Gifting, and therefore shopping for gifts, seems part of the gestalt of winter. In Tokyo, though, retail wonderlands tend to be packed and pricey, full of ersatz Christmas music, harried customers and long lines. I opt instead for a low-key commercial street near Sugamo Station in Toshima Ward, known as Jizo-dori. Sugamo is often referred to as "Granny's Harajuku," and since I've got some elders on my list, I head there hoping to find a few age-appropriate presents.
In an arcade on the way to Jizo-dori, I find myself swept up in a virtual herd of grannies hauling wheeled shopping bags and moving with unified force into a Japanese sweets shop. I go with the flow and the stampede stops inside Senjo Monaka. Senjo Monaka's specialties are monaka (delicate wafers cradling azuki bean jam fillings) and dorayaki (bean jam sandwiched between castella sponge cakes) made on site daily, hence the place is awash in the aroma of pancakes crisping on a griddle.
The women around me laugh and shout to one another, negotiating which of the shop's treats to buy. Third-generation owner Emi Odomo, 57, oversees their orders while expert griddler Ichiro Toyoda, 69, flips cakes. Once the shop clientele thins a bit, Odomo sneaks me a dorayaki to taste. The steaming sweet pancakes pillow a chilled green pea jam, and the combination of textures and temperatures is divine. The shop has a small seating area, with free hot tea. "To sit and talk is a good thing," Odomo says. "People these days think a cellphone is the whole world, but it's not."