Sake in Japan’s city of Saijo

Novice and experienced sake drinkers will want to have the city of Saijo as part of their Japan trip itinerary. Sake brewing has been going on in Saijo for centuries and the brew masters have perfected their craft. Saijo is home to many sake breweries. Eight different sake breweries are within walking distance from the main Saijo train station. These breweries are open year-round and give visitors an opportunity to learn the method behind sake brewing. At the breweries visitors can sample sake and buy sake bottles.

Saijo Manhole Cover

Flier for the Saijo Sake Festival

Hiroshima Carp baseball team jumper for kids

Saijo Sake Festival

Those traveling in Japan during the fall time should plan their visit to Saijo for the second weekend in October. Every year during this weekend Saijo hosts a Sake Festival. The festivities begin the moment one exits the train station and walks on Saijo’s main boulevard. On this street, you’ll find various food stalls, vendors selling clothes or trinkets, and cosplayers dressed as samurai with whom you can take photos. Besides food stalls and vendors, you’ll find activities for children such as carnival games and jump houses.

Outdoor Izakaya at the Sake Festival

Fried noodles with pork and egg sold at the outdoor izakaya

Karaage sold at the outdoor izakaya

Food vendors within the outdoor izakaya

Outdoor Izakaya

For the best food options continue on the main boulevard to the outdoor izakaya. This outdoor Japanese style pub has seating for 5,000 people in the center of a courtyard. Around the perimeter of the courtyard are food stalls. Here one can eat made to order dishes such as fried noodles with pork and egg. Other food stalls sell grilled chicken or karaage, chicken that is deep-fried in oil. Besides the foods stalls and seating the izakaya has a stage for performances and special talks by local groups. When you have finished eating, be sure to take any garbage to the trash station for proper disposal and recycling.

Entrance to Sake Hiroba, plaza for sake tasting

Saijo Festival sake cup side

Saijo Festival sake cup inside

Sake Hiroba

The main attraction for the Sake Festival is Sake Hiroba. In Japanese Hiroba means plaza. Within Sake Hiroba one can sample various types of sake from breweries found throughout Japan. To enter Sake Hiroba you must buy a ticket from the booth next to the entrance to the plaza. Your entrance ticket comes with a small cup and large booklet. The small cup is yours to keep and used to drink the sake. The booklet comes printed only in Japanese and lists the various sake available to sample within Sake Hiroba. Each different available sake has a letter and number designation. The designation refers to the tent in Sake Hiroba where you can find that specific sake.

Sake Hiroba has over 1,000 different sakes from five different regions available to sample. The five regions are Chugoku, Chubu, Kinki, Shikoku Kyushu Okinawa, and Hokkaido Tohoku Kanto. A different color tent differentiates the various regions. To get the most out of visiting Sake Hiroba be sure to try at least one sake from each region. When you are ready to sample sake wait in the line leading up to the tent. When you reach the front of the line place your cup on the stand and let the pourer know the number corresponding to the sake you wish to sample. For non-Japanese speakers, a list of the sakes available are on a printout on the stand. Just point to the number for the sake you wish to drink.

Inside the Sake Plaza

Saijo Festival sake tasting line

Sake pourers at the Saijo Festival

Reaching Saijo

Saijo is best experienced as a day trip from nearby Hiroshima. From Hiroshima’s main train station board the JR Sanyo Line to Saijo’s main train station. The trip takes thirty-five minutes, one way. Those traveling to the Saijo Sake Festival will want to arrive as early as possible as the event gets crowded by the afternoon hour.

Saijo

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Saijo Train Station: 34.431089, 132.743586

Saijo Main Boulevard - Sake Festival: 34.427585, 132.743039

	Saijo Train Station Sake in Japan’s city of Saijo Saijo, Japan
	Saijo Main Boulevard - Sake Festival Sake in Japan’s city of Saijo Saijo, Japan

Unique Eats in Hiroshima, Japan

Modern day Hiroshima, Japan is more than its memorials. The sprawling metropolitan’s various restaurants offers visitors delicious Japanese cuisine. In Hiroshima, you will find tasty pastries at Andersen Bakery and St. Marc Café. At Masui enjoy tonkatsu and Japanese curry dishes. As for other traditional dishes, such as okonomiyaki and ramen, be prepared to eat these made with a Hiroshima twist.

