It all started with the German confectioner Karl Juchheim (1886–1945) who in the early 20th century moved to the German protectorate Jiazhou in China. After World War 1, Jucheim found himself a prisoner of war in Hiroshima and then in Yokohama and there he opened another pastry shop making and selling the German round layered cake called "baumkuchen". The cake became very popular in Japan first thanks to Jucheim and his company which even today makes its most famous version and then to his imitators, especially after the war when demand for sweets was very high. The box I'm opening in this post has two flavors, the classic "white" and chocolate. Personally I prefer the version of another, all-Japanese and quite younger company, Jiichiro (治一郎) but there's no doubt that Jucheim is the standard that all baumkuchen in Japan are judged upon, For the record, the cake has the same name in Japan: バウムクーヘン (i.e. ba-u-mu-ku-u-he-n).
(For a bigger version of these pictures both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr)
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