With last week’s sudden drop in temperature drawing out complaints from all of us unsuspecting residents of Japan, it’s become obvious that the inferno of summer has moved off to make way for the oncoming cold front of winter.

Now that we’re starting to dress in layers, bringing out the thicker blankets and purchasing all of the hot carpets that Nitori has to offer (seriously, all of the winter stock appears to be gone already!), it seems only natural that our preferences in food and drink will start to edge more towards things with warmth.
But as the majority of brands begin to offer hot versions of drinks and snacks, Tokyo Banana has decided to join us in braving the cold with this ice cream version of their iconic cakes.

Though a Tokyo Banana-flavoured soft serve ice cream made an appearance at Ebina highway service area in the summer of 2020, these freezer-friendly versions of the sponge cakes themselves are a first for Tokyo Banana since the brand’s launch back in 1991.

Rolling out to 7-Eleven stores from the start of November, these new additions have been named Tokyo Banassu, of which the second half melds together the words ‘banana’ and ‘ice’.
To further incorporate the frozen theme, the cake sponges are decorated with five individual penguin-patterned prints, one of which is a rare find and features a cute penguin holding a heart.

In preparation for it’s debut, the cakes had to be completely redeveloped, and after several trials it was decided that instead of simply freezing the cakes, the custard cream would be swapped out for a hearty filling of ice cream.
To combat the loss of flavour which often happens in frozen versions of food, the ice cream filling of Tokyo Banassu uses a lot more banana cream than standard Tokyo Banana cakes, whilst the outside features a rich-tasting chocolate sponge.

These wintery versions of the iconic Tokyo souvenir will first make their debut and will be sold for 149 yen (tax included) at 7-Eleven stores in the regions of Kanagawa and Tokyo from the 2nd of November. After that, just like the cold weather, Tokyo Banassu will begin to spread to other regions across the country.