Andersen Bakery

Pastry from Andersen Bakery

The Original Andersen Bakery

Andersen Bakery, which has locations throughout the world, came from humble beginnings. The story of Andersen Bakery began when its founder Shunsuke Takaki visited Europe in 1959. Shunsuke fell in love with Danish pastries and he vowed to bring these delicacies to the people of Japan. The first Andersen Bakery opened in 1967 in Hiroshima. The success of this shop led to the franchise opening bakeries throughout Japan. Later, more Andersen Bakery locations opened in the United States, Hong Kong, and where the inspiration came from, Denmark.

You will find the main Andersen Bakery at what once was the Hiroshima Branch of the Teikoku Bank. After the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima renovations on the building began. The first and second floor of the building are home to Andersen Bakery. The first floor of the building, known as the Bakery Market floor, offers customers a variety of baked goods and pastries. Visitors can buy coffee or tea to drink along with their fresh-baked purchases. The second floor, known as the Kitchen floor, offers customers a variety of meal options. Select from grilled and stewed foods, sandwiches, salads, pizza and pasta, and Chinese dishes. Besides those options the Kitchen floor has a full delicatessen, desserts, and beverages.

Entrance to St. Marc Cafe

Meal at St. Marc Cafe

Logo for St. Marc Cafe and Choco Cro

Close up of a Choco Cro at St. Marc Cafe

St. Marc Café

Another great choice for pastries, sandwiches, and coffee is the restaurant chain St. Marc Café. These cafes became popular throughout Japan for their chocolate croissants. These chocolate croissants, called Choco Cro, are so famous that often people call the cafes by the name of Choco Cro and not St. Marc Café. Look for special varieties of the Choco Cro that mark events such as the holidays Halloween and Christmas.

Tsukemen noodles and spicy broth at Bakudanya

Tsukemen noodles and spicy broth combined at Bakudanya

Entrance to Bakudanya

Karaage at Bakudanya

Hiroshima’s Take on Ramen

In the simplest terms, ramen is a bowl of broth with noodles. Yet, as one travels throughout Japan they find a variety of styles and takes on this simple dish. In Hiroshima, their style of ramen is tsukemen. Chefs first cook the tsukemen noodles and serve them dry. Patrons dip the noodles into broth before eating. Establishments that cook up tsukemen serve their customers two separate bowls. In one bowl you will find your tsukemen noodles, meat, and other sides such as eggs. Another bowl has the broth. Add the noodles, meat, and sides into the bowl with the broth, mix it around and enjoy.

A popular chain specializing in tsukemen noodles is Bakudanya. Here you can choose what level of spiciness you want for the ramen’s broth. A handy heat chart details the spice level from zero to a hundred. Pick the level of spiciness you can handle. Bakudanya offers more dishes beyond ramen such as rice wrapped in seaweed and karaage (Japanese fried chicken).

Tonkatsu Curry at Masui

Outside Masui

Display case outside Masui

Tonkatsu and Curry

A popular Japanese dish is tonkatsu, breaded deep-fried pork. Combine this dish with Japanese curry and you have a hunger quenching dining experience. Masui in Hiroshima is a hard location to miss. Next door to the restaurant is a deli with a sign reading “Sukiyaki and Foreign Food” with a bull’s head and the word beef emboldened over it. Right next to the deli is the entrance to Masui.

Before entering Masui stop by the display case housing various dishes. These plastic recreations of the dishes Masui serves may help you decide what to order. Upon entering the restaurant, you will have your choice of table seating or a tatami table. Tatami is a mat, and will mean removing your shoes as shoes should not touch the mat. If needed, you may ask for an English menu. Order the tonkatsu with curry for a treat of a meal.

