Will Miss #138 - Choco Cro

Choco Cro is a chain shop which sells baked goods and beverages with the main product being croissants filled with chocolate (hence "choco cro"). I've read that these are the closest one can come in Japan to pain au chocolat from France, and, in fact, that some Europeans consider these Japanese treats to be superior to the ones you can get in their country of origin. The ChocoCro croissants are small, sweet bits of flaky pastry perfection. A fresh one is divine, but they're also fabulous the next day if re-heated in a bit of foil in the toaster oven. One small original bittersweet chocolate croissant is 269 calories, but well worth the caloric expense.

I'll miss partaking of the sublime delight of the occasional "choco cro."

Won't Miss #135 - "giri choco"

On Valentine's Day, women are expected to give men chocolates. They don't give them to the men they love or even like, but rather out of obligation ("giri"). As a foreign woman, I was never expected to observe this dubious custom, but I heard plenty of complaints from women in our office who had to do it until the president finally outlawed the practice (likely out of fear of full-fledged rebellion by his female staff). My husband still gets these chocolates from female students, and while I get to enjoy the booty he receives, I still feel that the whole thing is unfair to women. I find it particularly troubling that the women who are most expected to hand over chocolates to coworkers are office ladies who are the lowest paid. There is a made-up reciprocal holiday called "White Day", but men tend to fall down on the job when it comes to returning the favor.

I won't miss the custom of obliging women to give men chocolates.

Will Miss #129 - Dars chocolates

If you're a regular reader of my Japanese snack blog, you may already know that Dars is my favorite Japanese consumer level chocolate. Dars is a super smooth, creamy, fatty chocolate made by Morinaga. They come is quite a few varieties (dark, white, milk, hazelnut, almond, affogato) and I haven't found a bum one in the lot. For a mere 100 yen, you can indulge in a box of high quality candy that greatly outpaces the nearest consumer-level competitor.

I'll miss this luxurious chocolate being readily available and cheap.