Chocolate.

So, I realized yesterday that I had not eaten a single piece of chocolate since I arrived in Japan. It's been about...18 days. I've had desserts since coming to Japan (cream puffs, sweet beans, sweet rice balls,vanilla, green tea, and grape ice cream, etc.), and they were certainly satisfying, but I knew somewhere deep inside, something was missing.

Then I made a discovery. It was a hot, muggy summer day in Tokyo. Sweat was dripping down my neck, my jeans were sticking uncomfortably to my legs, and my hair was in a state of humid frizz the likes of which you have never seen. As I stopped at a corner to wipe my brow, I noticed the Azabu international Grocery and knew refuge waited inside. I entered the air conditioned market and my eyes were immediately drawn to this:

Ahhh.... A choir of rejoicing angels sang within my heart. A divine light seemed to surround this 50 gram container of Moose Tracks, as if it were some heavenly gift sent to bring a praying, lonely girl a moment of utter bliss. I indulged. And just like that, my personal chocolate famine was over. I was home.

Japanese people have not properly developed their dependence on a daily chocolate fix like most Westerners have. Perhaps, if I were someone else, I would use this summer in Japan as a way to break my own addiction to this rich, succulent, cellulite building substance that brings a smile to my face no matter the circumstance. But why would I deny myself the thrill of feeling a creamy piece of chocolate melt across my tongue and embrace each of my taste buds, one by one, until they explode with pleasure? No. By abandoning chocolate, I am only abandoning myself, and that will never happen.

Fin.