After enjoying sushi at "Otaru Masazushi," it's a routine for me to walk to Otaru Station and do some shopping at "Tarushe" inside the station. This time, I bought various items, including wagashi from Tsukushi Makita. I purchased two items: "Unlucky" for 250 yen and "Owl" for 250 yen. These cute wagashi make you hesitate to eat them, right? But how are they inside? I felt sorry as I cut into their adorable faces with a knife. The product description says they are "jou-nama-gashi" (fresh confectionery) and yokan rolls. Inside, it's sweet and sticky yokan. The "Unlucky" with its cute, round eyes is just too adorable. I will probably bring one home if I meet it again.

In a residential area of Hanazono established in Showa 48, a fairly well-established Japanese confectionery shop became famous for its San-Nerikiri sweets. They were difficult to obtain for a while, but I finally got them on my third visit! The sample products displayed in the case are frozen and can be stored, thawed, and kept at room temperature for one week. The items I bought were: - Otaru Ungappa (220 yen) - Sideways Shimane Naga (250 yen) They are super cute (*≧з≦), making me hesitate to eat them, but I ate them without worry. The taste is elegant and the appearance is also good! A great tea snack (´∀｀) Bon appétit! (^ω^)

"I came here because I was in Shari on a Saturday after finishing work, so I didn't have much time to explore, and ended up at A-Coop in the end. There's a bakery I haven't been to, so I thought of getting some bread to take home, but it turns out it's my wife who's the one wandering around. She probably doesn't know about the Holy method, but she's trying to pick something up. How many times did she gesture to me? There are a lot of shops from outside the region, and I really prefer places from within the region, but oh well. There was a confectionery shop in Otaru where the items not in the display case were expensive, and my wife said, 'The ones in the case are cheaper.' I was curious about the sweet potato sweets and dorayaki. I couldn't tell from the display case, but when I got home and took them out of the bag, the dorayaki was small. Is it cut in half? No, this is one whole piece. Of course, it's small, but it's a proper dorayaki. The dough is a bit old-fashioned, but as I continued eating, it was delicious with no complaints. The sweet bean paste was good too, so it was a delicious dorayaki. As for the sweet potato sweets, this would probably be my least favorite among the sweets I bought this time. Taking it out of the bag, I still feel the same. It's not solid, nor liquid, but it sticks to the bag. Scooping it with a spoon, you can feel the stickiness. It's sweet, but not too sweet, so I managed to eat it, but I can't handle more. It doesn't have a strong potato taste either, so it's just not for me after all."

There has always been a traditional Japanese confectionery shop on the street corners of Otaru. It is a town with many Japanese and Western sweet shops, and high school girls look forward to buying mochi. Tsukushi Makita's shop is located on a slightly winding slope at the corner of Hanazono 5-chome, in a small residential area with a small sales floor. However, in recent years, the Shimae-naga nerikiri has become very popular for being so cute. I went to see what it was like, and it really is cute. Shimae-naga itself is a cute little bird, and often when made into products, the cuteness is lost, but this one is adorable. It's almost a shame to eat it, but I did. Yes, it has an elegant sweetness. I'm not a big fan of Japanese sweets in general, but this nerikiri has a subtle sweetness. When you savor it, it's sweet, but with a restrained sweetness, and the sweet bean paste inside is also not too sweet. It goes perfectly with matcha. The elegant and delicate sweetness matches the adorable appearance of Shimae-naga very well. By the way, it costs 250 yen per piece.

At Kimura, after enjoying some soba, I headed to this traditional Japanese confectionery shop. I had heard a lot about their popular sweet inspired by the winter fairy Long-tailed tit, called "nerikiri," and I wanted to try it for myself. The Long-tailed tit nerikiri costs ¥250 and was served frozen, most likely for storage and freshness purposes. After exploring Otaru, I drove to the shop and by the time it thawed, I enjoyed it inside. I have tried various Long-tailed tit sweets influenced by a well-informed friend, but this nerikiri was particularly cute and faithful to the theme. It had a moist and soft white bean paste base with a refined sweetness, while the center was filled with black sweet bean paste. I am not very knowledgeable about traditional Japanese sweets, but I assume this is a double-layered nerikiri. Regardless, I was satisfied with the taste of this traditional confectionery. As I glanced to the side, I noticed that the Long-tailed tit's face had already been eaten whole... and my own treat was halfway disintegrated. The cuteness of the sweet made me feel somewhat cruel for eating it.

I have always wanted to buy the Shimaenaga nerikiri that I saw in a magazine before! It's trendy now, right? People often say that, but I've liked it for a long time. When I entered the store, they were sitting cutely in the showcase. I bought one sweet potato manju and two nerikiri. The manju has a shorter expiration date, so please be careful. The nerikiri is given in a frozen state and by the time I got home, it was perfectly thawed. I enjoyed it with tea. The sweetness that melts in your mouth is elegant! The sweet potato manju is also deliciously chewy. I love birds, so I wish they would make eagles or hawks too. If I go nearby, I will buy it again! Thank you, "Makita"!

