Prior to visiting Hiroshima, we knew okonomiyaki as Japanese savoury pancakes. We'd eaten them with various ingredients such as cabbage, spring onions and dried seaweed mixed into a batter, cooked, and topped with delicious sauces. As you can imagine, they're positively delicious so we were excited to try the ones in Hiroshima.
Jay and I heard about a five storeyed building in Hiroshima with hundreds of stalls solely dedicated to this Japanese culinary delight - an okonomiyaki Mecca if you will - so we headed straight for there at our first opportunity.
At this building, each floor is made up of a number of square-shaped
stalls, with a U-shaped bench around its perimeter where the
customers sit (refer to image below). This bench also doubles up as a giant hotplate that
the okonomiyaki are cooked
on. As it was late in the afternoon when we
arrived, most of the stalls had shut. However, the one in the back
corner was still open, so we joined a few of the locals who were
already there. The owner/chef was an older man, and to our delight we
found out that he had been making okonomiyaki for
50 years. We figured we were in safe hands.
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| The layout of our okonomiyaki restaurant |
Having had
okonomiyaki previously,
we were confident that it would be a quick and easy meal to prepare, which suited us just fine because we were very hungry by this stage. The owner's ample experience only added to our confidence that we would be in and out of there quickly. However it was clear that the chef had other ideas about the
running of his restaurant when forty minutes in we were still no closer to eating our okonomiyaki. Instead, the chef was unnervingly unhurried in preparing our food, answering constant phone calls and fetching drinks for the other customers in between.
The long wait
wasn't our only surprise. As the chef was preparing our okonomiyaki,
it became clear that we wouldn't be served the batter-filled pancakes
we'd previously been accustomed to. Instead, these ones had the
ingredients piled on top of each other, with only a small amount of batter keeping it all together. We started to panic – we'd come all
this way to try okonomiyaki
in Hiroshima, and we'd visited a restaurant offering their own wacky
version of it. We were failures.
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| Our very experienced chef |
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| These were all for us (they weren't) |
Almost an hour
later, our okonomiyaki were
finally ready to be eaten. Despite not being what we thought we'd be eating, the wait was worth it as they turned out to be bloody delicious. Eating them
straight off the hotplate only added to the enjoyment of the whole experience.
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| An Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. |
To our great
pleasure and relief, we did find out that the style of okonomiyaki
served to us was actually the
signature style of Hiroshima (the other type are known as Osaka style
ones), so we weren't failures after all. In fact, it turns out
they were hands down, the best okonomiyaki we had our entire trip. High-five!
We also visited Miyajima, a mountainous island off the coast of Hiroshima. Miyajima has a torii gate that rather spectaularly looks like it's floating on water at high tide.
One thing we've found in Japan is that the signs will often lead you 90% towards your intended destination. You generally need to work out the last 10% for yourself. This is quite ironic for a country that is so highly organised, particularly as this final 10% can be surprisingly difficult to work out, causing us to become lost a number of times. Hence on this occasion, we accidentally found ourselves at a beautifully tranquil Buddhist temple; complete with incense, chanting and rugged-up Buddha statues.
Re-orienting ourselves, we got back on track, and recommenced our climb upwards. As expected, it was a steep, and at times quite tiring, walk. Actually, it was very tiring - we were huffing and puffing and giving our bodies a proper, sweat inducing workout.
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| Back on track |
Eventually we reached a rest area near the top of the summit, feeling thoroughly exhausted. However, it just so happened that another couple were taking a breather in the same area too - a Japanese husband and wife who were well into their seventies, if not eighties. The couple had just climbed the same arduous trail that we had, yet were a good half a century older than us. Surprisingly, they looked more refreshed than we did. After chatting to them briefly and asking for their advice on longevity, Jay translated that the couple lived on a simple but healthy Japanese diet and exercised regularly. That was it. They were living proof that a healthy and wholesome lifestyle, such as their Japanese one, pays off. If there was ever motivation for adopting such a lifestyle they were it. So, after bidding this friendly couple sayonara, Jay and I conquered the last leg of our climb, completely inspired by the couple we'd just met.
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| We made it! |
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| The not-too-shabby view from the top, with Hiroshima on the right handside |
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| Spot the deer |
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| Deciding that we'd worked hard enough on the way up, we opted for the less arduous way down via the cable lift. Needless to say it came with its own challenges: I was terrified during the ride. |
Finally, I'll finish off by celebrating the absolute brilliance of modern Japanese toilets. Because they've truly been a source of enjoyment for me on this trip, and are quite simply the most superior,
ichiban toilets I've ever used in my entire life. And to me, that's quite the achievement. So, without further ado, here is why Japanese toilets are incredible works of engineering to be marvelled at:
- You can push a button that plays music when you're using the toilet. Perfect for those not wanting their business to be heard by others.
- The bidet. It's surprisingly pleasant (warm water) and convenient (decreases wiping time).
- Warm toilet seats. Incredible. Especially during wintertime. It's one of those things that you don't realise you've been missing out on until you've experienced it. But once you do, you don't know how you'll cope without it ever again.
These points may not seem all that impressive in isolation, but they've honestly made a world of difference for me throughout this trip. Thus, I'm seriously considering having a Japanese toilet installed into our home if our landlord permits it.
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| Another sight to be marvelled - the stunning Hiroshima Castle |
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