O-hagi & Nambu Sembei as Today's Sweets

　http://www.mebukiya.co.jp/

　Ohagi is a rice ball coated with sweetened red beans.
　岩手県産ヒメノモチを100％使用し、芽吹き屋にて道明寺加工したおはぎ。
　Nambu Sembei is a rice cracker in northern area of Tohoku region of Japan.

　'O-hagi' is a traditional Japanese oval shaped sweet made from boiled glutinous rice coarted with a redbean jam, sweetened soy bean powder, or sweet sesame paste.  Traditionally O-hagi is eaten only on special days set aside for Buddhist services, the Vernal Equinox Day and the Autumnal Equinox Day, when pious Buddhists pay homage to their ancestors and offer O-hagi to them.

　
　Nambu Sembei (sometimes written as Nanbu Senbei) are a traditional snack in Aomori Prefecture, and in parts of Iwate Prefecture- specifically where they originated, the old Nambu clan areas around what is present-day Hachinohe City. The name Nambu refers to this area, and sembei is a Japanese word for cracker, biscuit, or cookie.

　
　Nambu Sembei, unlike other sweets in Japan, are not made from rice but instead wheat and come in a wide variety of flavors, including apple, pistachio, etc., but the most common types have either sesame seeds or peanuts in them.

　The peanut flavored ones are very good. They have a very mild and slightly sweet slightly salty taste, making it a simple yet very Japanese flavor that goes great with tea.