The familiar KitKat chocolate bar was invented in Britain's Yorkshire in 1935. During World War II, the government of Winston Churchill recommended the bar's consumption, saying that it was ``a cheap and healthy source of nourishment'' and that a bite of a KitKat would enable a soldier to march for two hours.

The government's endorsement helped make KitKats the national snack for Britons.

While Margaret Thatcher was prime minister in the 1980s, the Swiss company Nestle staged a hostile takeover of the company making KitKats. With opponents taking to the streets to ``protect the taste of Britain,'' what was known as the chocolate war broke out.

The current government of Tony Blair no longer gives its blessing to KitKat bars in line with anti-obesity programs.

Out of the news for years, the chocolate bar came back as something of a hot topic in Britain this month, following reports by British newspapers and the BBC that Japanese students are snapping up the traditional British chocolate bar as a lucky charm.

In the past, one newspaper reported, students preparing to sit for entrance exams would be served katsu don breaded pork cutlets over rice as a good-luck meal before the big day. They were considered auspicious because katsu also means ``win.'' But nowadays, the homegrown tradition has been making way for a Western import.

According to Nestle Japan, a pun triggered the popularity of KitKat bars with Japanese students.

Several years ago, a student in Kyushu, the southernmost main Japanese island, started saying: ``KitKat-de kitto kato'' (Let us be sure to win by eating KitKat bars).

Circulated over the Internet, the pun with the ``k'' alliteration acquired nationwide popularity in short order.

It is not just in Japan that students pin their hopes for success in crucial exams on lucky charms.

Students in the United States, for example, long used a rabbit's foot as a good-luck talisman. Students in India still pray with figurines of Ganesh, the deity with the head of an elephant who is also a harbinger of good luck and prosperity. Amulets with blue eyes are popular with students in Turkey.

All these items remind one of the folk beliefs and traditions lying deep down beneath the surface of daily life.

However, the lucky charms now popular with students in Japan are mostly of a worldly nature. And there are lots of them.

In almost all cases, a pun is the agent of promotion, as with the KitKat chocolate bar. Students eat Karl-brand snacks because the brand name is close to the Japanese expression ukaru (pass an exam). The name of the Xylitol gum sounds somewhat like the phrase kitchiri toru (be sure to pass). Similarly, Iyokan, or Iyo orange, is close to ii yokan (good vibes).

It is now the season for university entrance exams in Japan. I hope that students will take care not to eat too much of these items just to get ahead.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 23(IHT/Asahi: February 24,2005)