鞆の浦 ( Tomo no ura )

If you're into Miyazaki Hayao's (宮崎駿) animations, I guess you might have watched his "崖の上のポニョ" (Ponyo on the cliff). Miyazaki Hayao got his inspiration for the film during his sojourn in Tomo no ura.

The view from Taichoro.対潮楼(福禅寺)

Tomo no ura is located at Fukuyama city ( 福山市).

The Homeishu (保命酒)，from the name obviously you would know that this is an alcoholic drink which can protect your life...haha..Sounds amusing. Homeishu is the famous product here in Tomo no ura and it tastes pretty good, mellow I would say.

Nunakuma Shrine (沼名前神社）

Old light House (常夜塔)

Uwo no Sato (うをの里）,where we were heading to make the traditional fish cake.

They call it as Tai Chikuwa ,which is tube-shaped fish-paste cake.

Technically, we have to chop the sea bream and make it into fish paste then mixing with flour and seasoning... and put it in shape with the bamboo tube. And grill it. Haha..but practically, we just had to put the fish paste in shape around the tube, that's all !

Before proceeding to putting the fish paste in shape, there's a important procedure to follow. We washed our hands and then dipped our hands into the wood bucket with cold water inside, which lowers the temperature of our hands so that it won't stick with the fish paste.

Oh see, that's mine!

And, this tour was sponsored by Hiroshima International Center, and opened for the foreigner in Japan, we just paid 500 yen for the whole trip.There were english , chinese and japanese speaking tour guides to bring you around and explaining the history of the city.