Shop Still Bakes Taiyaki Using the ‘ipponzuri’ Method

In a corner of a shopping street lined with a variety of stores in high-end residential area Azabu-Juban in Minato Ward, Tokyo, there is a shop with a noren — a traditional Japanese curtain at shop entrances — and a signboard that looks like it has been there for years. On the noren, “taiyaki” is written in hiragana. The aroma of azuki beans wafting from the store drew my attention, and I stepped inside.