Traditional Japanese sweets, or ‘wagashi’, are known not just for their taste, but also their presentation. Ingredients, flavours, and their appearance are often selected based on the seasons, or other events. Thanks to this, Japanese festivals can also be portrayed beautifully as confectionery.

One wagashi shop has used a currently trending confection, called kohakuto, to create some lovely treats for the upcoming festival of Tanabata, which will occur on 7th July. Tsuruya Mitsunobu is based in Kyoto, but this gift set is only available online.

Kohakuto can be literally translated as ‘amber sugar’, and it gained attention due to the candy’s resemblance to precious stones and jewels which gives it an almost fantastical appearance. This makes it the perfect wagashi to buy for Tanabata, which is known as the Star Festival.

Kohakuto’s shiny look has been utilised to make sweets in the image of a magical starry night when arranged in the gift box. There’s three sparkling yellow stars, and a backdrop of fifteen ramune flavour sweets, and fifteen yuzu flavour sweets.

These gorgeous sweets can only be bought online from Tsuruya Mitsunobu’s online store or Rakuten, for 1404 yen.