The fact that dietary fiber chocolate exists in Japan is not so strange. Most of the candy-like items sold near the registers of my local supermarket are some sort of fiber or vitamin supplement disguised as fudge or cookies. What is odd is that I found this particular candy displayed with the normal, bad-for-you candy on the shelves of a convenience store.

...Okay, it's not actually all that odd. It's probably more strange that this box of fourteen individually-wrapped chocolates has 12 grams of fiber. Stranger still is the bitter, aspirin-like aftertaste the chocolates had, especially the piece I let melt on my tongue instead of chewing. Strangest of all was my desire, as soon as the bitter taste had left my mouth, to eat another piece. This is most likely attributable to my mild chocolate addiction rather than the appeal of this candy, as I tried this while at school, a barren, chocolate-less place where even fiber chocolate seems better than nothing.

Every time I look at the pink-and-white package, I have the brief impression I bought something that somehow benefited breast cancer research. But in actuality I just bought something geared toward fiber-deprived Japanese women trying to get a little nutrition in this fast-paced world. Or trying not to feel so guilty about their chocolate consumption -- which may be why it was displayed with the bad-for-you candy in the first place. Mystery solved!

A special salute to the candy-package-design person who decided to print the words "dietary fiber chocolate" all over the box in loopy font. Dietary fiber has never looked so appealingly girly.