Seijuken

The rush for sweets from this traditional Japanese confectionery store is remarkable. Seijuken has had its doors open since 1861, starting in the Edo period, and because of its long-standing success in selling traditional sweets, it has a reputation for providing the most authentic wagashi in all of Tokyo. The sweet that is the most famous at Seijuken is the dorayaki, a Japanese red bean pancake. The artisans knead the anko with their own hands instead of using machines, leaving chunky grains of the red beans in their jam. Because of the painstaking preparation process, the number of dorayaki is limited each day. When it does get sold out, Seijuken closes the shop. One might wonder how a confectionery made of two pancakes with red bean paste sandwiched in the middle can be so legendary that people bother to queue early for it. Well, it's all in the magic of handcrafting, something which Seijuken performs like no other.