Located just off Matsumoto's main street in a remodeled 100 year old merchant house, Mamekichi sells snacks and sweets in many shapes, sizes and flavors, all made from beans of one kind or another. It is open everyday from 10:00-18:00, and is very easy to find just off the main road that leads to Matsumoto Castle.
Although Mamekichi is a chain that is located in other traditional tourist areas around Japan, this particular shop in Matsumoto really stands out due to the building's intersting design. Many buildings in the Matsumoto feature this Edo-era criss-crossed namako-kabe style on the outside of their white washed buildings and it looks very clean and pretty. This part of the city, however, is mostly filled with modern department stores and shops with plastic and concrete facades; So Mamekichi really stands out. You can see more namako-kabe styled buildings along the nearby Nakamachi-dori shopping street.
The staff are very friendly, welcoming and speak a little English. They are highly trained and know everything there is to know about the beans, flavors and spices contained within each packet. There are more than 77 varieties of bean snacks stocked here, and flavors range across the whole spectrum of taste, savory, sweet, sour, salty and spicy. Many are quite healthy since they are oven-roasted and feature soybeans, vegetables, sesame seeds, nuts and other naturally derived local ingredients.
I chose some oven-roasted, sesame coated soybeans as well as giant corn and chocolate covered beans. All were so delicious and fresh it is amazing that they are able to keep such a huge variety in stock at all times. On the day I visited, they were promoting roasted soybeans that were covered in a blue, sweet ramune (sweet soda drink) flavored coating. Almost every type of bean had a sample tray so you can experiment with all the different tastes before buying.
Mamekichi has an online store if you are unable to get to a bricks and mortar shop, but would like to try some. Unfortunately, it is currently only in Japanese, but if you use Google translate, you can muddle through. Credit card payment is available online as well as in their stores.
