hi I'm Bob and today I'll be your host for this episode
and I'm here today in zoshigaya Tokyo
zoshigaya is served by Tokyo's only remaining streetcar line
the toden arakawa line
this is an area with many universities and temples
it has a very calm atmosphere
so it is not surprising that is also a popular residential area with easy access to ikebukuro and mejiro
both of which can be reached on foot
passing through the approach to the temple
which has a lovely quiet atmosphere
you will find zoshigaya kishibojindo
the candy is cheap and the kids will be happy
just coming here is enough to get them excited
so we found a retro candy store in the area
right behind me it looks really cool it looks really old
let's check it out
Hello
This building is so old
It's from 1780?
It's very old
It has been 251 years
You speak English!
How long have you been in this store? -I'm 82 years old now
70 years
That's amazing
What do you recommend?
There are so many
This candy. Two types of candy
oh wow. It's like a hard candy
Fu. Welcome Cookies
This?
This is your recommendation? So many of them
The building has been the same all along?
Maybe renovated 30years ago
Amazing. A lot of kids come?
Oh yes -You must be happy
It's snack for kids
If you come here, you get memories of your childhood
People who were kids long ago comes here
People who are around 40 years old
They come here since they remember when they were kids
The father becomes interested in this. Kids now days only like characters in games so doesn't show interest
This is amazing. It's been here since 10 years old
She's in her 80s which I cannot believe, and she's been telling me which has been popular
This used to be popular, but not as popular now kids have their games that they play
so they mostly stick to the candy
some kids here today
and we're gonna buy some things and we're gonna taste it later
and see what it's like
so it's gonna be a lot of fun
Thank you very much. Let's buy a lot
so this is good this is one of the recommendations
so we have to try this one
And this one, too
and I am a kid in a candy store
my inside I'm like a child
outside I'm an adult
You recommended this so...
Take off, please
I should take off?
This?
Stop
okay I see
because they're all bundled together so you pull the string
and then when she knows which one you pulled
and you can take it by yourself
that's interesting
so that keeps it safe
oh I see
of course it Japan so I get a nice little bag
to keep it in
thank you
caramel
caramel?
some kind of caramel candy I'll find out what it tastes like later
and of course I get another little bag
thank you very much
a couple more things here
this one's scary
this one's a little scary to me
This is taste of vinegar
Taste of vinegar yeah
all three? no no no
Like a squid
but not squid -Not squid!
so it looks like squid, but it's not actually squid
So this is snack as well?
so it's also candy
all right if it's candy I have to try it
so which one do I choose?
I think I'll choose the scariest looking one
it really looks like a squid
look at that
there's a lot of different things to choose from here
I think I'll get one more thing
I don't want to break the bag
this one
it's bread!
so you can get bread so you can be healthy while you're eating your candy
and maybe the last one
maybe maybe last one
how about this one
Konpeito
it's a sugar candy
sugar
that's all we need for candy
I love it all right
so I feel like I bought a lot
but let's see how much it actually costs me for all of this
Ready? -ready
yeah all right we'll find out how much did I actually buy
It's all in her head
this has been working here since she was 10 years old
because it's so easy for her
to go through everything so quickly
I can't keep track
832yen
832.
that's less than ten dollars
thank you
Thank you so much that was a lot of fun
we got our bag of goodies
Thank you so much. Please be healthy
thank you we've got our goodies let's go
and this is what we bought from that well inexpensive candy store
laid it out here on the bench for you found a nice little Park
where we can give a little test tasting of all of these items
this one is the one that the lady at the shop she recommended for me
so I think that's one that I have to try first
it's interesting it smells almost like a little bit burned
smell on like a charcoal smell
oh this is just straight sugar
with a little bit of a maybe a candy coating
a brown sugar
very good
now I could continue eating all of this
but I want to get more this one's fantastic
fantastic sugar
man I need to move on
to our next one
so next one is this uh
like shape of a bread
because it's not bread
it looks like Bread、 look at that how cute it is
it looks just like bread
surprisingly very good
but again, we need to move on
this one is probably the one that I'm the most scared about
it looks like dried squid
I've seen this many times in Japan but this is supposed to be candy
it's kind of a vinegar taste to it she said
it's just as hard as a squid would be
and it smells like squid
it's not sweet at all
It's definitely vinegar
and it really does taste like squid
so I'm gonna put that one back away
it's interesting maybe not for everybody
I need to take a look at another one of the candies that the lady at the shop she recommended this one
no idea what it is
oh I don't know what the taste is
so sweet
but it kind of melts in your mouth
and it is so good
so basically whenever a nice sweet old lady at a candy shop recommends candy
you need to trust her
this is fantastic
well I've got a lot more that I need to eat
but before I get to all that
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna waste your time with that
this was amazing and it's really interesting to see the difference
I'm from America and the candy there it's a lot of chocolate it's a lot of really bright colors
these colors are a little bit more subdued, the flavors are not quite as strong not quite as sweet
I bet the packaging is all interesting it looks so authentically Japanese
and it was just a real treat to eat all of this
I can't wait to finish some more
you need to try it too
next time you're in Japan check out these Japanese candies
in Japan there are many such long and quiet places next to downtown areas like zoshigaya
there are also many retro stores like today's Candy Store
and Cafe is filled with delicious coffee and cakes and other snacks
and it's fun just to stroll around the area with no particular goal in mind
so why don't you find your own favorite HideAway restaurant that is not listed in the guidebooks