Burmese (Myanmar) restaurants and general merchandise stores are scattered around Takadanobaba, Tokyo, and it is also called "Little Yangon" in analogy to the city of Myanmar. If you go up the building in front of the station, you can buy sweets, tea, vegetables and even fruits over there.

The inside of the building is a foreign country

The building "TAK11" just outside the Waseda exit of Takadanobaba station is lined with izakaya and other Myanmar restaurants and general merchandise stores. When you take the elevator to the 8th floor, as soon as the automatic door opens, you can smell vegetables, fruits, and spices that you haven't had much chance to smell in Japan.

Each of the many rooms along the corridor is a shop. Even though it was right from the station, it seems that not many Japanese people came, and both the working people and the customers looked at me with a slightly surprised look.

This time I visited a place called "TREASURE MYANMAR". It used to be the place where there was a shop called "Bagan".

At the storefront, processed tamarind products such as sour beans or fruits, which are indispensable for South Asian cuisine, were displayed. When you enter the back, canned foods, retort pouch foods, various foodstuffs, drinks, etc. are lined up so as to fill the space that is not so large. There are almost no explanations in Japanese.

They also sell jewelry. Myanmar's jade and pearls. It seems that Treasure Myanmar mainly deals with this.


However, dumplings are better than flowers, and sweets are better than jade. When I tried to tell the shop staff that I wanted sweets and tea in English, they responded in Japanese and recently taught me famous sweets and tea.

Gold shrimp cookie?

The recommended sweets are like a cookie with golden shrimp drawn on a package called "Shwe Pu Zun CONFECTIONARY". It looks like a cute Western confectionery, but I cut the bag and eat it, wondering if it contains shrimp.


First of all, there was no shrimp in it. It is an ordinary baked confectionery and the quality is high. I remembered the cookies that Japanese high-class pastry shops put with cakes. It's moderately sweet, brittle and brittle, and it melts in your mouth after it crumbles on your tongue. Perfect for pinching with tea.

However, it was unexpected that what I bought in Little Yangon, where I could feel the breath of a foreign country, tasted so familiar.

Gold mountain tea?

The tea is written on the package with the illustration of Kanayama, such as "SHWE TAUNG" in Alphabet and "Kanayama Roasted Tea" in Kanji.

I don't really understand the meaning of roasted tea, but I'll try brewing it anyway. Pour hot water into plenty of tea leaves, rinse once and throw away. Pour hot water again and wait for a few minutes. When the color gets darker, gradually transfer it to a glass and see the taste.

It smells very strange. Certainly, it seems that beans or something was fried. A lump and a bite remain clearly on the tongue. But I don't hate it.


If you drink while eating the golden shrimp cookie, the soft sweetness and the clear bitterness may be contrasted.


Weird tea and sweets that feel familiar to you. It made me aware of the proximity and distance of Little Yangon in Takadanobaba.