Panda and the Candy Shop – Part Two
ep.217 Panda and the Candy Shop – Part Two
Published: August 23, 2025, 19:00
Updated: September 23, 2025, 17:41
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Preface
No preface is written.
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Main Text
11. “Safety” and “Lack of Flavor” in Modern Candy Shops
•Modern candy shops are astonishingly clean and safe.
•Expired food? Absolutely none.
•Shelves sparkle.
•Drop a snack on the floor and it’s immediately cleaned and disinfected.
•But… that old “looseness” is gone.
•Candy shops used to be little social hubs. Kids chattering nonsense.
•The granny making small talk. A dog napping in the back.
•That air, filled with the smell of life, can no longer be experienced.
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12. Candy Shops Living in Fiction
•For the generation who remembers those “smells,” stories set in candy shops strike deep.
•For example, the manga/anime Dagashi Kashi.
•Heroine Hotaru shows off real-life candies with trivia and laughter.
•Behind-the-scenes of Baby Star Ramen, the mystery of Umaibō, the nostalgia of Ume Jam.
•The packages and flavors are so faithfully reproduced that the taste revives in your mouth.
•And beyond that, it even includes a human drama about whether to inherit the shop or not.
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13. The Magic of Zenitendō
•On the other hand, Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendō is different.
•The candies sold here don’t exist in reality.
•Eat them, and your dream may come true… but if misused, terrifying endings await.
•They are like folktale tools in sweet form.
•What pierces both children and adults is the message: “Choices are your own responsibility.”
•That instant thrill of picking a candy overlaps with the crossroads of life decisions.
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14. Similarities and Differences
•Dagashi Kashi and Zenitendō both depict humans through candy.
•But their approaches differ:
•Dagashi Kashi = realism + comedy
•Zenitendō = fantasy + moral lesson
•Both elevate candy from “children’s play” to “culture.” That’s wonderful.
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15. The Legacy of Treasure-Hunting Spirit
•My own umbrella-tip probing under gacha machines was also part of that culture.
•Candy wasn’t just “bought.” It was “hunted.”
•Drawing the winning ticket, pulling the wanted design, trading with others.
•Strategy, negotiation, and a little gambling were all involved.
•This treasure-hunting spirit will surely be inherited by the next generation.
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16. Generations Connected by Candy
•Adults who know the old candy shops and kids who only know the new.
•When they go to a candy shop together, conversation flows:
•“This used to cost 5 yen.”
•“Whaaat!?”
•Candy as a medium for cross-generational exchange—few other foods can do this.
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17. Appeal to Overseas Audiences
•To foreigners, a Japanese candy shop is like a small theme park.
•Cheap, colorful, each package telling a story.
•Through works like Dagashi Kashi and Zenitendō,
•Foreigners discover Japanese candy culture—and one day, they may come to taste it for real.
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18. The Value of Candy Culture
•Candy isn’t just food.
•It’s a time capsule of memory.
•A miniature of society.
•A sprouting ground for creativity.
•Candy shops taught children:
•How to use money
•How to interact with others
•The weight of choices
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19. Candy Shops as Rehearsal Stages of Life
•Buying, choosing, trading, giving up.
•Children practice small decisions again and again.
•That accumulation becomes judgment power as adults.
•That’s why I call candy shops “rehearsal stages of life.”
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20. Ending
•Back then, wrapped in dust and sweet smells,
•I hunted treasures, negotiated, and sometimes failed.
•Now, all those experiences are stories and jokes.
•And surely, the magic of candy shops will fall upon the next generation too.
—To those who read this far, how about going to a candy shop next?
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From Candy Shops to Educational Sweets — Observations on Japanese Snack Culture in the Shōwa, Heisei, and Reiwa Eras
Candy Shops Inside Shopping Malls
•Nowadays, nearly every large shopping mall in Japan has a candy shop.
•Colorful Umaibō packs, bulk-buy chocolate and snacks, retro-style bottled sodas.
•Spaces where parents and children can together savor the echoes of the candy shops they once visited.
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The “High-End” Evolution of Gacha Machines
•Once 20 yen or 100 yen per turn, gacha machines are now 300 yen, even 500 yen.
•One reason: higher quality.
•Panda once said, “I want them to raise the quality to match the price.”
•And indeed, modern gacha prizes are shockingly detailed mini-figures that ignite collector passion.
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The Evolution of Shokugan (Snack-Toys)
•Snacks sold with toys—shokugan—remain popular and keep evolving.
•Honestly, the candy portion is tiny.
•But the toy’s quality is so high that often adults get more hooked than kids.
•Recently, Sebon Star (jewel-shaped accessories with candy) has had a revival boom among adult women.
•On Yahoo Auctions and flea apps, they’re traded actively.
•Parents buying them for daughters or grandkids are a common sight.
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The World of Educational Candy (Chiiku-gashi)
•“Make-it-yourself” candy like Nerunerunerune and Popin’ Cookin’ series are famous.
•They line supermarket shelves in eye-catching positions.
•Kids seriously deliberate over which one to choose.
•For foreigners, it’s exotic. For Japanese, it’s too familiar to feel special.
•But if you have foreign friends, or kids/grandkids visiting,
•Taking them to pick these together at the supermarket will surely delight them.
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The Changing Taste of Nerunerunerune
•Long ago, Nerunerunerune was very sour.
•For Panda, who was sensitive to taste, it was tough.
•I even complained, “Make it easier to eat.”
•Later, maybe because other kids also disliked the sourness,
•Today there are sweet versions and milder sour types.
•Candy, too, has evolved with the voices of children across time.
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Notes on Sebon Star’s Enduring Popularity
•Sebon Star is still so popular that adults bulk-buy them, making them hard to get.
•The chain is plated and thick,
•So if you want a trendy, thin necklace chain at a cheap price,
•Try Standard Products (DAISO’s upscale line) or 3COINS.
•For 330 yen, you can find plenty of options.
^_^
•I think the older Sebon Stars used to cost around 1,000 yen.