Okonomiyaki from a food stall in Okonomimura

Outside Okonomimura

Insides of an Okonomiyaki from a food stall in Okonomimura

Side entrance and elevator to Okonomimura

Hiroshima and the Okonomyaki Playground

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese style savory dish similar in texture to an omelet and similar in shape to a pancake. Associated with the areas of Hiroshima and the Kansai region of Osaka, the okonomiyaki dish comes in two different styles. In Kansai, Osaka chefs mix the ingredients before using them to form the omelet pancake. Cooking okonomiyaki in Hiroshima involves the ingredients being layered to form the omelet pancake.

Step 1 making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 2 making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 3 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 4 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 5 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 6 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 7 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 8 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 9 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 10 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 11 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Step 12 in making Okonomiyaki at a food stall in Okonomimura

Foodies that seek amazing okonomiyaki will want to visit Okonomimura. This playground for okonomiyaki lovers offers multiple food stalls on three floors. There are over twenty food stall on floors two, three, and four. Pick a stall that looks good to you and saddle up to an open seat. To keep things simple just let the chef know if you want meat or seafood and sit back and enjoy the show. Right in front of you the chef will cook up your food. Before you know it, you’ll be dining on a delicious Hiroshima style okonomiyaki.

Hiroshima Eats

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Andersen Bakery: 34.394735, 132.457210

St. Marc Café: 34.394070, 132.455778

Bakudanya: 34.387256, 132.460120

Masui: 34.394534, 132.463102

Okonomimura: 34.391289, 132.461894

	Andersen Bakery Unique Eats in Hiroshima, Japan Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	St. Marc Café Unique Eats in Hiroshima, Japan サンマルクカフェ, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Bakudanya Unique Eats in Hiroshima, Japan Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Masui Unique Eats in Hiroshima, Japan Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Okonomimura Unique Eats in Hiroshima, Japan お好み村, Hiroshima-shi, Japan

Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City

Hiroshima, the Japanese city forever linked with history. As the site of the first use of a nuclear weapon on a city, it’s impossible not to think of World War II when hearing the word Hiroshima. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and afterwards the city and the world was never the same. First time visitors to Hiroshima wonder what they will find upon arriving in the city. Hiroshima has rebuilt itself from the ashes of destruction into a beautiful and modern city, one whose mission now is to spread the message of peace to the world.

Hiroshima Station

Hiroshima Streetcar

Streetcar drawing on a sidewalk in Hiroshima

Welcome to Hiroshima

The easiest way for visitors to reach Hiroshima is by train. From Kyoto, visitors can arrive in Hiroshima in just under three hours. Once you arrive at Hiroshima Station exit via the South Gate and head to the city’s main form of public transportation, the streetcar (Hiroshima Electric Railway). These trams ride through the city on railway tracks. The streetcar’s run on nine, color coded, routes that cut through the entire city and will have you at your destination in no time.

Hiroshima’s streetcars are fast, efficient, and easy to use. Passengers need not buy tickets before boarding the streetcar. Board the streetcar through the door marked “entrance”. Smaller streetcars have entrance doors at the back of the tram. Longer streetcar’s entrances will be in the middle of the tram. When you arrive at your stop, disembark via the exit doors near either the driver or the conductor. Before exiting deposit the flat rate for inner city travel, 160 yen, in the provided coin slot. Those without exact fare will receive their change from the coin slot machine.

If you plan on using the streetcars multiple times in one day, consider buying a day pass. Day passes are available to buy before entering the streetcar or on board from the conductor. A day pass for adult riders is 600 yen and 300 yen for children. For those that need unlimited rides in the city and ferry access to nearby Miyajima, a one day streetcar and ferry pass is available. This pass costs 840 yen for adults and 420 yen for children.

Signpost with the inscription “May Peace Prevail on Earth”

Peace Memorial Park

On August 6, 1945 at 8:15am the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. With the city reduced to ruins, the significant impact of what happened that day permeates the city. Yet from the destruction a beautiful remembrance to the victims and a beacon of peace has arisen. The Peace Memorial Park ensures visitors never forget that infamous day and gives hope that the event that transpired never happens again. As you approach the Peace Memorial Park, you should see a sign post that reads “May Peace Prevail on Earth”. Repeat this phrase in your mind as you walk through the various memorials built to remember what occurred there.