Visited for the first time in January 2021. This winter, there seems to be a bit of a local boom for the Long-tailed Tit, which is being called the fairy of winter. When I think of winter fairies, I can only think of Janet Lynn, but oh, Janet was the fairy of the ice rink. When I looked up the Long-tailed Tit, I found out that it is a subspecies of the Long-tailed Tit, with four species living in Japan. The pure white and lovely-faced Long-tailed Tit seems to be unique to Hokkaido, and there is a store in Otaru that sells it as a sweet, so I went to "Tsukushi Makita" to check it out. What I bought: Long-tailed Tit (250 yen), "Un-gappa" (220 yen), Cherry Blossom Mochi (130 yen), Uguisu Mochi (120 yen). The Long-tailed Tit and Un-gappa are high-class sweets, albeit small, priced over 200 yen, making them perfect for tea time. The Cherry Blossom Mochi and Uguisu Mochi I bought on a whim also had a moist and subtly sweet red bean paste that was refined in some way. They have been in business for over 40 years, and although Otaru's traditional Japanese confectionery shops are all established, in recent years they have been feeling the pressure from Western confectionery shops. However, after visiting this time, I have come to appreciate the goodness of Japanese sweets once again.

I'm being tossed around by Ashi & Messhi (￣▽￣;), is this considered power harassment (^-^;)? Why the heck! (angry) After lunch in Otaru, we came here next. It's a traditional Japanese confectionery shop popular among tea drinkers! Among them, the "Otaru Ungappa" is extremely popular, with inquiries coming from all over the country and production unable to keep up (^_^;) It may be hard to understand with just words, so let's do a 180-degree turn♪( *´艸｀)ｳﾌﾟﾌﾟ Of course, I also bought my favorite cherry blossom rice cakes (*^^*)

After visiting Kanesa Coffee, I made my first visit to Tsukushi Makita, a Japanese confectionery shop in a residential area of Hanazono. I had been wanting to visit this place for a while because I was curious about their cute nerikiri sweets. I couldn't resist buying a cute Otaru mascot-shaped sweet from the showcase. I also bought a matcha tart and a raisin sandwich because one sweet seemed too lonely. When I got home, I tried them out. The Otaru mascot sweet was adorable! The texture of the dough was soft and chewy, and the sweet bean paste inside had a refined sweetness that I really liked. The raisin sandwich was not your typical Japanese confectionery, but it was surprisingly good. The raisins were delicious. As for the matcha tart, I was expecting something more like a cake shop tart, but it was a bit different. The matcha flavor wasn't as strong as I had hoped, so it was just okay for me. It had more of a pastry-like texture in the shape of a tart. Overall, it was a pleasant experience. I heard that at Tsukushi Makita, you can make Japanese sweets by reservation for groups of two or more. If you're interested, why not give it a try? I will definitely be going back!

This is a place in Otaru City called Hanazono, but I can't really explain it, so please check carefully on the map on Tabelog. I was looking for a ramen shop that caught my eye and found this shop by chance. I tried to confirm the shop information on Tabelog, but it was not registered, so I decided to visit. I parked my car in the parking lot in front of the shop and entered. I was welcomed by a large showcase filled with Japanese sweets and confectionery. I couldn't decide what to buy, but I ended up choosing some sweets that can last longer. I noticed the "dried sweets" on top of the showcase, so I bought "Uchimono" and "half-dried dried sweets" this time and left the shop. On my way back from Otaru, I had the "Fukusen" sweet from "Utsukushi Makita" as a brain nutrient supplement. It has an elegant sweetness and the size is just right for one bite. "Tsukushi Makita" has a history of 39 years in the historic city of Otaru, but it still feels like a new shop.

I often visit to buy seasonal wagashi. They have flower designs that match the season and are not too sweet, making them easy to eat. Living in Hokkaido, people who have seen wagashi from Kyoto or Tokyo would be impressed. The only disappointing thing was that the part-time staff seemed unclear when asked about the wagashi. Whether it's white bean paste or yokan inside, what kind of flower it is... I am an amateur, but I try to feel the season through wagashi, and it can also be a topic of conversation at tea parties. Maybe they could include a description with the product... That being said, I still plan to go back in the fall.

I found these cute Shimane birds made of nerikiri at a event in a pedestrian space, so I decided to buy them. There were about 6 different types of Shimane birds, and I bought 3 of them. They were also selling Shiba dogs and Monkeys. I thought the filling inside was white bean paste, but it turned out to be black bean paste. Maybe it's best to enjoy them with hot tea. I haven't had nerikiri much before. It's different from mochi and manju. Of course.