Each region of Japan has its own delicacies. When people here visit other parts of Japan, they will usually buy a speciality from that area.

In the following link has a map of Japan that you can click on. I’m sorry that the regions of the map are only labeled in Japanese, but if you click on each little prefecture, you can see a specialty of that area.

http://omiyagemap.blog76.fc2.com/

Thus, if you click on my region of Fukushima Prefecture (blue rectangle at the bottom of the blue area,) you’ll see photos of Mama D`Or. It’s a snack that is so so so SO famous here! It’s the number one treat that tourists purchase to take back home to Yokohama or to Nagoya or to Sapporo or to Naha…

Here are some treats from Tohoku:

Macaroons from Sendai City (in Miyagi Prefecture)

Dried peaches from Fukshima…I buy this for my son because he adores peaches. Fresh peaches are only in season during the summer, so these dried peaches are nice to eat during other times of the year.

“Rusk” from the Aizu area of Fukushima Prefecture (in the western part of Fukushima Prefecture.)

Rusk is a popular treat in Japan. I’d never heard of it before coming to Japan and so I was a little confused by the name. It seems that “rusk” is basically a sweet toast. (Occasionally garlic flavored.)

I looked at Wikipedia and it says that it’s Melba Toast! I’m familiar with dry tasteless Melba Toast… Sort of.

Rusk in Japan has more flavor than Melba Toast, definitely.

These milk cakes are from Yamagata Prefecture (my husband’s home prefecture.) They are hard and slightly sweet. Not my favorite, nor my husband’s favorite.

Some more rus–maple on the left and plain on the right.

They are from Aomori Prefecture. I’m not familiar with Aomori at all, and I just googled “Nambu.” It’s a region of Aomori.

Meringue bites from Niigata Prefecture.

Kinako Mochi ball—Kinako is sweet soybean powder or um something like that. Whatever it is, it’s really delicious.

And these little soybean mochi balls are from Akita Prefecture.

White cream “sand” from Nagano Prefeture.

Sand is a kind of cookie here. I think the “sand” comes from the English word sandwich. It’s two cookies filled with creme–so it’s a “sandwich cookie.”

By the way, Nagano is not in the Tohoku area!

(Neither is Niigata, but it is sort of an honorary member of Tohoku because it’s so close to us geographically.)