Discover Tokushima, Japan – Eat, Travel, fun!

Tokushima, (徳島市) the capital city of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku island in Japan is out of tourist trail but this is a city I love to visit at Japan primarily because my best friend stays here and I fall in love with this charming city after my first visit 2 years ago. The city is accessible from Osaka by bus (3.5 hours).

On my recent trip to Japan, I visited Kyoto for 4 days and continue my trip to Tokushima from Kyoto. Kyoto Trip experience 

One of the reasons I love to visit Tokushima is because I love the experience of living in Japan. Their house exactly like the house I saw in Japanese manga, their toilet is amazing, the streets are clean and safe and service is great. Tokushima is not a busy city and you hardly see any tourist here.

Tokushima is famous for Awa Odori, Japan’s largest traditional dance festival. Awa Odori held annually during mid-August and the whole city becomes crowded with visitors from all around Japan. Another famous attraction at Tokushima is the powerful whirlpools off the coast of Naruto City, one of Japan’s most mesmerizing natural phenomenon.

A simple breakfast cooked at home. Eating out expensive and best option is to cook at home.

Many of the residents at Tokushima has their own farm. Tokushima also has a high number of “Eco-Farmers” – who practice environmentally friendly agriculture that employs fewer chemical fertilizers and other agrichemicals.

Our daily activity at Tokushima. Go out with the kids for fish catching and explore the surrounding areas. The kids can freely walk around the street as Japan has a very low crime rate.

Fresh air, blue sky, and green field. I will swap this for any other tourist places.

Nephila clavata, also known as the Joro Spider. This big and colorful spider can be seen everywhere in Japan and its part of the folklore which the spider which can change its appearance into that of a beautiful woman.

Paddy field at Tokushima.

A famous produce at Tokushima prefecture is  Naruto Kintoki. It is a popular kind of sweet potato produced in the area around Naruto City in Tokushima Prefecture. Yes, there is a city named Naruto at Tokushima prefecture in Japan.

Mount Mizan眉山

We drive up to Mount Mizan before the sunset to have a view of  Tokushima city, and on clear weather day you can see Awaji Island and Wakayama prefecture’s Kii Mountain Range. The drive up to Mount Mizan is easy with beautiful scenery along the route.

The best place to have a view of Tokushima City. There is also a diagram of various reference points on the viewing platform.

Another way to go up Mount Mizan is by the cable car which is known as Bizan Ropeway.

It’s a short cable car ride to the bottom of Mt. Bizan and well worth the trip. It’s great to learn about the many places of interest in the distance.

We start off with raw crunchy cabbage serve with sauce.

radish with seaweed and egg

kimchi are served too as an appetizer.

these grilled  yakitori are so delicious and juicy

Chicken karaage

Sunagimo (Chicken gizzard)

Chicken skin skewer. salted and crispy

Yakitori best drink with local Tokushima wine. These wine are made from the lime produce at Tokushima

Grab some pastries at the local bakery after the dinner. The pastries come with beautiful packaging as Japanese emphasize on gift and gift should look beautiful and presentatable.

Dorayaki, Doraemon’s favorite bun!

Skip our usual home breakfast and visit a coffee cafe at the city area.

Oba’sh cafe serve fresh bread and their wide variety of ham. A breakfast set cost around 1000 yen.

Oba’sh Cafe

〒770-0911 Tokushima Prefecture, Tokushima, 東船場町1丁目26

Hyotan-Jima Cruise

Part of Tokushima city is on an  island-like area which comprises the central Tokushima City in between the Shinmachi-gawa and Suketo-gawa Rivers is called “Hyotan-jima” or gourd-shaped island. Hyotan-Jima cruise provides a great option to see Tokushima city from the river.

The service run for 20 minutes. A good way to enjoy the breeze from the river while enjoying the view.

After the river cruise, we walk around the riverside and found a local fair. Bump into few mascot and can’t resist to take photos with them.

The biggest department store in Tokushima, Sogo is located near to Tokushima Bus Station.

Walk around the department store and delighted to see them having Hokkaido food fair on 6th floor. The sea procude was so fresh and huge. The promoter were generous with the tester and we got to sample all these delicious seafoods

For lunch, we head to a local ramen shop to try Tokushima style ramen. Tokushima style Ramen is the most popular style of Ramen on Shikoku Island, the smallest of the 4 main islands. It uses a combination tonkutsu-shoyu soup which is deep brown in colour. This ramen is served with a raw egg instead of an almost-cooked one and also baraniku, a kind of stewed pork rib.

Gyoza, a must side dish when eating ramen

Tokushima instant noodle and Tokushima coffee. Our souvenir from Tokushima from local convenience store.

Dinner time cooking. Introducing Malaysian chicken rice to my Japanese friend. Japanese rice is sticky and perfect for making rice balls. Its hard to get whole chicken at supermarket in Japan so we make chicken rice using chicken tight. They love the Chicken and the chicken rice so much.

Day 5: 

Start the day walking around the neighbourhood. There are few coffee cafes located around the area.

Drug Store: Charley, My favourite place in Tokushima as we can find a lot of cosmestic products here.

We get the bus tickets to Osaka Kansai Airport from the Tokushima Train station area few days before we leave.

Awa Odori sign can be seen everywhere around the city. Tokushima City’s Awa Odori is the most famous of many dance festivals held across Japan during the Obon season in mid August. Awa is the former name for Tokushima Prefecture while Odori means dance.

Take a drive to nearby town, Itano to visit my friends parents.

crossing Yoshino River

Japanese kids with their uniform and school bags. Got to know that their school bag cost more than RM3000!

丸池製麺所板西店 Udon Noodle Restaurant at Itano. This udon noodle restaurant located beside the main road and popular with the locals.

The udon maker making fresh udon noodle at the shop. The foundation for udon begins with three basic ingredients: wheat flour, water and salt. Udon is created through an elaborate process in which the wheat flour dough is mixed and then ages for two hours. The dough is then allowed to rest overnight and used the next day.

After a night of kneading and rising, the dough is formed into a sheet and passed through a noodle-cutting machine that slices the dough into thick strands of udon which is always cooked to order. After the noodles are allowed to boil to an aldente texture, they are plunged into chilled water and then hand rolled onto a wooden rack.

Delicious udon noodle served at this little Udon noodle Restaurant. The broth is clear with aldente texture noodle.

My friend asked if we experienced earthquake before and  they suggest we take a visit to Tokushima Disaster Prevention center to experience the “real” earthquake. The center is open for public and provide guided tour around the center with explaination in Japanese language.

First time “experience” richter scale 8.0 earthquake. We were told what to do during and after an earthquake

Typhoon simulation, one of the many disaster simulation at the Disaster prevention center.

Walk around the pessimons farm around the parents house before the dinner. They grow pessimons organically. My first time seeing pessimons on trees.

My Japanese “Papa”. He cooked us so many delicious foods when we visit him. Thanks to them, I in love with Tokushima and will always remember this beautiful city.