Surf and Turf: Hyogo's Gourmet Food and Industry

• Table of Contents
• Akashiura Fish Market
• Haku Shika Sake Brewery
• Kineya Wagashi and Kissaten
• The Kobe Beef Gallery
• Further Afield
• Staying in Hyogo

Akashiura Fish Market

The fishing town of Akashiura borders the Setouchi Inland Sea, a calm oasis full of sea creatures that thrive in its unique environment. Hyogo, one of the relatively large prefectures in Japan, is unique in that it reaches across the archipelago, touching the Sea of Japan to the Northwest and the Setouchi Inland Sea to the Southeast. It is the only prefecture with a direct source of fish from both coasts.

Akashiura is home to not one, but five fish markets. Ours, however, is the only one open daily.
The Akashiura fishing collective is divided into working groups based on the type of boat they have and the fishing they do. Trawlers go to market one day, line fishing ships the next, and so on.

The fishermen (and women! Akashiura’s fish market has the highest number of women working in the country) still have regular auctions not because they have to, it’s explained, but to keep up the community bonds that have put their town on the map.

Hyogo prefecture used to be a prime source of ikanago a Setouchi delicacy similar to jakko or dried shirasu, all tiny fish eaten with rice. However, in 2024, Hyogo only had only one day  of ikanago fishing, and the neighboring prefectures were unable to catch any. Well aware of the crisis Japan’s fishing industry is undergoing, Hyogo prefecture is making efforts at a grassroots level to reinvigorate the seas themselves first.

While we watch the auctioneer rapid-fire plastic buckets with writhing hamo and barely stiff sawara, they are explaining efforts to create a 'fertile sea' by conducting seabed tilling and dredging, which release nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus into the ocean.
In the towns, efforts are made to reduce the flow of wastewater into these same basins, gradually improving the nutrient levels and water quality as a whole.

The market itself pumps fresh seawater through its holding tanks 24 hours a day, keeping each catch kicking until the very last moment. Many make it to the auction block still very much alive – just the way top sushi chefs expect. Bidders and auction staff share a special code that varies based on the nameless entities behind them.

The people standing in knee-deep water and scribbling furiously between cryptic hand signs look ordinary and blue-collar, but many are backed by powerful restaurant groups or impossible to reserve sushi-ya. That said, a scrappy local is just as welcome to place their bid and take home some of Akashiura’s nautical treasure.

Haku Shika Sake Brewery

Our trip jumped from one wet and wonderful example of Hyogo’s rich agricultural industry to another. This time, however, with the goal of wetting our whistles.

Haku Shika Sake Brewery is just one of the sake breweries in Nada Gogo and one of many scattered throughout Hyogo prefecture. Hyogo, thanks to its water sources, agrarian history, and sheer size, produces the most – and some of the best sake in Japan.

The Rokko mountain range ensures that Hyogo’s breweries always have cold, strong winds in the winter. While it’s not so pleasant for the workers, this climate has inspired a particular east-to-west architectural orientation for the breweries that keeps sake cold as it ferments, discouraging any interruption from unwanted microbial guests. The Rokko Oroshi, as its called, is just one of the mountains’ helpful traits.

Despite being a small area, Nishinomiya-go, one of the Nada Gogo regions, is home to 10 different sake breweries, including Haku Shika
This area serves as the meeting point for three underground streams that flow from the Rokko range. One of these features particularly high aeration, while the other two contain a mineral mix that is high in magnesium and phosphorous while being low in iron –ideal for sake brewing. The discovery of this “Miyamizu” in the mid 1800’s marked a turning point for Nada.

The long history of sake in Hyogo has even led to the breeding of its own sake rice, Yamada Nishiki, which features large grains and tall stalks. The difficulty, our guide explains with palpable excitement, is that the tradeoff for producing grains with a thick husk (meaning that even when polished to a high degree, it retains its flavor) is the long, bending stalks, which threaten to germinate early. The Haku Shika team’s passion is infectious, so its not difficult to see how their brand has been instrumental to the expansion of Hyogo’s sake culture.

This interactive museum, rebuilt after the Hanshin earthquake, still has that “new building” smell. Detailed models of live-in workers' quarters, full-scale replicas, and genuine article tools guide visitors through the whole brewing process in life-size. Our guide points out eye-brow raising facts, such as the fact that most brewery tools are made of only three types of wood (including bamboo) and that a shocking number are named after animals.

