bob writes:
….What does test-taking have to do with WINNING?…I don’t get the reasoning for this…

The entrance college exams are highly competitive in Japan. They can make-or-break a life (and there are no second chances for people over 20 years old). Scoring well on the exam is like winning the lottery for life for a Japanese person, hence the Japan think of doing well on it as “Winning” or a “Victory.” Conversely, scoring poorly leads to life of poverty (and shame).

As I said before Kit Kat sounds similar to kitto katsu (”you will surely win”) victory=Katsu in Japanese).

—Japanese to English WWWJDIC dictionary ——-
勝つ(P); 克つ; 贏つ 【かつ】 (v5t,vi) to win; to gain victory;
Example: He is sure of winning.
明日は勝てないかもしれない

The Japanese kanji character for Katsu — win/victory.

Exam hell starts for Japan’s school applicants
EarthTimes.org / Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:09:02 GMT
The Japanese archipelago is plunged into a state of nail-biting tension at this time of year when the exam hell starts in earnest for school-age youths. “Juku” cram school pupils scream with their fists in the air in a bid to muster up the determination required by modern samurais to win the battle of the entrance examinations…
….Parents across Japan will soon be making deep-fried pork cutlets because the Japanese word Ton-katsu rhymes with victory (Katsu in Japanese).
To send their best wishes, food manufacturers are marketing special victory packages of snacks and instant noodles geared towards Japanese youth from elementary-school age to university teenagers who spend many a sleepless night before the exams start in mid-January, reports said.
This year, many school applicants flocked to an orangutang cage at a Tokyo zoo to learn from the apes who never fall from a tree, according to a local newspaper. ….
...more…