Founded in 1901 and located in Hida-Takayama, Tohoen is a historic maker of wagashi Japanese sweets. With a process and materials that have been honed for over a century, Tohoen creates legacy, traditional sweets but also contemporary originals like this set of pandemic-themed wagashi aimed at reminding people how to cope and stay safe.
clockwise from left to right: amabie, ventilation, hand-washing, face mask, no large gatherings
Pictured above is gomitsu (五蜜), a special set of 5 sweets that will go on sale for Valentine’s Day. The company hopes that they will never have to sell this set ever again but it includes wagashi that are modelled after the pandemic-fighting yokai amabie, as well as other — might I say, more practical — ways of staving off pandemics. The set will retail for 1500 yen.
The company, who is known for their cat manju sweets, also created this set of cat manju in masks, along with two amabie (1900 yen). Unfortunately, wagashi do not preserve for very long so these are only available domestically within Japan but you can live (eat?) vicariously through the company’s instagram account.