Each information panel is pristinely free of fingerprints or clunky English, and the try-it-yourself immersion makes it easy to get invested in the manpower behind the sake. Of the many history museums I’ve visited as a travel journalist, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with so much attention to detail.

The sake museum is nice. It's professional. It’s obviously made by people who care deeply about sake and spared no expense to introduce it to us in the most engaging way. On top of that, the genuinely fun experience is made even better by our Haku Shika sake sampling at the end.

Shiruka Memorial Sake Brewing Museum

8-21 Kurakakecho, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture 662-0926

The Shiruka Memorial Sake Brewing Museum is a museum registered in Hyogo Prefecture that focuses on sake, located in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo...

Kineya Wagashi and Kissaten

Our wagashi sherpa for today is Naito Kouichi, a fatherly man who has been making feminine treats for over 30 years. His position is a memory made flesh, and watching those masculine but deft hands roll a pearl of bean paste into a translucent flower petal makes his story of the tea-master samurai all the more real. His class is full of wit, including riddles about the names of the wagashi and in-depth explanations that reveal the secrets of his magic techniques.

Located in Himeji, near Himeji castle, Kineya operates a nostalgic western kissaten on the ground floor while hosting private wagashi making classes on the second. This business is a family effort. Husband Kouichi, wife, and son all pitch in between making the traditional Japanese sweets and serving guests at their warmly retro eat-in space. I can’t help but wish we were here to enjoy a piece of almond toast and a story about the development of Hyogo’s coffee culture, but that’s for another trip.

Today, we have Kouichi’s full attention and he has ours. Unlike many of the tea-ceremony classes I’ve taken part in, he doesn’t skim the surface with basics and then let us out into the world. His impressive poster details the quintessential shapes of seasonal wagashi overlayed on a darkened image of Himeji castle. Our group will be learning to make 3 fall-themed nerikiri, all with colored white bean paste on the outside and smooth red bean paste inside. He explains the names and ingredients of each, how they’re colored, and how each tool is used in passionate detail.

Throughout the class, the story of Himeji’s wagashi culture comes to the surface, just like the hints of purple that push through translucent white to create an impossibly stunning candy gradient.

In the feudal era, private, tiny tea rooms were the perfect place to discuss strategy and host masculine, serious conversations. Samurai pit their wits against eachother and used the space as an aesthetic battleground. Samurai had to leave their weapons outside, rendering them immediately peace-seeking, and it was believed that the discipline and focus required to carry out a sado ceremony, wagashi included, would somehow deepen the warriors’ bushido sensibilities.

Sakai Tadazane, the feudal lord of Himeji at the time, was known as the “Sado Daimyo” for his particular fondness of tea ceremony. Just north, his friend and mentor Matsudaira Fumai shared this passion, creating a flow of ideas and culture between the areas. A drive to copy the ruling class while supplying royal households with their desired tea supplies that led to an affinity within Himeji for wagashi, green tea, and the arts.

Although Kouichi explains that nearly every castle town has some kind of wagashi culture, Himeji’s is particularly strong. It used to be that to learn to make wagashi, one had to apprentice for years. For those who aren’t so keep on crushing beans for five years before moving on, his class is the perfect shortcut.

The Kobe Beef Gallery

It’s nearly impossible to come to Kobe without running into the Kobe Beef Gallery. This is because the museum-cum-restaurant is one of the first things visitors see when they leave the train station. It’s conveniently next to the Botanical Herb Garden, in case anyone was thinking of studying the ideal seasoning for their exactingly produced beef.

The Kobe Beef Kan -- “Gallery” – occupies about 40sqm of informational displays with a full wall dedicated to projecting a video all about Kobe beef. In the doorway, a glass display with printed acrylic cubes shows off the marbling standard for each grade of beef. For people who have ever wondered what A5 grade wagyu actually means, this is the place to find out.

