One bite, and you're transported back in time.

Saka Biscuits

The salted alphabet fries, shaped like letters. Have you ever tried spelling out your own name in Roman letters and found you just couldn't complete it? As it turns out, nine specific letters simply aren't made. A hint as to which ones: "thin shapes are fragile and hard to make." There's also the line sand, biscuits with cream sandwiched between them; the crispy, sugar-coated jimugake; emergency crackers; and health food crackers — the retro packaging alone stirs up memories. Ask a staff member, and they might say, "the sesame stick biscuits are great too." The most popular item is the "Wari Biscuits" — an assortment of pieces that cracked or chipped during manufacturing. The flavor, of course, is unchanged; only a few pieces are actually broken, with most still in their proper shape. One neighborhood man, it seemed, wandered in and picked up a couple of bags without a moment's hesitation.

Saka Biscuits has another side too: the Retro Space Saka Kaikan. Housed in a building that was once a restaurant, it displays old everyday household items. Right next to the shop, peer through the glass door and you'll get a genuinely eerie feeling. Step inside, and dolls, stationery, matchboxes, detergent, posters, novelty goods, and all kinds of other items are packed in, wall to wall. Even staff who've worked there for years reportedly can't say exactly how many items there are in total. The space has been open for 21 years now, and it all started when the director saw a mannequin discarded at a garbage site and felt it resembled a human figure. There was also a wish to keep foot traffic alive in the area, as neighboring independent shops closed one after another. The objects gathered here each carry their own story, seemingly without end. One especially memorable anecdote: a chair taken from a barber shop that had gone out of business turned out, by pure coincidence, to have been made by the father of a woman who happened to visit from Tokyo. Even a single pencil might have arrived here still carrying someone's untold story.

Simplicity and eeriness. Two seemingly incompatible qualities sit side by side, somehow blending together into a curious space that just feels right. The unchanging, gentle flavor of the biscuits, perhaps, is what connects the past to the present.