Higashi 干菓子 are a type of wagashi, a Japanese sweet made specifically for tea ceremony. Though you could eat wagashi without tea, they tend to be very sweet to balance the bitterness of the strong Japanese green tea served at tea ceremony. Higashi are “dry” versions of wagashi, usually made with sugar and rice flour, though sometimes other types of flour or starches are used for different flavors. Because tea ceremony is a time for reflecting on the beauty of objects used during the ceremony, higashi are usually intricately and beautifully detailed. These higashi are from Zoto in the western Tokyo suburbs.