Children and adults swarm the sanzun (small street cart) of Takahiro Mizuki as he creates traditional ame zaiku (candy sculptures).
Plucking out a chunk of scalding mizuame (boiled starch sugar) from a specially heated box at his stand, he bobbles it from hand to hand and stretches it like taffy, increasing the air content and bringing the temperature down a tad so his fingers don't burn.
Then, through swift legerdermain, Mizuki palms tiny dollops of shokubeni (food coloring) and the candy turns first yellow, then green — totally mystifying the kids. As he pinches the still-molten candy into a ball on a stick, though, he prepares for the real show.
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