The food section on underground floor at department stores—or depachika as they’re commonly known—are fascinating places.
The moment you step inside, you’re surrounded by delicious-looking food—from the spicy to the sweet, and everything in between.
They’re also wonderful places for trying out traditional wagashi, local sweets, and other Japanese confectioneries!
Anyway, let’s go!
Come on!
Let’s head inside the depachika!
This is Toraya, a veteran Japanese confectioner, and a great place to pick up souvenirs...
This is Anmitsu Mihashi, a shop from Ueno that sells delicious anmitsu (agar jelly with red bean paste) and ice monaka (wafer cakes filled with ice cream)...
This is the Meika Hyakusen area, where you can pick up gift packs of famous sweets from all over the country...
And this is the tea house adjoining the Tsuruya Yoshinobu shop.
Here you can enjoy Japanese sweets without having to wait to get home!
There’s so much to see, so much to eat, and so much to buy!
Apart from all the different shops, and the sheer amount of items on offer, one of the main attractions of depachika is all the unique seasonal Japanese sweets that are available.
At this time of year, for instance, there are the candies, senbei (rice crackers), and namagashi (fresh sweets) associated with the Tango no Sekku celebrations on May 5th, when the births and healthy growth of boys are celebrated.
These are Kokuto Chimaki from Taneya, a shop from Omihachiman in Shiga Prefecture.
The koinobori (carp streamer) packaging is really cute!
These Eitaro Ame candies from Eitaro in Nihonbashi are quite small, and make perfect little souvenirs!
They also sell fresh kashiwa-mochi sweets that are only available around the time of Tango no Sekku!
Kashiwa-mochi are made from dough with anko (red bean paste) inside, and wrapped with oak (“kashiwa”) leaves.
A symbol of “family prosperity”, they’ve been considered lucky sweets since long ago.
There are three standard types of anko: koshi-an (smooth anko), tsubu-an (coarse anko), and miso-an, which is shiro-an (white bean paste) with white miso added.
There really is nothing quite like the taste of anko together with the aroma of fresh oak leaves!
Why not take a little “Japanese sweets tour” around a depachika, and try out the kashiwa-mochi from some different shops?
Information
Tamagawa Takashimaya
http://www.takashimaya.co.jp/tamagawa/
Opening Hours: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm (Varies depending on time of year)
Open all year round
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