Mr. Kinichi Iwama, the owner of the Tivoli confectionery shop (Oguriyama, Hirosaki City, TEL 0172-87-4533 ) celebrated his 80th birthday on December 11th, and vowed to continue selling the signature product "Tanuki Cake".

The store opened in 1980 (Showa 55). The raccoon cake, which has been available since the store opened, is a cake with a raccoon dog face as a motif. Iwama says, "We started raccoon cakes because we wanted children to eat them. At first, there were three or four shops in Hirosaki that offered cakes, but now we're the only one."

Mr. Iwama trained at a Japanese confectionery shop in Aomori and a Western confectionery shop in Yokohama. It has been 40 years since I started the restaurant with my wife, Katsuko. Tivoli is the name of a park in Denmark. "I imagined Tivoli Gardens, which is loved by the people, with the meaning of aiming to be a store that is loved by everyone." "I've never been there," he said.

According to Mr. Iwama, the shop's tanuki cake is a rare type in Japan that is made from a whole cake. "The trick is to make the chocolate in a short amount of time until it hardens, in order to reduce waste. Now there are more adult customers than children who say, "It's nostalgic," he says with a smile.

In December last year, the store was remodeled and changed to a small-scale business style. The number of products has been reduced, and now there are four types: raccoon cake (250 yen), shortcake (260 yen), apple tart (230 yen), and cheesecake (260 yen). Both have been on sale since they opened. In addition to cakes, baked sweets, dorayaki (100 yen), and donuts (80 yen) are also available.

Raw material costs continue to soar, making it difficult to maintain prices, but he says he is not thinking about revising prices at the moment because he wants children to eat them. “Sometimes my family asks me to raise the price, but considering the price the children can afford, I can't raise it any further,” says Iwama.

At the age of 80, Iwama, who aims to be active for the rest of his life, expressed his desire to continue working until 2030, when the 50th anniversary of Tanuki Cake will mark a turning point.