Odds are when you think of Totoro, you think of summer. After all, that’s the season in which the majority of the film takes place, allowing for all those outdoor adventures set beneath skies of cumulonimbus clouds plus the iconic bus stop scene coinciding with a sudden squall.
But at Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory, Totoro is a presence all year long, since the two-shop Tokyo sweets chain serves up Studio Ghibli anime-themed treats in each and every season. Their most popular item is their Totoro-shaped cream puffs, and there’s a Halloween Totoro dessert on the way.
In Japan, a lot of confectioners take Halloween as an opportunity to create pumpkin sweets, and that’s what we’re getting with the Totoro’s Pumpkin Purin, which sits a Totoro cream puff and Jack-o’-lantern cookie inside a mug of purin (Japanese-style custard pudding). As is often the case with Japanese “pumpkin” sweets, the flavor here is actually kabocha, a green-skinned pumpkin-like squash that a bit sweeter than a regular pumpkin, with the Totoro’s Pumpkin Purin being made with kabocha grown in Hokkaido Prefecture.
On the other hand, Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory’s other special Halloween treat sources its key ingredient from all the way on the other side of Japan, Okinawa. That’s where Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory gets the sweet potatoes for its "Spirited Away"-inspired Otori-sama’s Beni-imo Sweet Potato Purin.
Here we have a sweet potato confectionary shaped like yellow bathing bird Otori-sama complete with a towel atop his head in the manner customary for bathhouse patrons in Japan. His “bath” here is a pool of sweet potato pudding, and like with Totoro, Oroti-sama is accompanied by a Jack-o’-lantern cookie.
Each Halloween pudding is priced at 2,500 yen, which might sound pretty steep until you take into account that that includes the adorably illustrated mugs they’re served in, which are yours to keep and use as coffee cups or refill with other puddings. Both the Totoro’s Pumpkin Purin and Otori-sama’s Beni-imo Sweet Potato Purin will only be available from October 26 to 31 (excluding the 29th, when the shop is closed) and in limited quantities, so Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory recommends putting in a reservation soon if you’re keen to try them.
Related: Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory location list
Source: Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory
Insert images: Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory, SoraNews24
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