Not much happening on our final 2 days here. We only wanted to go swim in the coral lagoon and walk.
Covers on Kikaijima. Fish, corals, seaweeds etc.
Every single day on Amami island and here, 24/7, you'll hear this super loud, skull-piercing racket. O.M.G.! Once your brain gets used to the noise it ignores it. Their lifespan is the length of summer. Finally, saw one cicada in the open where I could easily make a photo of it. If somebody has never seen one... it's huge.
Fun with macro photos of some tiny, teeny corals at the beach.
Then I dropped a pinch of sand on the "craters". The grains of sand are barely visible and now in super macro mode you can actually see individual grains.
All the tourist attractions on this island: Sugarcane road (only sugarcane fields in this area), huge banyan tree, butterflies, and flora. There are butterfly colonies in the woods at highest elevations.
Found a good photo online taken using a drone. This is the natural coral lagoon we came to swim every day. Kikaijima is a 100% coral island. The second fastest growing. The "fastest" is somewhere in the Bahamas.
Typical citrus tree common in people's gardens. Thick-skinned and green.
In Japan you put household waste in this cage to be collected (on a certain day of the week). No tall containers with wheels. Japan has strict and complicated rubbish disposal rules. If you don't separate your rubbish correctly it won't be collected and you might be fined. Has to be in (semi) transparent bags (rubbish collectors and your neighbours should be able to see the contents!).
Sooner or later we had to hit the supermarket for beer and new snacks. Fried chicken wing flavour and "4 cheeses". Can't you really taste Gouda, Cheddar, mozzarella and Camembert at the same time, though.
"Fried chicken" and Takoyaki (octopus balls)
Interesting that on this small island far away Mutti tomotoes cost so little ($0.87), at home it's $2.70.
Suggestions for eggs. But in the photos they are fried and topped various bowls.
Snacks at the beach (brought with us). No taste of spicy roe.
The mochi on skewers were a mistake. I finally got over texture of mochi but it's the small balls like these trigger my sensitive gag reflex and bring back childhood trauma. The small balls have no filling, just pure dough. The partner ate all of it, I ate the big balls with bean paste filling.
And breakfast earlier today. I wanted to try the hotel's "Western breakfast", the partner said I would regret it.
Back to Japanese breakfast again tomorrow.
Partner's breakfast. I like to make photos of the side dishes. They are quite fascinating. There are established standard side dishes and there are ones that you only see/eat if staying at a private guesthouse. (Home)cooks combine any ingredients and flavours they find tasty. FYI, there are small shops that sell only side dishes. Supermarkets have a big section for just side dishes and condiments with which to eat alongside.
Dinner at a restaurant just a few minutes on foot from the hotel. Had to check and check again on 2 maps to make sure it's the right place. Looks like a house in this residential neighbourhood. Well, it is a house that's also a restaurant.
We had a reservation and were the first to arrive. Lone diners and pairs sit at the long counter.
2 straw mat rooms for families or groups.
Directly in front of me. Behind the curtains is the kitchen.
Some type of big shellfish. Very good and meaty.
Big clam sashimi. after 3 days it's clear this clam sashimi is typical on Kikaijima, whereas on Amami it's strawberry conch.
People usually order both big clam and assorted sashimi so they serve it on the same plate. The big clam shell makes even middle-aged males pull out their phones and snap some photos.
Besides fresh (shell)fish, Kikaijima also has a goat cuisine. This restaurant is one of the few that are goat sashimi specialists. Islanders go to a specialist they trust. This restaurant is popular with locals and tourists alike, in high season it's harder to get a seat but in October it's quiet again. Anyway, first time goat sashimi for us. As sashimi it's always sliced from frozen.. All the tourists order the big clam sashimi and this goat plate.
We actually ordered 2 plates.
The daughter of the owners showed us the "island cuisine" section on the menu. Our phone translated one of the items called "mountain yam somen". When it came out we looked at the bowl in silence, thinking wow, nice, and where's the yam or somen? The "somen" was the shredded yam. They must have a very good mandoline to shred the yam so perfectly and finely. This yam is notoriously slimy.
A simple dish beautifully presented. Daughter behind the counter told us the broth is dashi. We absolutely loved this dish.
Rolled omelette in dashi. Another nice one. So fluffy and moist. No wonder Japanese food taste good to me, I think it comes down to dashi (and bonito flakes) and seaweed. In many cuisines, before you start cooking anything you slice/fry onions (and garlic, too). Here you probably get the dashi prepared/ready and then whatever else comes next.
Amami-style somen. It's different at every restaurant. I may also contain more vegetables and/or tiny dried fish. The somen is nicely al dente. Half submerged in liquid that's dashi again. This restaurant makes exquisite dashi. Btw, every dish comes with its specific dipping sauce or condiment and they insist that you use which sauce for which dish. The counter was soon full of small dishes of sauces.
When we were not eating we answered questions or asked questions. It's easy to them to speak into their phones and get instant English translation. They said something into the phone and then showed the translation to us. Only possible when online, though. We had to type using a translation app. The restaurant phone rang constantly. It's a popular restaurant. Daughter and mother run front of the house, father is the cook. He came out to say hi to us and bowed. Lots of smiling and more bowing on our way out. Kikaijima is small and has only a few restaurants. We picked a good one. What a nice experience this was.
Thank you for not having a tipping system.
Many businesses still have these landline coin operated phones. Maybe some people still use them. They take up space and everyone has a cell phone nowadays.
Still can't forget the yamaimo/mountain yam "somen" dish!
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Liuzhou, thanks!
There's another type of stilt house on these islands. I shall get to that very soon.
Also thanks to OkanaganCook and LindaG.
The bikes are old and wobbly. We tried to change the speed when going up or down but they made some bad sound so we didn't touch it again.
Have never used good bikes on Japanese islands. Ones on Okinawan islands were even worse.
I have been to "only" a little more than 40 countries (some multiple times). Most European countries no longer give me visa stamps. Japan issues a beautiful visa sticker with Mt. Fuji on it.
