Warabimochi Kamakura is preparing to open at 8322 Clairemont Boulevard in Kearny Mesa's Convoy District, following a successful local pop-up that introduced San Diegans to the brand earlier this year. The new shop is currently targeting an opening as soon as October, although the debut could slide into November, according to San Diego Magazine.
The concept specializes in warabimochi, a soft, delicate and almost jelly-like Japanese sweet traditionally made using bracken starch. Unlike the chewy mochi familiar to many Americans, which is made from glutinous rice, warabimochi gets its distinctive texture from starch and is typically coated generously in kinako, a nutty roasted soybean flour.
That distinction is essentially the entire reason Warabimochi Kamakura exists. Rather than treating the dessert as one item among dozens, the company has built an international business around elevating a deceptively simple traditional sweet.
Warabimochi itself has an exceptionally long history in Japan. According to Kamakura, versions of the confection are believed to date at least to the Heian period, which began in the late eighth century, and Emperor Daigo is traditionally said to have been particularly fond of it. Because genuine bracken flour was expensive, the dessert was historically associated with people of higher social status, while the company says the confection evolved toward its modern form during the Kamakura period under influences that included Zen Buddhism and Japanese tea culture.
Warabimochi Kamakura is operated by Niigata-based K&S Co., Ltd., a Japanese company established in 2009 and led by CEO Shinji Tanaka. The company's official corporate information reported 52 stores as of the end of December 2025, although its international footprint has continued expanding rapidly during 2026 with additional openings in markets including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
That continued expansion helps explain differing store counts circulating online. San Diego Magazine reports that the brand now has more than 70 locations across Japan and international markets, while Kamakura's own corporate page still carries the older 52-store figure from the end of 2025. (
The company has already expanded well beyond Japan, with locations across Asia as well as Australia and the United Kingdom. Its official store directory currently includes international shops in Singapore and London, among other markets, while the company's recent announcements document continued expansion throughout Asia.
The United States is a much newer frontier. Warabimochi Kamakura opened its first American shop at The Shops at Santa Anita in Arcadia on October 31, 2024, introducing the Los Angeles area to a dessert far less familiar in the U.S. than conventional rice-based mochi.
Southern California expansion has continued since then. Kamakura's Japanese website now lists a second American shop at 24667 Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance in addition to the Arcadia location, making San Diego part of the brand's developing California footprint rather than an isolated experiment.
San Diegans have actually already had an opportunity to try it. Before committing to the permanent Convoy shop, Warabimochi Kamakura conducted a pop-up at popular East Village destination Asa Bakery, essentially giving the company a test run in one of San Diego's most competitive markets for Japanese food and desserts. San Diego Magazine characterized the pop-up as successful and reports the permanent location will now follow at 8322 Clairemont Boulevard.
The forthcoming store won't be limited to boxes of traditional warabimochi. Plans call for matcha and hojicha tea drinks, soft serve and other preparations built around the signature dessert, creating something closer to a contemporary Japanese dessert café than a single-product confectionery counter.
That combination has helped make warabimochi particularly suited to the current global appetite for Japanese sweets and tea. Its cool, slippery texture pairs naturally with roasted kinako and dark syrup, while contemporary shops have increasingly adapted the dessert into drinks, ice cream combinations and other formats that make an ancient confection considerably more Instagram-friendly.
Kamakura's arrival also adds yet another major Japanese brand to a neighborhood that has become one of Southern California's densest Asian dining destinations. The greater Convoy area already supports an enormous range of ramen, sushi, yakiniku, Korean barbecue, hot pot, bakeries, tea shops and specialty dessert businesses, making it a logical San Diego landing point for a concept whose signature product may require a little explanation before customers become hooked.
San Diego will soon get to decide whether a dessert with roots stretching back considerably further than that can become the Convoy District's next obsession.
Warabimochi Kamakura is expected to open this fall at 8322 Clairemont Boulevard in San Diego's Kearny Mesa neighborhood, with an anticipated debut in October or November. For more information, visit warabimochi-kamakura-usa.com.
Originally published on September 17, 2026.