Trip to the west of Japan

I tripped to the Sanyo(山陽) region, the south-western part of Honsyu(本州), main land of Japan using Shinkansen(新幹線). Shinkansen is a Bullet Train invented in Japan, which connects all over Japan in a short time(except Hokkaido and Okinawa). Though I've taken Shinkansen many times both on private and business, I can be always happy whenever I ride on. It's more than high-speed train for me as it brings me fun and good memories of trips. Buying snacks and drinks before and during the Shinkansen are also exciting.

Shinkansen!

Inside of Shinkansen

Eating snack on the train is also fun

Drinking beer from the morning!

The city I visited first was...Hiroshima(広島), the largest city of Chugoku(中国) Region and industrial center of the Region. Hiroshima means "wide island." The city is also known as a city destroyed by an atomic bomb for the first time in the world. It is a place for praying. 

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Atomic bomb dome

But Hiroshima is no longer a city with the tragedy but a city of revitalization. There are many delicious foods there, particularly okonomiyaki(お好み焼き), Japanese pancake! Near the Hiroshima JR Station, there is a branch of famous okonomiyaki restaurant named "DENKO-SEKKA(電光石火)", where many customers come to eat. In fact, other neighbor restaurants had few customers... 

DENKO-SEKKA

Cooking of okinomiyaki-Hiroshima style

Specialty "DENKO-SEKKA"

Another specialty with oysters and seafood

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is a bit different from the ordinary one. They grille much cabbage, meats and boiled noodle first and wrap them by two crepes. In DNKO-SEKKA, their crepes using much egg are very soft and new texture as okonomiyaki. Also they use Japanese basil inside which makes okonomiyaki fresh. But the taste itself is...just average? My rating would be...2 out of 5, cause I couldn't find big difference from the ones I cook at home! Maybe that is the destiny of this kind of food... 

DENKO-SEKKA(電光石火)　http://okonomiyaki-denko-sekka.com/
  
Another specialty is Anago-meshi(穴子飯), grilled conger bowl and its most popular restaurant is "Anagomeshi Ueno(あなごめし うえの)", which is near the Miyajimaguchi(宮島口) Station of JR and Hiroshima railway company. Though the area is calm, only around Ueno is noisy with many customers. We can either eat inside or take away. 

In front of "Ueno"

Package of grilled conger bowl bento

Grilled conger bowl bento!

I bought one bento at JPY1,470. As you can see, the portion is big with many grilled congers (two persons can share one bento)! Even congers became cold, the texture was soft and the taste was nice. The sauce is not so strong. Sophisticated! Even I was full, I could eat. It was just same as the fame. My rating is 3.6 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Anagomeshi Ueno(あなごめし うえの) http://www.anagomeshi.com/ 　

Atucually, I just tasted only two popular dishes in Hiroshima this time(my stomach has been recently a bit shrinking), but there are many other delicious dishes to taste there:) Next time, I will try! After becoming full, I left Hiroshima to visit an island of the gods by taking the below boat...