Miyajima and momiji manju, Japan

It’s offshore from Hiroshima in the Inland Sea, and is best known for the much-photographed red-orange torii gate that stands in the water (at least until low tide, when its base is exposed).

There’s a covered arcade between the ferry terminal and the shrine, packed with a warren of shops all selling pretty much the same souvenirs (though if you head to the back, there are often beautiful, dusty old wooden trays of a quality and craftsmanship hard to find anywhere else these days – and priced to match).

And like any touristy spot with lots of kids, there’s plenty of street food; we were reminded of Mackinac Island in Michigan, except instead of fudge and popcorn there are yakitori sticks and grilled oysters!

The most ubiquitous snacks are momiji manju, cakes in the shape of maple leaves with various fillings.

I really love these little cakes when they are warm, so we made our way from shop to shop and I bought one or two at each to try.  My favorite is the cream custard variety, but I also tried several cheese versions.  I find the red bean filling less interesting since you find it at many more places, so I didn’t have it here.

The custard varied a bit, but the differences from shop to shop really stood out in the cheese versions, with flavors from creamy and mild to Swiss to stronger Gruyere, and textures from cream cheese-like to firm.  You’ll have to try them all to see which is your favorite!

We spent a little longer at the Fujiya shop, which has small café-like space where you can have a cup of matcha with your manju.  Very nice!

After our tea break, I watched the manju-making machine for a bit and then bought a box of custard momiji manju to take along with me.  They don’t keep well, so I parceled them out over the next few days as special snacks.

At the main temple, we stumbled on a Noh play that is performed just once a year on Miyajima.  Ornately dressed men (some in masks) moved slowly around the stage, accompanied by slowly chanting drummers.  To our ears, it sounded like a slow repetition of a pirate song, “yo-ho yo-ho”.

There was a crowd of older folks sitting and watching, making a day of it, and then the tourists pausing at the edges to see.  According to Wikipedia, the stage we saw is the oldest Noh stage in the world!

Before we headed back to the ferry, we stopped for some grilled oysters, a local specialty – the Inland Sea off Hiroshima is known for its oyster cultivation (there’s a good view of the wooden platforms from the Miyajima ferry).

They’re quite large and meaty, and served with different sauces – soy sauce, yuzu, and a combo of the two.  The woman at the shop told us to make sure to try at least one plain, to get the true flavor.

***

Getting there: Take a local JR train from Hiroshima station to Miyajimaguchi, about 30 minutes, and then a short ferry ride across to the island itself.  (If you have a JR Pass, be sure to take the JR ferry.)  Ferries run every 15 minutes.  We made a day trip from Osaka, which is an additional 90 minutes on the Shinkansen.