The Kobe Beef Gallery takes visitors on a brief journey through the development of Kobe beef. According to the Hyogo Prefecture Kobe Beef Promotion Council, the Tajima cattle, which have been historically bred from only the prefectural breed bulls of Hyogo Prefecture, are the foundation stock. Cattle that are raised by registered producers within the council, from breeding to shipment as beef cattle to the local meat processing centers, are classified as Tajima beef. Among these, only those that meet certain criteria are certified as 'Kobe Beef.'

Due to strict breeding standards and limited population, only certified vendors can offer Kobe beef. Each one of them is listed by name and country at the Kobe Beef Gallery, which is more exciting than it sounds. We pretty quickly identified my company’s name on the list, I’m glad to say.

While there is a little counter set up right inside the Kobe Beef Gallery to try a bite or two, our group ventured off to one of the most well-known teppanyaki steakhouses in Kobe.

For anyone that has visited a Kobe steakhouse overseas, one look at Mouriya will reveal the very obvious inspiration for its namesake. Mouriya has been serving up Kobe beef for over 140 years, and has several locations throughout the main streets of Kobe’s foodie-centric downtown. In much the same way as the Kobe of foreign lands, MOURIYA in Kobe features a large dining room divided by individual teppan grills, behind which is a practiced chef. In the surrounding seats, the clientele is comfortingly international.

If I were to bring my dad here, I’d have no qualms in telling him this was the real deal, though MOURIYA’s menu and serving style keeps to the quality over quantity of Japanese dining. Each seasonal vegetable is presented with its source, while our Kobe beef is elegantly arranged on a wooden platter. We’ve ordered a lean cut that’s popular with foreigners, but admittedly doesn’t look the way I expect a Kobe beef steak to. However, this flavorful cut is certainly easier on the stomach. Served with rice or bread, a delicious bouillon soup, and refreshing salad, it’s easy to trace the ways that Hyogo’s producers have played a role in making Kobe a gourmet city.

Further Afield

Between the streetside bites of akashiyaki ( similar to takoyaki but dipped in a local dashi broth and far more eggy), sparkling-water-senbei from Arima,  morning buffets with addictive local curry I can’t pass up (even at 7am), and all the other products introduced here, I can say we certainly got our fill, but there’s still more to see.

While venturing across Hyogo prefecture, we encountered people and places that have played a part in making the region a gourmet utopia. To indulge in all that this area has to offer, we proved that visitors owe it to themselves to go beyond Kobe.

As part of the Expo going on in Osaka in 2025, Hyogo has developed a “Field Pavillion”, that invites visitors to literally head out into the field to get a taste for the prefecture’s local culture. While we experienced an amazing number of delicious thing –from feudal era wagashi culture and sake to the modern wonder of Kobe beef and fishing ports that form the backbone of a community– there’s still more out there to be explored. Maybe it’ll be you who discovers the secrets of Awajishima onions or Tamba chestnuts, but dont be afraid to let the Field Pavillion show you the way.

Staying in Hyogo

During our trip, we enjoyed a picturesque evening in the countryside and a shimmering night overlooking Kobe Port. Our first stay, which generated a collective gasp upon entry, was at Yumenoi, a rustic onsen hotel that overlooks the forests and fields of Himeji. 

The outdoor onsen bath, kaiseki dinner, and absolutely stunning grounds were all worth mentioning. Hyogo has a powerful appeal for visitors who are fans of the retro and the classical, and Yumenoi is no different. I enjoyed a little stroll in the garden in the morning while sipping my tea, a perfect way to start the day.

Yumenoi

187 Maenosho, Yumesakicho, Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture 671-2103

Our second venue was the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel, where we stayed up late chatting on balconies and sipping drinks from the rooftop bar. A parade of oohs and aahs about the view of the port, Ferris wheel, and generally stunning scenery made up the bulk of the conversation.

The ground floor of the Meriken Port Hotel is extravagant, with a startlingly high-quality free coffee and wine service at check-in. This hotel has one of the most impressive breakfast buffets I’ve enjoyed in Japan, and though I hate to admit it, the morning curry and hamburgers were fantastic.

Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel

650-0042 5-6 Hatoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture

A resort hotel surrounded 270 degrees by the sea. All guest rooms have an open terrace where you can enjoy a panoramic view of the sparkling...

Whether you consider yourself more of a city mouse or a country mouse, I think either of these would be a memorable option while staying in Hyogo prefecture!