Would you try it? 😉
When we think about Japan –the top places that come mind would be Tokyo – where they have fun and vibrant festivals, like this Kanamara matsuri held every April. Another popular city is Nara with adorable free-roaming deer that will bow to you when you feed them, and of course traditional Kyoto with beautiful shrines, and you can even dress up as a Geisha.
Those are places I mentioned are great, but that doesn’t mean other cities in Japan are any less worthwhile visiting. Today I want take you to a less mainstream city that is just one hour away from Tokyo.
Chiba is the homeland of Narita International Airport, and the area is easily accessible by train. Today I will be showing you Omotesando Street in Narita. It is just 8 minutes walk from the station lined with gorgeous buildings.
Chiba is famous for Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea – but it is also Japan’s biggest producer of peanuts, and thus developed many peanut based recipes including peanut ice cream.
Our first stop is this bakery “Panchaya”, their famous peanut cream buns.
Just outside the shop is one of the many animal statues of the street representing the Asian zodiac, and the little turtle which symbolises longevity is right outside the bakery. Tengu👺 are demi-gods, and also often used as a decoration to frighten away bad spirits and bring good luck.
hey have quite an extensive menu here. Besides from the peanut cream bun, you can also get traditional red bean paste buns or strawberry jam and butter bun. The shop has such a welcoming homey feel to it.Besides from their wonderful buns, you can also order their lunch set here – which is amazing. Chiba peanuts have the highest quality in the nation due to the fine quality of the soil which is ideal for growing peanuts. This shop also specializes in unagi pan – eel buns!
Naritasan Omotesando. The street lasts about 800m in front of Narita Station and goes all the way back to the Edo Era. The street is filled with traditional shops, eateries and crafters.
Chiba Prefecture is Japan’s largest soy sauce producing area, the largest and second-largest producers, as well as Chiba Soy Sauce, are all based here. They have right climate for this so really good quality products can be made. You can also book a tour at the Kikkoman Soy Sauce Museum which is located inside it’s factory near Nodashi Station. There you can learn about the history of soy sauce, the production process, as well as do the factory tour. It smells really good.
The Soy Sauce ice cream is creamy and smooth. It tasted like soy sauce and cream cheese – not bad at all. I would recommend you to try it, it is really fun! The shop also sells yaki dango – which is basically glutinous rice balls on a skewer. They have 4 very traditional flavors.
Further down the road is a special sake place with a long history called Takizawa Honten Sake Brewery. But before we reach it, please stop by Fujikura Shoten. They have such lovely crafter windchimes.
Since the Edo period, Naritasan has been a sacred place. Takizawa had a dream where the Budda told him to start a brewery here and make sake. So this store was opened and sake was brewed using high-quality rice from the local area. The most famous brand is “Chomeisen” (meaning Spring of Longevity), the water used to make the sake was drawn from a well with the reputation that it cured illnesses and extended life.
The shops close around 5pm. I’m heading to Aeon now to do abit more walking around, Aeon stays open until around 10pm. They have supermarket, food shops, Daiso and a game arcade inside! The best is the Ultraman shirt I found there – really love it!
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