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Japan probably has the world’s largest and most bizarre selection of Kit Kat flavours on offer, but this latest release is about more than just tickling your tastebuds. Nestle Japan is offering a specially-packaged version of their classic biscuit to help recovery in areas destroyed by the devastating tsunami of March 2011.

On June 16 Nestle Japan will release the ‘Kit Kat Mini Kippu Kat’. In Japanese ‘kippu‘ means ‘ticket‘, and according to Nestle PR, ‘these are the first sweets in the world that function as train tickets.’

The box containing the biscuits will serve as a rail ticket for the Sanriku Railway line in Iwate Prefecture which was damaged during the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake, losing 5.8km of line, and finally reopened this March.

Hand over the box at the ticket booth or when you alight from the train, and you can get 190 yen (US $1.90) off your fare. That’s how much it costs to travel the distance between Shimanokoshi and Tanohata stations, the last part of the track to reopen. If your fare is going to be more than 190 yen then you have to foot the difference yourself. It’s all for a good cause though, aiming to bring people back to a region that was devastated by the tsunami three years ago, so go on and treat yourself to the knowledge that you’re doing a charitable deed (yummy chocolate is just a bonus).

One box costs just 108 yen (US$1.05) and contains three plain chocolate mini kit kat bars. They’ll be sold in supermarkets and convenience stores around the Tōhoku area, and the ticket is valid until the end of May 2015.

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Source: Tokyo Shinbun
Image: Response JP, Hajima Yuki, Wikimedia Commons