Cenotaph, memorial for A-bomb victims

Peace Flame

Peace Memorial Museum

Those visitors that wish to learn the history of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima will want to visit the Peace Memorial Museum. After the Museum head to one of the main memorials, the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims. This stone chamber, in the middle of the Park, has a list of the victims who died by the atomic bomb. From the Cenotaph, you can see, and walk to, the Peace Flame. The Flame will continue to burn until no more nuclear weapons exist on Earth.

Children’s Peace Monument

Children’s Peace Monument and Other Memorials

The Children’s Peace Monument is a memorial for the children who died because of the atomic bomb. A girl by the name of Sadako Sasaki inspired others to create the Children’s Peace Monument. In 1955, Sadako was twelve years old and diagnosed with leukemia. The disease resulted from her exposure to the radioactive aftereffects of the atomic bomb when she was two years old. Sadako believed if she folded a thousand cranes she could defeat the leukemia. Sadako could not beat the sickness, she died the same year as her diagnosis. Classmates of Sadako’s petitioned to have the memorial built and ever since people from around the world have continued Sadako’s tradition of making paper cranes. Glass boxes surround a statue of Sadako and contain every paper crane ever made in remembrance of Sadako and the children who died because of the atomic bomb.

Bell of Peace

Korean Victim Monument

Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound

A-Bombed Gravestone

Other notable memorials include the Korean Victim Monument, A-bombed Gravestone, Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, the Bell of Peace, and the Peace Clock Tower. The Peace Clock Tower chimes quarter past eight every morning, the same time as when the blast occurred on August 6, 1945. Across the river, the A-Bomb Dome is the only remaining building from before the atomic bomb dropped. Prior to the bombing the building was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Now, all that remains of the building are structural beams and blown out walls. Flood lights used at night illuminate the remains of the building. Near A-Bomb Dome is the Aioi Bridge. Aioi Bridge was the target of the bombing because of its distinctive “T” shape.

A-Bomb Dome during the day

A-Bomb Dome at night

Modern Day Hiroshima

The memorials draw visitors to Hiroshima to remember and to pledge to bring peace to the entire world. Around the Peace Memorial Park is a metropolitan city. Rebuilt after the war, Hiroshima has modern buildings around the Park. Here you will find the residents of Hiroshima living out their daily routines. Among the buildings you’ll find shopping arcades and restaurants serving traditional Japanese dishes, such as okonomiyaki and ramen, made with a Hiroshima twist.

Modern day Hiroshima

Besides buildings, shopping arcades, and restaurants what you will find are the country’s friendliest people. Hiroshima locals are quick to smile and offer help to visitors from every corner of the world. The heart wrenches thinking of the utter destruction that befell this city, and yet it warms the heart to know beauty has come from such destruction. The beauty of the Peace Memorial Park and the inner beauty of the Hiroshima people gives us hope that one day peace will prevail over the entire globe.

Hiroshima Memorials

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Hiroshima Station: 34.396228, 132.475438

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum: 34.391521, 132.453064

Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims: 34.392976, 132.452573

Peace Flame: 34.393445, 132.452776

Children\'s Peace Monument: 34.394103, 132.452976

Korean Victim Monument: 34.394208, 132.451847

A-bombed Gravestone: 34.394208, 132.451847

Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound: 34.394650, 132.452025

Bell of Peace: 34.394865, 132.452397

A-Bomb Dome: 34.395464, 132.453471

Peace Clock Tower: 34.395415, 132.452370

Aioi Bridge: 34.396198, 132.453403

	Hiroshima Station Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 広島駅, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 広島平和記念資料館 (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum), Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 原爆死没者慰霊碑 (Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims), Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Peace Flame Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 広島平和記念公園 (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park), Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Children's Peace Monument Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 原爆の子の像, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Korean Victim Monument Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 韓国人原爆犠牲者慰霊碑, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	A-bombed Gravestone Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 韓国人原爆犠牲者慰霊碑, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 原爆供養塔 (Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound), Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Bell of Peace Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 平和の鐘, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	A-Bomb Dome Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 原爆ドーム, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Peace Clock Tower Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City 平和の時計塔, Hiroshima-shi, Japan
	Aioi Bridge Hiroshima: Memorials and a Modern City Hiroshima Tokushimaken, Japan