Walking around Harajuku, I spotted a newly opened candy shop, Candy Artisans The Red Balloon.
The front entrance
There was some kind of big steel table inside with a crowd gathered around it, so I went in out of curiosity.
The candies on sale
They sell really cute candies.
Candy making begins
On one side they were making custom-order candy live. It looked like that giant candy took about an hour to make. They build the inner parts one by one and then assemble them. Quite a sight.
The stretching begins
They stretch the finished candy down to about the thickness of a pencil lead. One lump that size supposedly yields more than ten thousand candies.
Mid-stretch
This part was really fascinating. It keeps stretching and stretching without ever breaking.
Preparing the samples
They are making samples to hand out one each to the people watching.
The cut cross-section
The character candy is done. I tried one, and it actually tastes better than ordinary candy. Maybe because they worked so hard on folding air into it while making it, it melted softly in my mouth.
If you are killing time in Harajuku and not sure what to do, this place is worth a visit. It is full of fun character candies, so it is a good spot for picking up gifts too.