MoMo & Coco

Where to buy the best wagashi in Tokyo (Japan)

Introduction 

Long time readers may recall our dessert guides here and here and here from Kyoto and Arashiyama. This year, we visited Tokyo during what was supposed to be peak cherry blossom season. *Epic fail*. Instead of viewing  cherry blossoms — which were on an ultra-delayed schedule — we were instead left to console ourselves with cherry blossom high teas (see our guide here), and scurrying around the city to find all the other cherry blossom desserts. If you are already there, or thinking about next year, here’s a guide to the best places we loved to shop for Japanese wagashi in Tokyo. 

Best “secret” wagashi spot in Tokyo

  • ☑ Dessert destination: Miyabian, 1 Chome-13-4 Higashiyama, Meguro City, Tokyo.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: One of our fondest memories of our last time in Japan was stumbling across a hidden shopfront in Kyoto serving traditional Japanese sweets. We were keen to find something similar in Tokyo, yet for the most part, most of the well-known wagashi shops in Tokyo seem to be found in modern shopping centres or basement food halls. That is, until we visited Miyabian on the recommendation of a local friend. Located in a maze of meandering residential laneways just off the Meguro River, Miyabian offers beautifully crafted wagashi. 

Best place to check out the daifuku dessert trend in Tokyo

  • ☑ Dessert destination:
    • The tourists flock here: Ginza Akebono, 5 Chome-7-19 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo.
    • We actually prefer: Daifuku Benzaiten, 6 Chome-10-1 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: NYC already has a dessert shop front specializing in dango, mont blanc parfait, fruit sandwiches, several making taiyaki, and even more shaving ice towers of kakigori. These Dessert Correspondents will place a bet and say that it may be just a few more months to a year before daifuku explodes in NYC as the latest dessert trend.  What is daifuku? It’s essentially a large, somewhat unassuming, round mochi ball that has as its heart, a full strawberry, or other piece of fruit (kiwi, lemon, grapefruit, orange), and which is sometimes additionally cradled by a thin layer of azuki bean paste. Is it our favourite Japanese dessert? No. But it looks interesting when squished and its cross-section sure looks pretty, and that is probably all the IG generation cares about.

Best Tokyo department store depachika for wagashi

  • ☑ Dessert destination:
    • Matsuya, 3 Chome-6-1 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo.
    • Mitsukoshi, 4 Chome-6-16 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo. 
    • Daimaru, 1 Chome-9-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo.
  • ☑  Short and sweet story:  Before visiting Tokyo, Harrods in London was our gold standard for department store food halls. And then, we visited Tokyo. :O  *Mind blown.*  Almost every department store in Tokyo has a basement level food hall (also known as a depachika), and they are all incredible for precisely-packaged savoury bento boxes and… for desserts. Almost all have some sort of wagashi offering, but our favourite has to be the depachikas at Matsuya, Daimaru and Mitsukoshi. These three department stores are located in the Tokyo Station/Ginza area, so you could very conceivably and very easily spend a whole day shopping for wagashi in this area. Highly recommend. 🙂 But, if you are short on time, Matsuya was our favourite. It had the most extensive range of traditional Japanese desserts, not only the pretty wagashi balls, but also taiyaki, daifuku, castella cakes, dorayaki, dango and more.

Best sakura wagashi desserts to look out for in Tokyo

If you have the joy of visiting Tokyo during cherry blossom season, not only should you look out for sakura high teas (see our guide here), but also for sakura-themed desserts at all the above wagashi hotspots, and especially at the depachikas. Here’s a photographic collection of some of the pretty cherry blossom desserts we tried in Tokyo:

  • Sakuramochi
  • Sakura dango
  • Sakura dorayaki
  • Sakura castella cake
  • Sakura jelly

Dessert adventure checklist

  1. ☑ Dessert destination: Tokyo, Japan.
  2. ☑ Budget: $$-$$$.
  3. ☑  Sweet irresistibles: Japanese wagashi.
  4. ☑  Travel notes:
    • How long? Tokyo is like NYC…but bigger, cleaner, more modern, much safer, and the locals are more well-dressed. Similar to NYC, 4-5 days is a good starting point for the first time visitor. 
    • When to visit? We visited during the last week of March, which is supposed to be — on historic average — the best week to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. It was instead, cold, rainy and grey. 😦
    • How to get there? Our best tip would be to fly into Haneda, rather than Narita Airport. It’s closer to the city. Transferring from airport to the city was the most difficult and confusing aspect to figure out, whether by train or airport bus. By contrast, navigating the Tokyo train system on a daily basis was stress-free, at least for this long-time NYC expat.
    • Where to stay? Almost every tourist guidebook (or social media influencer) will recommend staying in Shinjuku or Shibuya. It’s akin to staying near Times Square in NYC…don’t do it. For us (and our local Tokyo friends), we recommend Ginza. It’s more classy, less of a cacophony, and actually more centrally located for sightseeing, eating, shopping, business, etc. Nearby Marunouchi is also a good option. (There are also, a lot more high teas and wagashi spots to be found on this side of Tokyo 😀 ). 

Leave a comment