3 of the meibutsu here include shochu, ashitaba and kusaya fish.
We stopped at the kusaya shop where they dunk fish in vats of fish guts before drying. All very smelly and sort of not anywhere near being on my own personal ‘things-to-eat’ list, but surprisingly not so fishy tasting and reasonably edible. Would make great otsumami for beer or the island shochu…and if you’re the homyu-eatin’ type, this stuff would likely be a treat.
Ashitaba (Angelica Keiskei Koidzumi) is a fast-growing leafy green plant that they’ve been eating and otherwise using medicinally in asia for about the past 2000 years. It’s a superfood in terms of its nutritive and anti-oxidant properties. It has 11 vitamins and 13 minerals and also contains clorophyll, carotene, germanium, saponins, proteins, enzymes, fiber, glyocsodes, coumarins and chalcone flavonoids. I hear it’s the chalcones that really make it special.
It’s quite popular here and reasonably tasty when cooked into things (especially as tempura, though there’s not a lot of substance to it as tempura). Raw it’s a bit on the bitter side. We had ashitaba udon and tempura before heading to a lovely onsen with a small but elegant rotenburo overlooking the ocean.
We’re staying at the Hachijo Island Park Hotel where you can see folks in the Getsuyoukai practicing Hachijo Taiko on Monday and Thursday evenings (beginners).
The style of drumming as practiced here by the Hozonkai members is very…upbeat…and of course beautiful and powerful and all of that, but also lyrical and touching…and intimate. I like it a lot…especially the ease or perhaps lightheardedness of it all.
The ferry ride was a bit long and rough but was reasonably priced at about 7400yen for the 11:00:00 trip.  It stops at Miyake and Mikura, too, and Mikura is a lovely little island to be ferrying past on a crisp, chill morning. There are 4 flights in and out every day…one just took off, in fact. The flights are very hard to miss.
There’s surfing and diving here, but no real beaches to speak of…which is sort of a shame because the water is generally kept warm and comfortable by the kuroshio current and it sure would be nice to head down to a beach and spend a day. Likely it would be a much more popular vacation destination if it had nice beaches. On the other hand, maybe it’s a good thing there aren’t more beaches.
I hear the summers are hot and humid, but right now the temperature is very comfortable, though I suppose some would say it was a bit on the warm side.Â
The island is not more than the tips of 2 stratovolcanoes sticking up out of the water with a tiny bit of land around them, one being a composite cone with a likeness to Mt. Fuji, and both being dormant long enough so to be more or less extinct.
Oh. I didn’t know, but the Miyake islanders were able to move back home as of Feb, 2005.  You’re supposed to buy a gas mask before you go to Miyake, as the volcano there is still venting gasses off and on.
Another lesson for us this afternoon and an uchiage/farewell party tonight. A bit of fun left before heading home.