Izutsu Yatsuhashi is a large store offering traditional Japanese sweets from the Kyoto area. Yatsuhashi is a cinnamon wafer shaped like a Japanese roof tile. They are crunchy, sort of sweet and flavoured with cinnamon. It's a nice sweet for yourself or as a gift. Japanese are quite fond of gift-giving with snacks from different cities. There are other snacks and sweets here including green tea ice cream. The shop is conveniently located near Nishiki Market. Stop in your yourself and for gifts!

First of all, I don't find these desserts "weird" at all. They're delicious and beautiful to look at. Izutsu Cafe knows how to make them. I had a dish consisting of hard matcha ice cream, soft matcha ice cream (you can also get vanilla, if you prefer), warabi mochi dusted with matcha powder, a small bit of sponge cake, some tapioca balls (like what's in bubble tea), and sweetened azuki beans. Delicious. And because Japanese ice cream tends to have lower butterfat than premium American kinds, it was refreshing as well. My husband loved his ice cream dish, a kinako hard ice cream (roasted sweetened soybean flour), vanilla soft ice cream, some kind of crumbled crackers or cookies, warabi mochi, and brown sugar syrup. Not quite up to the standard of the best Gion area dessert places, but pretty close and very convenient, being in an upstairs location close to Teramachi.