A confectionary shop in a Japanese city devastated by the New Year's Day earthquake is offering a special jelly for Father's Day. Evacuees are snapping up the gelatin desserts to celebrate the occasion.
Kuma-no-Ouchi in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, has continued making sweets even after the earthquake destroyed its oven and it lost some employees as they evacuated.
It is selling a coffee-flavored jelly topped with various faces of fathers painted with a cafe-au-lait-flavored light whip cream.
Many residents traveled from temporary housing or shelters to buy one for their loved ones. Some visited the shop as soon as it opened at 9 a.m. on Sunday.
A man in his 20s has evacuated to a hotel in the city of Kanazawa. He said he had been buying sweets there for years until he evacuated. He said he will talk with his father in his hometown for the first time in a while and enjoy the jelly together.
A local firefighter in his 20s said he was too busy with firefighting and rescue operations to go home in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
He said he may feel a bit awkward, but he will say "Thank you" to his father in person today.
Furukawa Mayumi, the store manager, said she hopes the jelly will help make fellow residents feel a sort of normalcy, which they lost due to the disaster. She said she hopes to make them feel happy with the sweets.