Dagashiya Yokocho was one of the highlights of our day trip to Kawagoe. Literally, Kashiya Yokocho means candy alley.
The alley was lined with about twenty different shops selling candy ranging from Hershey Chocolate bars to old fashioned Japanese candy.
Some of the shops were Dagashiya (selling old fashioned Japanese candy) is reminiscent of the once popular and common neighborhood candy shops. These candy shops were the favorite hangout for children in the neighborhood. Kids would buy candy at the shops. Most of the candy were sold by the piece as such, transactions were done with coins rather than bills. The shops also carried inexpensive toys such as take-tombo, baloons and soap water to blow bubbles. Upscale toys included dolls and model kits. These shops were definitely focused on children. From time to time there may be a man in on a bicycle visiting the shops showing Kamsihibai (Story Tellers using Paper Picture Boards) for a few coins. The kashiya or dagashiya is not as common in Tokyo neighborhoods, perhaps because of the outflow of citizens to the newer suburbs and the influx of supermarkets.
One of the shops we stopped by had a huge assortment of bagged old fashioned Japanese style candy. The assortment included some familiar fruit flavored hard candy (strawberry, melon and tangerine),Tomoe Ame and others.
The shops also sold some really unique candy.
Natto snacks. Dried natto wrapped in nori. Also dried natto that are prepared to be eaten one by one like peanuts.
Sweet potato snacks. In my previous installment, I mentioned that Kawagoe was famous for their sweet potatoes. In the picture above Malcolm is puchasing some imo yokan. Yokan is actually hardened gelatin. Imo yokan is gelatin made using the sweet potatoes. In this case, from Kawagoe.
Fried sweet potato chips both sweet and spiced were available. Also there was a wonderful sugar coated sweet potato Amanatto. The Amanatto is candied slices of sweet potato cover in sugar, it tastes great.
One of my favorite candies is the candied ginger. I always buy a bag or two when in Japan. Aside from being a great snack, I also drop it in hot water or tea when I have a sore throat. It works great!!!
Dried seafood ranging from small shrimp, fish and squid. Some are flavored sweet. While others are more exotic such as curry or chili pepper.
Most of the items are under 1000 yen, very affordable.
Other shops were definitely tourist oriented. Including the takoyaki stand and the monaka stand.
One shop I did enjoy was the sembei stand. A man broiled fresh sembei that we could buy and eat while it was warm. What a treat.
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