2018年2月9日金曜日 - 
Anna: Chocolate
For me, February is one of the best months to be into making sweets because of Valentine's Day. Stores all over the country are advertising the best or most beautiful chocolate, and the designs and flavors are different every year. I've only been interested in sweets for a few years, but I always like looking at the special offers in February to get some inspiration. I'm not very good at making small sweets or making my own chocolate, so I'm always impressed by the quality of the chocolate I see in the store windows or even at the convenience store!
Another point I like about chocolate in
Japan is that there are so many different flavors compared
to the Valentine's Day (or even regular) chocolate I remember seeing
in America. In addition to caramel, nougat, cookies or mint, which are also
popular in the US, Japanese chocolate is often combined
with fruits or matcha, which can make it more sour or bitter
instead of just sweet. Probably the most extreme example of this is all the
different flavors of KitKats that can be found all over Japan, which are now so
popular across the world that many people collect them.
Apart from just the taste, though, what I think is
really amazing about special chocolate in Japan is the design. There are so
many beautiful handmade
chocolates that are unique, even the packaging, so in the end they're almost
like art and not only sweets for you to enjoy. Sometimes I even feel a little guilty about eating
them, since they look so nice. But sharing something so beautiful with someone
important to you is worth
it!
be into： be interested in; like：～にハマる
compared to：～に比べ
combined with：～と組み合わされて
apart from：～の他に
handmade：made by hand, not
with a machine：手作りの
guilty：feeling like you did something bad or
wrong：罪悪感
worth it： has value; a good
reason to do something：価値がある