All the Colors of the Milky Way and More! Japanese Summer Sweets From Takashimaya Shinjuku

Are You Missing Out?! What Exactly Is This d Point Card That You Can Use at Takashimaya Shinjuku? How Do You Apply for One?

d POINT is a point program with no sign-up or annual fees operated by Japan’s largest telecommunications company, NTT DOCOMO, INC. You can earn points just by showing your d POINT CARD when making purchases at d POINT Member Stores such as leading convenience store chains, McDonald\'s, cafes, and supermarkets.

Other participating stores include Takashimaya Shinjuku and Tokyu Hands, which are introduced in this article. Accumulated points can be used for purchases at 1 JPY per point. Take advantage of d POINT by following the link at the end of this article to register for it!

Takashimaya Shinjuku: A Fabulous Place to Shop With a Great Gourmet Food Section!

Takashimaya Shinjuku boasts prime access with a location that\'s no more than a 5-minute walk from Shinjuku Station, which covers JR lines and various private train lines. This department store offers great shopping for all ages, with everything from fashion, cosmetics, and jewelry to interior goods. From the second to the eighth floor, you can visit the ever-popular Tokyu Hands, offering a wide and varied range of goods. Duty-free shopping is available on the eleventh floor.

However, in this article, we want to introduce you to the Japanese confectionery available on floor B1. This must-see area is home to an abundance of delicious foods. In addition to a range of Japanese- and Western-style sweets, you will find everything that you want to try in Japan, from popular dishes such as sushi, tonkatsu, and sukiyaki, to top-class sake and fruits. We also recommend that you check out the KITKAT Chocolatory located on the same floor. Their more upmarket KITKATs—finely crafted from carefully selected ingredients—are popular souvenirs.

5 Must-Buy Summer Sweets in Takashimaya Shinjuku That Are Cute Enough to Make a Splash on Your Social Media

You can buy all of the sweets introduced in this article from floor B1 of Takashimaya Shinjuku or from the confectionery store Meika Hyakusen.

Find delicious confectionery from all over the country under one roof at the Meika Hyakusen Corner on floor B1 of Takashimaya Shinjuku!

1. Suikawari (Kameya Yoshinaga)

In Japan, watermelon is one of the fruits that symbolize the summer. These cute balls of candy are made to look like watermelons while perfectly reproducing the fruit\'s flavor. As cute as they are, they look incredibly realistic—everything about them, from the rounded shape and black stripes down to the seeds in the middle, manages to mimic this summer fruit! You get a pack of 10 candies cutely packaged in a basket.

702 JPY (incl. tax)

Incidentally, “Suikawari” is a summer game played while camping or at the beach in Japan. After being blindfolded and spun several times on the spot, the participant listens to the people around them to try and walk to the location of the watermelon, then they hit it with a stick until it splits.

2. Milky Way (Furyudo)

These sweets are a representation of the Milky Way in the summer night sky. You can’t help but be captivated by the colors and specks of gold suspended in the jelly, just like a real starry sky! The bottom part of these sweets is made of yokan (red bean paste mixed with sugar and kanten* and left to set). As you can cut them into slices to share, they make a great souvenir for friends and family.

1,512 JPY (incl. tax)
*Kanten is a gelatin-like substance used to set jellies. It is made from a viscous liquid extracted from seaweed such as red algae. This liquid is frozen and dried before being used.

In East Asian countries such as Japan, the Milky Way is associated with the legend of "Tanabata." In this legend, two lovers are separated by a river and live on either side of it. Once a year (July 7th in Japan), for one night only, they are allowed to cross the river—known as Ama-no-Gawa (the milky way or literally, heaven’s river)—and meet. When you think of this, the combination of colors combined within the sweet seems incredibly romantic.

A scene from Tanabata where people write their wishes on strips of paper known as "tanzaku" and tie them to the leaves of a bamboo tree.

3. Goldfish (Minamoto Kitchoan)

See tiny goldfish made from yokan swimming inside this refreshing muscat grape-flavored jelly! The sweet has a flavor that is appealing even to those trying Japanese sweets for the first time. It comes in a cup, but to really see the goldfish, it is better to turn it out onto a plate.

Pack of 3: 960 JPY (incl. tax)

Goldfish conjure up an image of summer in Japan because of the presence of stalls offering "kingyo-sukui" (goldfish scooping) at summer festivals. People have to try and catch goldfish in a paper net and if they do, they can take home the fish they have caught to keep as pets! It is impossible not to get lost in the process of trying to scoop fish at a summer festival! If you come across such a stall when you are at a Japanese festival, why not try it?

4. Shimeno (Kano Shojuan)

A beautiful sweet that combines the flavor of plum with the vivid red color of kanten. Although it is plum-flavored, it is not sour, but a rather sweet confectionery that allows you to enjoy both the sweet flavor and well-loved aroma of plum.

For 1: 216 JPY (incl. tax)

This confectionery depicts a hilltop tinted red by the setting sun. It represents a Japanese poem, written over 1300 years ago, about two lovers drawn together into an illicit love.

5. Tokyo Ennichi 1 (Akasaka Kakiyama)

Tokyo Ennichi 1 consists of confectionery that depict stalls which normally set up shop at an "ennichi" (holy day) summer festival. It consists of five varieties of snacks, including senbei (Japanese rice crackers) and okaki (condensed, deep-fried mochi). These snacks feature images of things found at festival stalls, such as Japanese morning glory, watermelon, goldfish scooping, and grilled corn on the cob. As there are many flavors available, trying the different flavors and working out what each cracker is meant to represent can be a whole lot of fun! Doesn\'t a grilled corn-flavored okaki sound fabulous?

800 JPY (excl. tax)

People enjoying an ennichi festival.

Get Great Value on Your Purchases in Japan with d POINT!

Follow the link below to register for d POINT, which was introduced earlier. It can be used at Shinjuku Takashimaya and other d POINT Member Stores, so be sure to register!

With a focus on reflecting the seasons, Japanese sweets are not just delicious but beautiful to look at. Take a trip to Takashimaya Shinjuku and enjoy top-class food along with your shopping!