The 25th National Confectionery Exposition began yesterday in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture:

During the exposition, original cakes with the theme of the three beauties–Cleopatra, Ono no Komachi, Yang Guifei–prepared by Antenor, Kobe Fugetsudo, Henri Charpentier and Morozoff will be served with other confectionery. Le Cordon Bleu Kobe and seven other confectionery schools will hold daily classes on making confections.

On display will be a confectionery model of Himeji Castle, ornamental candy flowers and birds, about 6,000 confections from across the nation and memorabilia among other items. A musical, “Sweet Drops: A Story of a Pastry Chef,” will be performed daily by former top members of Takarazuka Revue and OSK Nippon Kagekidan revue.

Below are a few photographs of impressive candy creations on display at the expo.

A 1:50 scale model of Himeji Castle, complete candy versions of famous historical samurai:

A clipper ship, globe, and Russian scene:

A close-up of the globe:

The expo will be held next to the real Himeji Castle and will run from April 18 to May 11, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. A map of the expo location can be found on the event’s official homepage.