Enlarge / My custom Kit Kat order: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, matcha, and “ruby” bars, from left to right, all covered with freeze-dried toppings. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

OSAKA, Japan—At the very last second, I learned that I had to eat the most expensive candies I’d ever bought in one sitting.

There may be pricier truffles and treats in this world, covered in gold flakes or disgorged from a goose’s belly. But this was my highest-ever candy spend: $33 for a mere five Kit Kat bars… that had just been ordered to my customizations and doused in a bath of liquid nitrogen. (Add the costs of a trip halfway around the world and a four-hour transit journey to this brand-new, first-of-its-kind store, if you want to grow the price tag a bit.)

But this being Japan, I had to contend with a strange serving situation. All of the candy bars were presented on a single, paper-aluminum tray, not packed up to make the journey back home with me. So at this combined train station/mall complex, with nothing in the way of public benches, my only polite sit-and-eat option was in a cramped Nestlé shop, on a tiny red stool, and under gauche fluorescent lights while clerks shouted nearby.