Japanese summers are hard to bear. With high humidity levels, the energy-sapping heat has such an overwhelming effect on the body there’s even a word for summer lethargy in the Japanese lexicon: natsubate.
Luckily for us, Japan has developed a number of unique ways to fight the summer heat. One of the best ways to cool down is in the sensory pleasure of traditional Japanese sweets featuring watery wonderlands, night skies and gorgeous hues of blue. We’ve found 15 of the best summer sweets that are so amazing they’re more like edible works of art.
Natsu Temari
Photo: Temari
This sweet resembles a traditional hand-woven handball called a temari, which children play with in summer. Natsu temari means summer handball.
Lace Kan
Photo: 京都の和菓子☆ドットコム
Made from Kanten, or agar-agar, a healthy vegetable gelatin, this sweet is full of lemon and honey flavours. The kanten texture is as delicate as lace.
Goldfish Sweet
Photo: 京都の和菓子☆ドットコム
Photo: Hankyu
Fish are a popular summer motif and this one has got to be one of the most adorable we’ve seen! Available from the famous, centuries-old sweet shop Toraya, you can change the scenery of the sweet by using different coloured serving plates, thanks to the crystal clear kanten jelly.
Mini Aquarium Jellies
Photo: Miki Nagata bananagranola flickrr
These homemade jellies by Miki Nagata have a hint of blue added to the kanten mixture.
Koi Carp Jelly
Photo: Miki Nagata bananagranola flickr
Now you can gaze into a koi carp pond and devour it at the same time! This homemade creation includes agar, sweet red peas, sweet dainagon beans, black sesame seeds, matcha powder and white bean paste.
Goldfish Bowl
Photo: 京都の和菓子☆ドットコム
Photo: 京都の和菓子☆ドットコム
Available from the traditional sweet shop Kourakuya, the attention to detail includes fish bodies gently poking through the surface of the water.
Milky Way
Photo: ハッピーエブリデイ！
Night skies are another popular motif to help keep cool in summer. Red bean paste and layers of blue-green hues mixed with gold flakes create a starry skyscape to transport you to the cold regions of space.
Starry Evening
Photo: 伊豆の関西人
Photo: 伊豆の関西人
This sweet captures the stars and moon and encloses them in a glistening casing.
Clear Stream
Photo: Kinohana II
There are also a number of sweets that replicate water. This one uses aquamarine hues to create a running stream frozen in time.
Water’s Lodge
Photo: Takahiro Shutoh Flickr
Another one from Toraya, this sweet serves up the crest of a wave.
Ice Candies
Photo: Ryuboku exblog
These candies are created to look just like shards of frozen ice.
Shingen Mochi
Photo: 京都の和菓子☆ドットコム
This is the amazing water cake from Yamanashi Prefecture that’s such a delicate casing of pure water it disappears within 30 minutes of being served.
Present from the Seashore
Photo: 京都の和菓子☆ドットコム
This sweet is presented in closed clam shells which reveal an amber jelly when opened. In the middle there’s a salty nib of dried natto, a fermented soy bean.
Yoimatsuri
Photo: とらや : 雲の峰 | Sumally (サマリー)
Literally meaning evening festival, this yoimatsuri sweet captures the lanterns, an early evening sky and all the frivolity of a Japanese summer festival.
Kumo no Mine
Photo: とらや : 雲の峰 | Sumally (サマリー)
From Toraya, this one translates to Peak of a Cloud and is such a perfect representation of a summer cloud it’s almost like a photograph.
Next time you’re feeling hot this summer, you might want to look into a Japanese confectionery purchase. And with agar famous worldwide for having zero calories, you’ll be guilt-free and you’ll be able to keep your bikini bod too!
