Hiroshima Flower Festival

When I messaged some friends about joining us for the annual Hiroshima Flower Festival I was clear and vague. I was clear on how the festival wasn't really about flowers and was just a reason to have hundreds of food vendors, children games, musical performances, and a parade. I was vague on the size of the crowd. Spanning multiple city blocks, the Hiroshima Flower Festival boasts having more than 1.6 million visitors during the three day event. It should be noted that I only saw a few flowers.

But we go for the food.

I found it very interesting that the city had not closed the parade route entirely. Instead the cross roads were still open with operating lights. This slowed the parade and allowed a longer time to view each section, but the poor dancers end up doing their routing (a traveling routine at that) in one spot over and over. We watched one performance two times from start to finish and the light still had not turned. So the girls backed up and did it again...all in the space of one city block. Hearing the song a third time... and fourth time...

The side streets were closed and filled with thousands of people and hundreds of food vendors. So many amazing smells!

Yum!

After the parade the main road became additional walking space. So many people!

So I talk about all these amazing smells and the food but then I only have one picture. Someone (ahem, Dustin) is playing with the operating system on our computer and I'm unable to pull the rest of our tasty finds. So here, have some dumplings a friend got.

We had a yummy vegetable and chicken filled falafel, fresh seltzer lemonade, potato croquettes, chocolate covered bananas, a whole roasted prawn, panko-fried chicken nuggets, and dry ice soda. I highly recommend festivals in Japan - even if you just go for the food.

8bit bar

If you are a new reader, Dustin and I are nerds. Totally geeks. While hanging out with like-minded friends, one casually mentions a bar in Hiroshima where you can play Nintendo. WHAT?! I've lived here two+ years and never heard of this place! Must. Go. Now.

So we did.

Basement Floor right off Heiwa-dori

We were presented with a Nintendo famicom cartridge console. Nintendo only released this platform in Japan (in my birth year) and it was a huge seller. We got the cartridge system beause we picked out Super Mario Bros to play. They also have the original Famicom to play which uses small floppy discs with a rewritable feature (i.e. you can finally save your progress when Mom calls for chicken nugget consumption). The technology was a decade ahead of general disc-format game consoles. (Side note: the company behind the Final Fantasy franchise almost went bankrupt because their venture in disc-based gaming was a flop. They recovered by releasing their title in cartridge format which went on to sell bajillions...)

A big part of our success with the game was muscle memory. Years of playing as kids meant we remembered all the secrets, knew all the jumps... and died! The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros is different! Muscle memory will do you no good!

Hiroshima Dreamination

For a month I have been trying to get a group together to visit Hiroshima Dreamination. After tons of scheduling conflicts and sickness, Dustin and I decided to go up on our own. Every year Hiroshima displays millions of lights in their Dreamination project. Powered by the sun, this collection of lights is pretty fantastic. Dustin was not excited about going to see "Christmas lights", but once we got there he was surprisingly impressed. Seasonal lighting done by a country that does not, generally, celebrate Christmas:

Amazing "cherry blossom" trees

An organ. Yes, an organ.

Each area had a specific theme. Fall was filled with vibrant oranges and yellows. One area had a giant Easter egg. My favorite area had a huge pirate ship! Unfortunately, our camera wasn't great about capturing the lights very well. If you are in Hiroshima in December then I highly recommend you visit Dreamination.

Confectionary Competition

I love how art can be created with food. It fascinates me to see how artists create textures...not to mention how they counter balance the weight of all that sugar.

Check out those feathers!

Can't see, but the detail on the scales was impressive.

Release the kraken!

From above

After the large show pieces we viewed tables filled with hundred of individual fondant creations. These were being judged as well.

A little shaky, but shows the main display of Miyajima's Itsukushima Shrine.

Hiroshima Confectionary Expo

Every four years Japan holds a Confectionary Exposition to display the talents and creativity of sweet makers from around Japan. It's the Olympics of edible art. We were quite lucky that the event was being held in Hiroshima and at a time that fell within our tour here.

Who am I kidding? I would have traveled anywhere to attend the event. I love sweets. And anyone who watches competition events on the Food Network would appreciate the fantastic art displayed.

We picked a beautiful day and traveled to Hiroshima. First thing on the list was lunch. We grabbed two sandwiches and were surprised to find they were filled with mashed potatoes! Panko-crusted mashed potato patties, cabbage, lettuce, a bit of onion, and wasabi mayonnaise. Quite delicious!

The event is huge and is broken into multiple themed areas. Instead of baking in the sun, huge buildings were erected that provided a guided tour of all the treats. First up was viewing items from all over Japan.  

Hokkaido - out of food

Holiday Themed

A little about the Confectionary Expo:

In 1911, the inaugural expo was held under the title of the 1st Imperial Confectionary and Candy Fair. This year marks the first time the expo has been held in Hiroshima since the festival’s fourth installment (then known as the National Confectionary and Candy Fair), which was held in 1921.
At the event, visitors can feast their eyes on the beautiful confectionary artworks of well-known sweets makers. In addition, select confectionaries from all over Japan will be put on display at exhibitions as well as sold at various places within the venue. Outstanding works and products are given recognition in the form of awards such as the Honorary President Award and the Prime Minister Award (specially indicated on the packaging). Source.

Gum is a sweet! Bottom right has 'Lightening' gum. In case you ever wanted to know what lightening tastes like. It's quite a shock.

Hiroshima Sweets Ladies & Mascots

Each region of Japan uses different ingredients to make sweets. Common themes were red beans, nuts, and sweet potatoes. Chocolate wasn't a big feature - which disappointed me a bit, although doesn't surprise me.

After looking at tasty treats from all over the country, we wanted to eat something sweet. There were no free samples unfortunately. We smelled waffles and followed our noses to a crepe stand. Yummy!

Okonomiyaki

One food we haven't tried since our first time is okonomiyaki. If you forgot, this is "Japanese pancake," although it is unlike any pancake I've ever had. First you start with a delicious crepe. Add in your choice of soba or udon noodles. We chose udon because we like the wheat noodles better. Next comes a huge serving of cabbage and onion, a few slices of pork, and a fried egg.

The cabbage wilts after a few minutes. Then, and this takes skill as we saw, they flip the crepe/egg sandwich over. Brush on the okonomiyaki sauce and add any special toppings and you're done.

We decided to split one because they are huge. We added green onions and garlic chips. The garlic chips were amazing! Chewy and crispy... and didn't bring up any bad memories.

For my Japanese friends, this wonderful little restaurant is at the end of Hondori Street. We shared the garlic/onion okonomiyaki and spent 680 yen. Not bad for some fantastic food.

Toshogu Shrine

A little further down the mountain from the Peace Pagoda and the Kinkinari Shrine is the Toshogu Shrine. Dustin and I have visited many shrines and temples in Japan, but this one had beautiful wood carvings in the building. What was really unique is that they have been painted.

A few weeks before Sakura Season

Kinkoinari Shrine

After hiking up to the Peace Pagoda, we followed a trail down the other side of the mountain to the Kinkoinari Shrine. It was a beautiful area.

 

Prayers given at the Kinkoinari Shrine is said to bring prosperity in business and harmony in the home.