Traditional Japanese teatime sweets, commonly known as wagashi, are a year-round favourite, with different variations available for different seasons. Most often, you’ll find wagashi at depachika food halls and upscale tearooms where they pair wonderfully with a cup of freshly brewed Japanese tea. They even make great gifts, like these beautiful flower-shaped wagashi from a dedicated shop in Setagaya.
More often than not, wagashi tends to be on the pricier side due to the craftsmanship and quality ingredients that go into creating the sweets. This summer, though, you’ll be able to enjoy some wagashi classics for a fraction of the price.
Lawson 100 stores in Japan have launched a new line of wagashi, which is available until Thursday August 20. There’s a set of two ohagi – a traditional kind of wagashi featuring sweet red bean paste wrapped around a mochi rice cake – with one dusted in kinako (roasted soybean flour), retailing for only ¥108 (including tax).
For a full wagashi sampler, you can get an assortment of six wagashi featuring the aforementioned ohagi, along with sakura mochi, mini dango dumpling skewers and kudzu manju (sweet dumplings made of red beans). The entire set goes for just ¥214.
If you run out of time to snag one of those classic sweets, don’t worry: from Wednesday August 26, Lawson 100 stores will launch more wagashi sweets, with a set of mochi daifuku (sweet chewy rice cake) set to hit store shelves. The pair of mochi daifuku will include a classic white mochi daifuku with a red bean filling and a green mochi daifuku made using mugwort. This set will cost just ¥108.
More news
Five cool restaurants to check out at Eat Play Works in Hiroo, Shibuya
This resort in Hokkaido is offering potato salad that looks like ice cream cones
Sushi Saito and Nanzuka art gallery have teamed up to open a new restaurant in Tokyo
Learn to make vegan Japanese dishes with this online English-language cooking class
These gorgeous face masks are made from Japanese washi paper – and they're reusable