Bittersweet Symphony

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Gourmet chocolate in Japan is usually associated with the obligatory truffle assortments in deluxe packaging that fly off the shelves on Valentine's Day. But recent television programs extolling the cancer- and heart-attack-preventing nutrients in rich, dark chocolate have elevated the confectionery to the status of red wine. It's good for you and you can be snobbish about it. Product placards in the top chocolate shops and cafés now list where the cocoa bean was grown as well as the percentage of cocoa in each mouthwatering morsel.

The latest varieties have that distinct Japanese twist: fillings range from the requisite green tea to more quirky innovations such as sansho (a combination of spices usually reserved for broiled eel) and yuzu (a citrus often used in soups and bathwater).
Dark-chocolate addicts in Tokyo should take a hit of the 72%-cocoa signature praline at Pierre Marcolini, tel: (813) 5537 2047. If fillings are your focus, start at Ponto, tel: (813) 5414 2420, where red-bean, green-tea, black-sesame and soybean-powder chocolates decorated with seasonal motifs are on offer.

Then head to Roppongi Hills, where Le Chocolate de H, tel: (813) 5772 0075, turns out exquisite red-pepper or gold-flecked champagne bonbons.