Not too long ago, almost every neighborhood had a dagashiya, or penny candy store. With the rise of convenience stores and fast food restaurants, however, dagashiya began to disappear from Japanese streets. Recently, however, they have made a comeback and are enjoying new popularity as a place where kids can go to have some carefree fun. Dagashi literally means "cheap sweets," and dagashiya offer a mind-boggling assortment of candy, chocolate, gum, soda pop, chips, and other snacks cheap enough for kids to buy with their pocket money.