Seafood specialties of Miyajima

I love it how many of the regional culinary specialties in Japan involves seafood of some sort! The food of Miyajima is anagomeishi, which is conger eel (similar to unagi, but not the same) with a special sauce on rice. Quite a simple dish, but quite pricey. We went to Fujita-ya that was recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide, and we left the place wondering why this place was recommended and not other (cheaper) places? We were also puzzled over why this place was also recommended in another book guide (was it Frommer's?) (we met a lone American traveller (using this other guide) attempting to get in Fujita-ya, but not knowing any Japanese, she was quite confused over what the lady was telling her. She ended up eating with us on our table, and then exploring Mt. Misen with us after).

The anagomeishi itself was quite yummy, but we felt that it wasn't really quite worth the 2300yen (around AU$23). (We saw other restaurants offering anagomeishi for around 1700yen.) Perhaps Fujita-ya gave more meat? Or perhaps it was trying to milk all the money it can from all the foreign tourists led here by their book guides. We'll never know.

Anagomeishi served with some soup and pickled veges:


Since Miyajima is within Hiroshima-ken, kaki (oyster) is another of Miyajima's specialty. Outside one of the restaurants specialising in kaki, there was a stall set up selling take-away grilled oysters for 200yen a-piece. It was hugely popular too, with a long line for the piping hot oysters. And it was soooo good! Plump, fresh oysters hot of the grill... Mmmm yum!

Big fat grilled oysters:


Maple trees are one of the trademarks of Miyajima, so one of the popular omiyage (souvenirs) to buy are the momiji manju (momiji is Japanese for maple, and manju for sweets). These are small cakes shaped like maple leaves with various fillings inside, including the standard anko (sweet jam/paste made out of adzuki beans), matcha (green tea flavour) and the ever-popular custard and chocolate fillings. It was quite yummy and I bought a couple of boxes to give my collegues. For those that don't know, in Japan, it's almost an expection that whenever you travel, you should bring back omiyage to share - I wrote about it in another post.

Momiji manju in the making:

The sacred island of Miyajima

Part 3 of my chronicles of our New Year trip lands us in the island of Miyajima, home of Itsukushima-jinja (ie Itsukushima Shrine), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Haven't heard of it? Well, chances are, you have probably seen its famous 'floating' torii (Shinto shrine gate), which is one of the most photographed tourist attractions in Japan and rated as one of Japan's three best views. To get there, we had to ride the train from Hiroshima city for about 30mins and then take a short ferry ride to the island.

The torii from the ferry:


The island seems to be mainly a tourist spot with not much residential facilities, much like Rottnest Island back home in Perth. Deer roam freely around, much like Nara. The whole island is considered sacred, and the deer are seen as divine messengers. In one area, we saw two young bucks attempting to fight without any antlers, but in another area we saw a loving picture of a doe and her fawn. (From what I understand, the antlers of deer roaming in public access areas are sawn off for people's safety; they let the deer on the restricted slopes of the mountains keep their antlers)

Contrasting pictures of the nature of deer:


On this island, there is Mt. Misen, which is the holy mountain on this island. At 535m, we could either take a long hike to the peak, or take the cable car ('ropeway') up most of the way. We chose to do the ropeway up and hike back down. The ride took us to about 3/4 to the peak, and it was another 20-30minutes hike to the top. That was a lot of work especially since my legs were still quite sore from our snowboarding trip. On the way up, there was a rest point where we could view the giant iron pot said to have been used by a Buddhist saint in the 7th century and the water inside was kept simmering ever since. Surely the water inside needs to be replaced?

The said pot:


The view at the peak was gorgeous. Made our effort worth its while.

Us at the peak:


The view at the peak (lazy attmept at 'stitching' two photos together):


And the hike back down? It must have taken us well over 1 hour, although it seemed a lot longer. Needless to say, we were so glad to have finally reached the bottom. We weren't really all that interested to see the shrine (surely it can't be much different than the half-dozen other temples/shrines we've already been to?) so off we went to catch our ferry back to Hiroshima city. On our way to the jetty, we saw that the tide had receded and that the 'floating' torii was not 'floating':

High tide in mid-afternoon; lower tide in the early evening:


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Just thought I'd share something interesting here. We meet many people on our travels, one of whom we'd first met on our Kobe trip - who would have thought that we'd bump into him again in Hiroshima! (He's a guy from Thailand working in Tokyo.) I mean, Japan is not really tiny Perth where you can say "It's a small town!"