Kawagoe Candy-Alley Route

What Kawagoe is

Kawagoe, in the middle of Saitama, is a castle town called "Little Edo" (Koedo). It grew historically on river trade with Edo, and today its Ichibangai still lines up black-plaster "kura" merchant houses, with the bell tower "Toki no Kane," which has told the hours since the Edo period, rising among them. One lane in from there is "Candy Alley" (Kashiya Yokocho) — old sweet shops and sweet-potato-confection stalls in a row, the heart of Kawagoe's food walk. About an hour from the city by train. Nibbling sweets a little at a time along streets that keep the look of Edo is how this town is spent.

A town of sweet potato

You cannot speak of Kawagoe without sweet potato. In the Edo period, "Kawagoe imo" was a brand potato popular in Edo, and that tradition survives today as a culture of sweet-potato confections. "Imokoi," sweet potato and bean paste wrapped in a chewy skin and steamed; imokenpi, cut thin and deep-fried; a purple-potato ice cream; a smooth sweet-potato pudding — the sweet smell of potato drifts all over the town. Candy Alley also has charcoal-grilled dango and a "Japan's longest" gluten sweet, plain and cheap. On sweets alone, you can graze across many shops.

How to walk this route

Start at Hon-Kawagoe station. Walk north through the kura streets and head for Candy Alley, using Toki no Kane as your landmark. First, an "imokoi" at Kasho Umon by the bell tower. In Candy Alley, eat Miyako-ya's grilled dango, Matsuriku's gluten sweet, imokenpi and a purple-potato ice cream, a little at a time. Slip in a sweet-potato pudding on the kura street, then finish at a diner in town. Kawagoe's signature thick-noodle yakisoba, chewy noodles as fat as udon, or unaju at Ichinoya — an old house of river eel raised in landlocked Musashino — resets a mouth full of sweets. About two hours in all, a sweet-leaning route.

What to look for

The sweet signature is Kasho Umon's "imokoi": rounds of sweet potato and bean paste wrapped in a chewy yam-flour skin and steamed, served warm. In Candy Alley, Miyako-ya's grilled dango — charcoal-grilled, soy-only — still runs about fifty yen a skewer, its price as old as the taste. Matsuriku's "Japan's longest gluten sweet," imokenpi and purple-potato ice cream are Candy-Alley things too. For a meal, Makotoya's thick-noodle yakisoba — noodles as fat as udon, chewy, just the salt between sweets. And to close, Ichinoya's unaju, which tells you that Kawagoe, beside sweet potato, is also "an eel town."

Before you go

Kawagoe's kura streets and Candy Alley are very crowded on holidays and long weekends. For an unhurried walk, a weekday or the early morning is better. Some Candy-Alley sweet shops still take cash only, so small change is reassuring. Cars pass on the Ichibangai kura street, so stop to eat at the edge. Toki no Kane still rings the hours a few times a day. Old eel houses are busy at lunch, so go off-peak or book. Hours and closing days change, so confirm before you go.