Obihiro, Hokkaido’s sixth largest city located in southern Hokkaido is not a city we knew much about before visiting. Upon doing some further research, we discovered that Obihiro is Hokkaido’s sweets kingdom with it being home to a huge number of confectionary shops.
The Tokachi plains where Obihiro is located is a soil-rich area known for its production of potatoes, dairy, sugar and wheat. The locals have made good use of the abundance of these high quality ingredients and created the most delicious sweets which are available throughout the Tokachi region and within Obihiro city itself.
We were recommended some popular sweet shops in Obihiro city by some locals and we spent an entire day doing a sweet shop tour. We will introduce the 5 shops we visited below.
Obihiro Sweets Tour Ticket
Obihiro city also sometimes has a promotion where it’s possible to obtain a sweets ticket for ¥500 at the tourist information center located within JR Obihiro Station Esta East Building 2F. This ticket allows you to try 4 sweets from a choice of around 20 sweets shops.
Upon purchasing a ticket, you will also be given a map showing which 20 sweet shops are participating. Click here to visit the tourist information website for more information and to check if the promotion is currently running.
5 Famous Obihiro Sweet Shops
1. Obihiro Cranberry
Opened in 1972, Cranberry is one of Obihiro’s most famous sweet shops and is known for its large baked sweet potato cake. The sweet potatoes are on display in a cabinet and can’t be missed when you enter the shop.
The potatoes are sold by weight and we chose the smallest one available which came to around ¥1000. It was quite expensive but for the size, we thought the value was reasonable since it can be stored in the fridge and enjoyed over the next few days.
The sweet potato has been scooped out and mixed with butter and egg before being replaced and then baked. There is also a layer of delicious custard cream in the bottom of the cake.
The sweet potato cake was really moist but quite heavy so we could only eat a little amount at a time. It was the perfect level of sweetness and would be delicious with a cup of coffee!
Obihiro Cranberry also has a small cafe and parking lot. There was ice cream and other sweets available but we only tried the sweet potato cake since that is what Cranberry is known for.
Sweet Potato Cake Rating: 9/10
Website: http://www.cranberry.jp/
2. Rokkatei
Rokkatei sweets are well known throughout Japan but the original store is located in Obihiro city so it’s definitely a must visit. The packaging for Rokkatei sweets is really beautiful and has a floral theme to it.
The most famous sweet to try at Rokkatei is the “Marusei Butter Sand” which can be purchased individually or in a multipack. A bestseller for over 40 years, the butter sand is two biscuits with buttercream & raisins sandwiched between and is extremely delicious!
Another Rokkatei sweet which is sold exclusively at this store is the “Saku Saku Pie”, a pastry pie filled with custard flavoured cream. After being baked, it can only be sold for 3 hours before becoming soggy.
“White Chocolate Strawberries” are another popular sweet at Rokkatei. These chocolate covered dried strawberries would be a nice souvenir to bring back for your friends or family.
Even though Rokkatei was established in 1933, the shop has a very modern feel to it and there are a few tables where you can enjoy your sweets while standing up. Upstairs there is a cafe where more dishes are available.
Marusei Butter Sand Rating: 10/10
Saku Saku Pie Rating: 6/10
White Chocolate Strawberries Rating: 8/10
Rokkatei Website: https://www.rokkatei.co.jp
3. Takahashi Manjuya
Takahashi Manjuya, located in a beautiful traditional building, sells the popular Japanese sweet “obanyaki” which is best described as a stuffed pancake.
Obanyaki is best known for having a filling of sweet red bean paste, however at Takahashi Manjuya they also offer some savoury flavours such as cheese.
This shop is so popular with locals that they call the sweets by the shop’s nickname “Takanman” rather than using the word “obanyaki”.
While waiting in line, you can watch the owner hard at working pouring the batter and making the obanyaki behind the counter. The shop also sells bread and soft serve ice cream.
Cheese Obanyaki Rating: 8/10
Pork Bun Rating: 8/10
4. Ryugetsu
Ryugetsu is another famous Obihiro sweet shop that has become a very well known brand all over Japan. They now have shops in many other parts of Japan and make many delicious sweets using ingredients from the Tokachi region of Hokkaido.
Their most famous sweet is “Sanporoku”, a German-style baumkuchen covered in white and milk chocolate. It was extremely soft and very moreish, we had to stop ourselves from eating all of it!
At 9am each day, the shop sells off the sanporoku cut-offs and it’s possible to buy 1kg for ¥500. We arrived at 8:50am and there were already over 100 people waiting in line in the rain to purchase the cut-offs!
We were told no one else could join the line so if you would like to buy the cut-offs, we recommend arriving around 8am to ensure you don’t miss out!
Inside the Ryugetsu shop, there is a cafe with unlimited free coffee available so you can enjoy your sweets with a nice warm cup of freshly brewed coffee.
Sanporoku Rating: 7/10
Ryugetsu Website: https://www.ryugetsu.co.jp/
5. Daifukutei Yayoi Dori
Daifukutei Yayoi Dori, is a sweet shop located on the southside of Obihiro. It sells the traditional Japanese sweet “daifuku”, a round mochi stuffed with a sweet filling and “dango”, Japanese dumplings served on a skewer.
The shop had a really traditional feel to it and the sweets were served with seasonal flavours. We visited during autumn and many of the sweets had pumpkin and chestnut fillings.
We ordered a chestnut daifuku and pumpkin dango and both were incredibly delicious. A local recommended this shop to us and we were so glad we visited.
Chestnut Daifuku Rating: 10/10
Pumpkin Dango: 10/10
Our Overall Verdict
Although Obihiro is also well known for some other dishes such as its pork bowl, Indian curry and Genghis Khan BBQ, you definitely should not miss out on some of Hokkaido’s best sweets. A sweets tour is a great thing to do if visiting this area of Japan.
The quality of all the sweets we tried in Obihiro was really high and we loved that the bakers make the most of the local ingredients available to them.
Obihiro sweets make the perfect Hokkaido souvenir and we can’t wait to go back to Obihiro again some day to revisit all these delicious sweet shops!
