Miyajima and Okonomiyaki

For our second day in Hiroshima, we had planned a day trip to the island of Miyajima. We had to take a street car to a train to a ferry to get there, but ultimately it turned out to be totally worth the effort! 

Our approaching street car:

On the ferry - that's Miyajima in the background. It's jagged mountains were really neat to look at.

Passing the island's famous torii gate on our way to the dock:

Like Nara, there are hundreds of deer wandering Miyajima, however here visitors are discouraged from feeding and petting the deer. This guy was apparently as hot as we were because he really wanted to get inside this air conditioned restaurant!

When we arrived on the island, we headed first for the famous torii gate since it was low tide:

Fiona was minimally interested in the gate and much more interested in searching the tide pools for hermit crabs. Eventually Jason even convinced her to pick a few up!

After we had finished exploring tide pools, we made our way to the base of Mount Misen where there is a ropeway that will take you to the top to enjoy the views. However, anyone who knows me knows that when there's an option to hike to the top, I'll jump at the chance! And so, despite the extreme heat and humidity, we set out for the top. Our fearless leader blazing a trail for us:

Along the way we followed a creek that followed over numerous small waterfalls on its way down the mountain.

Here she is, still leading the way...

...but immediately after I took this pictures, she turned around just in time to see a snake slither across the step in front of her. Needless to say, we decided to let Daddy take the lead from there!

The trail went up and up...

...staircase after winding stair case...

...until we reached one last long climb...

...before finally arriving at the top for a well deserved lunch with an amazing view!

No matter what direction we looked in, the views were breath taking. I think I'd actually probably put the Mount Misen views in my top five ever!

At this point we hadn't actually made it to the summit. We had another 20 minute walk to the lookout atop this peak:

That walk took us past shrines and temples:

...offered more amazing views...

...had side paths through caves...

...and ducked through tunnels...

...before finally letting us out at the summit:

Everywhere we looked the views were just more amazing than the last.

Something about the little islands dotting the horizon gave the place a very tropical feel even though the islands themselves were more "woodsy" than "beachy."

By the time we made it to the top, we were all very hot and very tired!

On the way back to the rope way that would take us down the mountain, this little guy reminded us to stay strong:

Once back at sea level, we passed Miyajima's famous Gojunoto (five storied pagoda). We were all too tired to climb the stairs to visit it properly, and the view from below was still pretty impressive!

It was amazing to walk back by the torri gate after the tide had come it. It gave the entire area a completely different feel:

On our way back to the ferry, we searched and searched for the enormous octopus crackers we had read the island was known for, but once we finally found the shop, they were sold out. We were disappointed, but cheered ourselves up with "fruity fizzy drinks" as Fiona referred to them:

Then we stopped for another island delicacy - momiji manjyu. These are maple leave shaped cakes filled with various flavors of paste, the most traditional being red bean, but we bought chocolate, peach, and matcha (green tea). We found these to be okay, but the consistency/texture of the filling was a little off putting for us. Throughout our travels we often found this to be the case - whether it was a sweet or savory item, the tendency for cakes, cookies, and breads to be filled with a paste or cream was something we never really warmed up to.

It was a long, hot, exhausting (but fantastic!) day on Miyajima and by the time we made it back to Hiroshima we were all SO tempted to call it a day, but there was one more thing Hiroshima is famous for that we knew we couldn't miss, so we dug deep and hopped in the dinner line at Nagata-ya - a well known okonomiyaki restaurant. The restaurant was a decent size (compared to the many 10 seat establishments we visited during our travels) and the line only had about a dozen people in it, so we crossed our fingers and hoped it would move quickly.

Despite the relatively short line, we still ended up waiting almost a half hour to be seated, but in the end we were so glad we did! Somehow we got lucky enough to score seats at the grill:

This was fortuitous because it was fun and entertaining to watch, but also because it allowed me to take pictures that will incredibly useful in explaining what exactly okonomiyaki is! While available throughout Japan, okonomiyaki is typically associated with either Osaka or Hiroshima. The ingredients contained in the dish are similar in the two regions, however they are typically layered in Hiroshima okonomiyaki while Osaka-style they are all mixed together.

The dish is a Japanese savory pancake whose name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "how/what you like" and yaki, meaning "grill." The toppings or "extras" included in the dish are highly customizable leading it to sometimes be referred to as "Japanese pizza" (although it is not at all pizza-like).

The preparation started with a thin circular pancake or crepe:

To this are added some seasoning...

...a healthy pile of cabbage (Hiroshima-style uses three or four times more cabbage than Osaka-style)...

..bean sprouts...

..pork (in this case, but this can also be octopus, squid, cheese, the list goes on and on)...

...the entire pancake is then flipped and the cabbage is allowed to cook down considerably.

Udon or soba noodles form another layer of the okonomiyaki and these are grilled separately before being added:

Finally an egg is broken on the grill and shaped into a flat circle:

On top of the egg are layered first the noodles, then the cabbage pancake:

Finally, the dish is basted with okonomiyaki sauce - similar to Worcestershire sauce, but thicker and sweeter - and sprinkled with aonori (seaweed flakes) before being served on the grill in front of you with a sharp spatula for cutting and serving:

It was a fun experience to watch and we all enjoyed the dinner too. Despite being extremely tired, we were really glad to have tried it before leaving Hiroshima! When we left, we realized just how lucky we were to have gotten in a line when it was as short as ours was!

On the walk back to our apartment, we grabbed some ice cream and I stopped for another quick picture of the Memorial Cenotaph - through which the Peace Flame was a little more visible due to the fact that it was starting to get dark.

And then we caught some beautiful colors in the sky as the sun set. It was really the perfect ending to a wonderful day!