Snack and Stroll at Popular Traditional Sweets Stores near Matsusaka Station

• Table of Contents
• Enjoy Traditional Sweets Using Locally-Sourced Ingredients
• ① Warashibe: Fresh Taiyaki in Unique Flavors
• ②Yamasaku: Matsusaka’s Signature Mochi and Delicious Set Meals
• 3. Matsujiro Honey Store: Locally-Produced Honey and Viral Honey Ice Cream
• ④ Tatsumi-do: Award-winning Manju with Rare Local Ingredients
• summary

Enjoy Traditional
Sweets Using Locally-Sourced Ingredients

Swing by
Matsusaka and try unique traditional sweets while exploring quaint, historic
streets. Today, we’ll introduce four of Matsusaka’s best sweets stores all
within a quick 10 minute walk of Matsusaka Station. All of these stores
prioritize using high quality, locally-sourced ingredients for their
traditional sweets.

Enjoy a leisurely stroll to all four stores and discover
special sweets you might only get to taste in Matsusaka. Ready? Let’s stroll!

① Warashibe:
Fresh Taiyaki in Unique Flavors

Continue straight out of Matsusaka Station
to find Warashibe, a taiyaki
specialty shop that sells made-to-order taiyaki
using fresh ingredients produced in Mie Prefecture.

Taiyaki
is made by pouring a pancake-like batter into molds to create a fish-shaped
cake that is traditionally filled with red bean paste. The shape is inspired by
tai, or the red sea bream, a symbol
of luck and fortune.

Along with their standard red bean paste
and custard fillings, Warashibe offers unique flavors of taiyaki, like savory bacon and cheese, and a filling combining cream
cheese and red bean paste. Each of their taiyaki
are filled right down to the tail, so you’ll get a delicious balance of dough
and filling with every bite! You can also purchase adorable mini taiyaki that are fun for children to
enjoy.

▲Warashibe
sells their mini taiyaki in packages of five.

Warashibe’s uses both Hokkaido wheat and
Mie rice to make a dough that’s crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
The dough is so delicious on its own that they even offer a taiyaki made without any filling! The
no-filling taiyaki is a fun option
for those who aren’t fans of red bean, or just want to enjoy the rich dough on
its own.

▲Find
your favorite taiyaki flavor on their takeout menu!

You can also buy packages of frozen taiyaki to enjoy hot or cold! Eat them
chilled like ice cream sandwiches, or defrost them and pop them into a toaster
oven for 2-3 minutes for a freshly cooked taste.

Warashibe Matsusaka store

【Address】847 Shinmachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan 515-0075

【Hours】9:30am-6pm

【HP】(Japanese)
https://taiyaki-warashibe.com/store/matsusaka/

②Yamasaku:
Matsusaka’s Signature Mochi and Delicious Set Meals

Yamasaku
is a woman-owned establishment that has been preparing all of their mochi and
red bean paste for the day fresh in the morning with no added preservatives
since 1893. They specialize in sawamochi,
a long, folded mochi rice cake typically filled with red bean paste.

During
the Edo period (1603-1867), shops selling mochi along the pilgrimage route to
Ise from the north were extremely popular as travelers from afar liked to bring
the portable and filling snack on their journey. Over time, post stations along
the way to Ise, like Matsusaka, each developed their own signature shape of
mochi. The long shape of the sawamochi
is the shape unique to the Matsusaka and Ise-shima areas.

▲Yamasaku’s
standard flavors, made with fresh mochi and red bean paste. The green mochi is
made from yomogi, or Japanese mugwort, which has a slight herbal flavor.

In
addition to their standard red bean sawamochi,
Yamasaku offers limited runs of special flavors such as peach, apple, Japanese
sweet potato, and more.

Yamasakuis
also known for their sekihan, a
traditional celebratory dish made with sticky rice and red beans. You can enjoy sekihan in a nutritious set lunch at
Yamasaku or as take-out in a packaged bentobefore continuing your snack adventure!

▲You can
purchase sawamochi and sekihan bento as takeout.

Yamasaku

【Address】1857 Nakamachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan 515-0083

【Hours】9am-4pm *Closed every Tuesday

【HP】(Japanese) https://www.instagram.com/yamasaku_matsusaka

*You can reserve limited run sawamochi through Instagram DM.

3. Matsujiro
Honey Store: Locally-Produced Honey and Viral Honey Ice Cream

This
honey specialty store established in 1912 is known for their signature Monaka
Honey Ice Cream, a honey-based ice cream sandwich that became a hot topic
world-wide. Choose from one of six classic flavors of a rich and creamy
honey-infused ice cream to enjoy with cute and crispy shell-shaped monaka rice wafers. Swapping in their
locally-produced honey in place of refined sugar lowers the freezing point of
the ice cream, so the texture remains creamy at lower temperatures. Add on a
piece of honeycomb full of glistening honey as a topping for a unique treat that’s
perfect on a warm day!

