Kanesue Sweets, Ikebukuro Station – Tokyo, Japan

I love the area around my hotel. Toshima is a quiet, urban sprawl of locals where we’re staying, and though this ward boasts the most diversity in Tokyo, we remain sheltered from the American loud-and-proud that slinks about Shinjuku.

Ikebukuro Station is a mere minutes away, and it serves as a Metro hub, a rendezvous point for several trains. We launch ourselves in every direction every day, and there’s always a subway that gets us there in under a New York minute.

The downside of Ikebukuro Station is the stalls. The sweet shops are endless, and the choices are infinite. I don’t know how I can eat so much food every day and still need a couple of snacks, but on this day I was famished…again.

Kanesue Sweets allows you to sample the Warabimochi, a softer, lighter, less chewy variety, with a thick layer of kinako, a toasted soybean flour reminiscent of powdered peanuts.

It’s hard to get fruit in Japan, but a behemoth strawberry of perfect proportions jammed into a sweet pink mochi takes care of that craving.

A soft, pasty cake is a random option, but I grabbed it just to try. It looks like manju minus the filling, except this cake is moist, dense crumbles bound with a hint of honey-sweet.

So many dessert stalls, so little time. There’s a whole strip along one of the corridors, and some are scattered amongst the shops. No one is safe from the beckoning as the snacks’ call is strong. Then again, at $2-3 a snack, indulging never seemed so easy.