Due to the nation’s tectonic position and regional weather patterns, earthquakes and typhoons are a part of life in Japan. We’ve been reminded of that in tragic fashion twice this summer when Osaka was shaken by the prefecture’s strongest-ever-recorded earthquake in June 2018, followed by storms and flooding that took lives and destroyed infrastructure in western Japan's Kansai and Chugoku regions in July.

Way over on the far other end of the spectrum of inevitabilities of life in Japan are, of course, the bounty of exclusive local Kit Kat flavors the country is blessed with. And now the chocolate-covered wafers are set to help with the recovery of the areas that have been hit by this summer’s natural disasters. Nestlé Japan has announced that it will be selling a special Kit Kat flavor that's usually sold only in the Hiroshima area nationwide, in order to help raise funds to be donated to relief programs in Osaka and west Japan.

Sweetening the deal is the fact that the flavor, Momiji Manju, combines one of Japan’s most delicious traditional sweets with the widely loved Kit Kat format. Covered in white chocolate, with powdered sweet anko beans sandwiched between the wafers, the Momiji Manju Kit Kats recreate the iconic maple leaf-shaped (momiji , or “maple”) bite-size cake dumplings that have been a favorite of travelers to Hiroshima for more than a century.

The earthquake/flood relief Kit Kat Mini Momiji Manju (box pictured above) contains three individually wrapped Kit Kats, and is priced at ¥160 (US$1.40). It goes on sale October 9, 2018, at supermarkets and convenience stores across Japan. It follows Nestlé Japan’s previous charity Kit Kats for victims of this spring’s Kumamoto earthquake showing once again that helping those in need isn’t just kind, but sweet too.

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