Food & Souvenirs

Matsuba Crab

Matsuba crab is the name given to adult-grown male snow crabs. This is the leading taste of winter in San’in because you can enjoy their tightly packed bodies and elegant flavor. The body of these crabs has firm consistency and offers exceptional substantiality whether boiled or grilled!

Shabu-Shabu

This is a Japanese hot pot dish. You dip thinly cut meat in a boiling broth to heat it up. You then dip this in sauce to eat together with other ingredients (e.g. vegetables, tofu and kudzu starch noodles). The susugi-nabe from Takumi Kappoten in Tottori City is said to be the roots of this shabu-shabu dish.

Watermelon

Tottori Prefecture is among the top producers of watermelons in Japan. In particular, watermelons cultivated in the black soil and sandy soil that extends out at the foot of Mt. Daisen are grown large with plenty of sweetness and have won a reputation for their sense of crunchiness.

Izumo Soba Noodles

This is one of the three major soba noodle dishes in Japan. The noodles are blackish, springy and aromatic because the buckwheat seed is grinded with the skin on. This has excellent nutritional value. You can choose your preferred way to eat these noodles. For example, there is warigo soba noodles, which is eaten with the condiments and soup stock entwined together, and kamage soba noodles, which is eaten in the soba noodle water used to boil the soba noodles.

Shijimi (Basket Clam)

Lake Shinji in the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture is a brackish lake in which fresh water and sea water is mixed together. This is the area that produces the most shijimi in Japan. The shijimi produced in Lake Shinji have a rich taste and also go well in miso soup. These shijimi also have health and beauty benefits.

Nodoguro (Blackthroat Seaperch)

Season: August to January

Nodoguro has become famous overnight as the favorite food of the tennis player Kei Nishikori from Shimane Prefecture. The official name of nodoguro is akamutsu. This is a fish characterized by the blackness inside its mouth. It is also called shiromi no toro (fatty cut of white fish) and maboroshi no kokyugyo (phantom luxury fish). This is because it has plenty of fat despite being a white fish and because of its elegant, rich sweetness.

Nijisseiki Pear

Season: September

Nijisseiki pears are the leading fruit of Tottori. They are characterized by their pale yellow-green skin that seems to be almost transparent, the refreshingly sweet juice that gushes out when you bite into them and their crisp texture.

Taki Fig

Season: August to October

The figs from Taki Town in Uzumo City, Shimane Prefecture are a rare variety mostly produced only in western Japan called “horaishi.” These figs have a high sugar content with a refined, elegant taste.

Japanese Confectionary

Season: All year

The castle town of Matsue is called one of the three best spots for confectionary in Japan together with Kyoto and Kanazawa. In addition to tasting great, they all look very beautiful. You will struggle to choose which one you want to eat. Please make sure to enjoy these elegant tasting Japanese confectionaries.

Rakkyo (Japanese Leek)

Season: All year

Tottori is one of the leading areas for the production of rakkyo. The rakkyo fields around Tottori Sand Dunes in October are also called “sand dunes of lavender” because the whole area blooms in a profusion of these purple flowers. Rakkyo is characterized by its white body and crisp texture.

Coffee

Season: All year

This is a souvenir unique to Tottori Prefecture where coffee is a hot topic of conversation. For example, Tottori City spends more on coffee than anywhere else in Japan. You can enjoy drip coffee specially packaged in collaboration with Detective Conan and sunaba (sand pit) coffee that brings together Tottori Sand Dunes and Starbucks.

Daisen G Beer

Season: All year

This is a local beer produced with a commitment to using the best raw ingredients. These include natural water from the famous Mt. Daisen that has been selected as one of the hundred best mineral waters in Japan, and barley and hops produced in Mt. Daisen. Daisen G Beer has also been ranked as best in the world at the World Beer Awards (WBA).

Wine

Season: All year

Shimane Prefecture is also known as a grape/wine region. Taisha Town ships more high-quality Delaware than anywhere else in the country and Oku-Izumo Vineyard is highly rated at Japanese-produced wine competitions. Make sure to buy some local wine that takes advantage of the fine quality grapes here as a souvenir.

Dojosukui Manju (Steamed Bun)

Season: All year

This is an established confection characterized by its humorous design modeled on a hyottokomen of a dojosukui (a comical face mask of a Japanese folk performance) dancing to the yasugi-bushi – one of Japan’s three major folk songs. You can enjoy this confection in five flavors: white bean jam, chocolate, matcha (green tea), strawberry and nashi (Japanese pear).