Kashiya Yokocho — Penny Candy Alley Since 1820s

Kashiya Yokocho (菓子屋横丁, 'Candy Alley') is a narrow 80-meter lane lined with traditional sweet shops selling dagashi (駄菓子, penny candy) — nostalgic Japanese sweets that evoke childhood for older generations. The alley's shops have operated since the 1820s, originally supplying candy to the Kanto region from Kawagoe. Today, around 15 shops sell hand-pulled candy, karinto (fried dough cookies), sweet potato chips, ramune soda, and other retro confections displayed in glass jars and wooden bins.

The atmosphere is deliberately nostalgic — wooden facades, gas lamp streetlights, and shops arranged exactly as they were in the Taisho period (1912–1926). The sweet aroma of caramelizing sugar fills the air (some shops pull candy by hand in front windows). Walking Kashiya Yokocho is time travel through Japan's pre-industrial food culture, when candy-making was local craft rather than factory production. The alley attracts both elderly Japanese reliving childhood and young visitors discovering retro sweets.