▲Matsujiro
Honey’s two most popular flavors of honey ice cream, milk and matcha.

Their
top flavors include a classic milk flavor, a light matcha flavor, and a nutty kinako flavor using roasted soy flour.
The matcha flavor is light and suited to those who aren’t keen on strong matcha
flavors or are looking to try matcha-flavored desserts for the first time.

In addition to their viral ice cream, Matsujiro
Honey offers locally-produced honey, each variety labeled with the type of
flower they were produced from. You can taste the subtle flavor differences of
each type of honey at their sampler area and bring home a jar of your favorite for
yourself or as a gift.

▲Matsujiro
offers their honey varieties in jars or in pouches.

Matsujiro Honey Store

【Address】1873 Nakamachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan, 515-0083

【Hours】 10am-5:30pm *Closed every Thursday

【HP】https://matsujiro-global.com/

④ Tatsumi-do:
Award-winning Manju with Rare Local Ingredients

 Tatsumi-do
is a traditional confectionary known for their award-winning Tsuru no Tama,
which features a white bean paste and toasted ground sesame filling, wrapped in
dough and drizzled in a kintoki
ginger glaze. The sweet filling is balanced by the subtle freshness of kintoki ginger that’s grown locally in
very small quantities. With a name based on the childhood name of the lord who
built Matsusaka Castle in 1588, this delicious confection is fit to represent
Matsusaka in every way.

▲The
Tsuru no Tama’s small size makes for the perfect bite on the go.

Tatsumi-do’s
other popular treats also contain references to Matsusaka, like the savory
Moo-chan Manju, a deep-fried manju
filled with smooth red bean paste mixed with ginger-simmered, finely ground
Matsusaka beef, a local specialty. The sweet filling is wrapped in a chewy,
donut-like dough made from mixing locally-grown Ise yam into rice flour. It’s a
one-of-a-kind treat full of local flavor.

▲The
Moo-chan Manju is a sweet treat that’s popular as a gift.

All of Tatsumi-do’s traditional sweets are perfect as souvenirs for their representative flavors and designs that show off Matsusaka’s specialties. This shop is a great final stop where you can pick up a piece of Matsusaka to take home!

▲Tatsumi-do’s
two most popular sweets, the Tsuru no Tama and Moo-chan Manju.

▲Tatsumi-do
offers a variety of other sweets along with their bestsellers.

Tatsumi-do

【Address】2172 Honmachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan 515-0081

【Hours】8am-7pm *Closed every Wednesday

【HP】(Japanese)
https://tatsumido.jp/

summary

See
anything that caught your eye? Take a walk around Matsusaka and taste fresh,
local ingredients in fun taiyaki,
Matsusaka’s signature sawamochi,
honey-infused ice cream, and Matsusaka-style manju on your next trip in Japan. Once you find your favorite
snack, take some home with you to share with a loved one!

There
are plenty of other places you should drop by on your snacking adventure in
Matsusaka that aren’t mentioned in this article. You can visit the Chaju Green
Tea Store for their sustainably-made, freshly-roasted green teas and hojicha,
Marunaka Butchery for their crispy Matsusaka beef croquettes, and so much more.
Explore more sweet and savory treats in Matsusaka!

Visitor Information

Warashibe 

【Address】847 Shinmachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan 515-0075

【Hours】9:30am-6pm

【HP】(Japanese) https://taiyaki-warashibe.com/store/matsusaka/　

Yamasaku

【Address】1857 Nakamachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan 515-0083

【Hours】 9am-4pm *Closed every Tuesday

【HP】(Japanese) https://www.instagram.com/yamasaku_matsusaka

*You can
reserve Yamasaku’s limited run sawamochi
through their Instagram.

Matsujiro
Honey Store 

【Address】1873 Nakamachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan, 515-0083

【Hours】 10am-5:30pm *Closed every Thursday

【HP】https://matsujiro-global.com/

Tatsumido 

【Address】2172 Honmachi, Matsusaka, Mie, Japan 515-0081

【Hours】 8am-7pm *Closed every Wednesday

【HP】(Japanese) https://tatsumido.jp/

While
you’re in Matsusaka, check out the city’s famous historical sites and local
cuisine! Enjoy your sweets at the Matsusaka Castle Ruins, wander through
historic estates after a snack break, or treat yourself to authentic Matsusaka
beef at a long-established restaurant. Read more in the articles below.

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