Created and Produced by John Daub

ONLY in JAPAN

Welcome to Miyajima in Hiroshima prefecture

This lovely island is famous for that ー

The Red Torii

the shrine

the beautiful island

the deer

but there's a lot more to Miyajima than just those things

in fact, this place is a street food paradise!

and we've come here to eat

so I hope you're hungry

we're going to be eating a lot.

Hiroshima is located in Japan's Chuugoku region

in the very west of Honshu island.

It's Japan's 9th biggest city after Sapporo

and the prefecture is also home to Itsukushima,

also known as Miyajima

which is where we will be chowing down on a lot of street food.

Nearly everything on the island is located on the northern end.

]The Inlet Sea surrounding is stunningly beautiful.

The Grand Torii Gate greets all ferries arriving

nearly every 15 minutes during the day.

And so do the deer, as approachable as the ones on Nara.

Who knows ー you may even make a friend or two here.

I'm training this deer to go like this

and then I give it some food

She's moving her head!

The deer is so smart!

It's not recommended to feed the deer,

but I can highly recommend feeding yourself

along the central market street.

It's stocked with so many treats from seafood to sweets!

Now this is street food!

HIROSHIMA OYSTERS

SHELLS WIDE OPEN

Hiroshima is famous for having some of the best oysters in Japan.

The prefecture produces 60-70% of the countries oysters

so yeah, it's a big deal here.

On the street side, you can find them raw, grilled or deep-fried.

So I got these oysters

Yaki Gaki

These are fried oysters

Kaki Furai (Fry)

So we're going to give Hiroshima's best

here on Miyajima a try

One word. Massive!

This one oyster was bigger than any I've ever tried before.

Look how big that things is!

Fresh caught, grilled with a little ponzu (soy citrus sauce)

and you're in heaven.

Great thing about coming alone

you don't have to share.

Oh yeah!

Now the golden brown kaki furai

Oh yeah.

Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside

A little bit oily but

The taste is perfect

Perfectly cooked on the inside

We're just getting warmed up!

This is Miyajima's MOMIJI, a leaf shaped cake

filled with either custard or red bean paste.

They're quite famous all over Japan!

Yeah, they even have their own kitkat flavor!

A few shops including this one have taken the Momiji to whole other level.

They make the momiji cakes fresh in shop.

You can watch the process through the shop window.

These have custard inside.

You could eat it like this but ー come on!

You know everything tastes better when deep fried.

They're battered up and tossed in the fryer until crispy.

Like leaves floating on golden pond.

Wow!

So this is a deep fried momiji

It smells really sweet. It's pretty much

just custard wrapped around in cake

made into a leaf shape

and then battered and deep fried.

How does it taste?

Woah!

It's so oily but ー so good!

Just, the custard

is oozing out of it

the cake around it ー

is so … it's not soaked too much in oil

just the right amount

Total gold for a pallet

What do you do with this?

Across the street is this place serving up another deep fried street food.

This is Miyajima NIGIRI TEN

These roasted fish cakes have so many toppings!

Miyajima Nigiri-ten

It's a fish cake

but this one has pieces of asparagus and

it's wrapped in bacon

which is just crazy and

you can see the fish cake makes

it really elastic

Miyajima is famous for Nigiri-ten,

which is like Chikuwa ー but oh so different.

They're first roasted or steamed then deep-fried like here.

Mmm!

So this is ...

it's been deep fried and a little oily but not too much

And you can see on the inside

the fish cake here

it's really rubbery and

if you like mochi, you're going to love this!

Down the street was a place steaming hot.

They're steamed buns, Miyajima style.

The sign caught my attention right away.

It always makes you smile.

This is an ANAGOMAN

and if you don't know what anago is

it's a conger eel

it looks like a little snake in the sea

and they put it into a steamed bun

Usually steamed buns in Japan are filled with pork or beef

but here, it's anago which makes it unique.

This is so good.

But the anago

is so tender, it's so soft

It's got that same kind of meaty taste as

a pork bun but

it's more sophisticated

ー and it's nice!

An incredible day eating on Hiroshima's Miyajima Island

Hiroshima is also famous for Okonomiyaki,

Japanese pancake cooked on a tabletop gril

loaded with all sorts of goodies

and topped with a savory salty sweet soy sauce.

Check out the episode Hiroshima Okonomiyaki Lunch Experiment

for the full recipe!

I'll even make one for you!

There's a camping spot.

It's about a 30-40 minute walk from here

If you're interested in seeing more of Miyajima,

don't miss my live stream walk through

on the ONLY in JAPAN GO! Channel

filmed when I made this episode.

We'll go from the beach past the shrine

down the shopping street.

The ONLY in JAPAN GO channel is all live streams

on locations so you'll get a taste of the next episode right away.

There's a feast for the eyes

Wow.

So beautiful

Yeah, I'll walk it.

I've been eating a lot so I think it's good to get some exercise

and this island is perfect for that

Wooooo!

Oh, there's a sign that says don't yell.

Of course there is!

Beautiful day.

There's some momiji

Ususally you can see them making

the momiji in a big open window

Oh, this is nice, okay —

One quick walk through

and then

this is where I am at the entrance

one quick walk through and then I'm off

ONLY in JAPAN GO. This is like the concept

You know, walk around and just find interesting stuff

You can see they're making the momiji here

and they do it live

they do it right in front of you

so that's how you know they're always fresh

Subscribe to both channels

and never miss an experience that's ONLY in JAPAN!

Next time, we'll head to Fukuoka for some amazing Tonkotsu Ramen.

From the riverside yatai stands to the city's best ramen shops,

we'll go on a ramen binge

that'll make you wish for big bowl right now.

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Mata ne~