

What Japanese chocolates can you only find in Japan?

Matcha versions of popular brands, such as KitKat Koi Matcha and Ghana Matcha, are a good place to start. Regional souvenir editions of KitKat and Black Thunder are also sold in specific parts of Japan.

What is the difference between chocolate and semi-chocolate in Japan?

Under Japan’s labeling rules, basic “chocolate” must contain at least 35% cacao solids, including at least 18% cocoa butter, while basic “semi-chocolate” needs at least 15% cacao solids. Some chocolate snacks, such as Pie no Mi and Choco Ball, are labeled as semi-chocolate confectionery. To learn more about the companies behind these sweets, read our guide to Japanese snack brands.

Can I buy Japanese chocolate online from outside Japan?

Yes. kachicollect ships Japan-only sweets worldwide with tracking, and the total including duties is shown before you pay. If a chocolate isn’t in our shop, send us the product link to get a quote.

Conclusion

From best-selling Ghana and KitKat to crunchy Black Thunder and four-flavor Look, Japanese chocolate offers flavors and textures you won’t find anywhere else. If you’re new to it, start with Ghana, KitKat, and Kinoko no Yama or Takenoko no Sato, then try Chocolate Kouka or Pie no Mi for something different.

The best way to get the real thing is to order directly from Japan with kachicollect. You get the same chocolates sold in Japanese stores, the total including duties is shown before checkout, and first-time customers can use the code WELCOME20 for 20% off.