Roadside Station Nishiki

Nishiki Town, home of swordsmen and fruits
Handmade side dishes and bento boxes are the best!

Nishiki Town is known as the "Village of Swordsmen and Fruits," and fruit production is thriving. Peaches, pears, melons, and strawberries line the produce stands. A popular attraction is the adjacent Slow Life Studio "Yukiso. Local housewives prepare dishes and boxed lunches using seasonal vegetables, all of which are delicious. All are delicious and reasonably priced at around 500 yen. Shopping for rare vegetables is also enjoyable. The adjacent Nishiki Kurando Park has playground equipment and a lawn area, where many parents and children spread out their lunch boxes. The restrooms in the style of samurai residences, honoring Marume Kurando, who spent the last years of his life in Nishiki, are also unique. A parking lot on the premises provides an area for overnight stays in cars.

Roadside Station Nishiki Map

Roadside Station Nishiki Gourmet Information

Local produce: peaches

Nishiki Town is known for its fruits. Strawberries, peaches, melons, watermelons, chestnuts. Grapes, pears, and kiwis bear fruit every season. Peaches, in particular, are one of Kumamoto Prefecture's largest production, and are sold at station kiosks from mid-June to August, with the variety changing from season to season. In the first half of the season, "Hakuho" peaches are fragrant and elegantly sweet, and in the second half, "Hakuto" peaches are large, firm, sweet, and long-lasting. There is a wide variety of varieties, including "Odoroki," "Hayayome," and "Nichikawa Hakuho" of the Hakuho type, "Natsukko" of the Hakuto type, and "Tsukiakari" with yellow skin and flesh. A "taste comparison" set combining different varieties is also available. Prices are at market value.

Buy this: Pig's Feet

The popularity of pig's feet has been rapidly increasing in the past few years around Nishiki Town in the Hitoyoshi/Kuma region. Three companies ship their pig's feet to Michi-no-Eki Nishiki, competing with each other in terms of seasoning. The right photo shows "grilled pork leg with secret sauce" (390 yen), sold frozen, from "Ichibusa Shokudo," a long-established local Korean restaurant. It is seasoned in a spicy Korean style with soy sauce, miso, garlic, and chili peppers. In the center is a pork leg (650 yen) from Fugetsu, a restaurant also near the station. The vending machine sales have increased awareness of the restaurant, and it has become a hometown gift for the town. The pork leg is grilled to perfection and served with homemade ponzu-style sauce. On the left is a pork leg (500-650 yen *depending on the quantity) from Murakami Seiten, a butcher store specializing in gibier in the neighboring town of Taraki. These are steamed for two hours and stewed for two hours to give them a rich flavor. Murakami butcher also offers "deep-fried pig's feet" and "basil pig's feet" at the roadside station on a daily basis. Try the one you like best. Tax included.

The best place to eat Nishiki Pudding

The pudding is made with eggs from chickens raised at the local prefectural Nangyo High School, "Kasu Egg" from an egg farmer in Ebino City, Miyazaki Prefecture, fresh cream from Kagoshima Prefecture, and unadjusted milk from Kuma Dairy Farm. The pudding is made into a melt-in-your-mouth pudding with exquisite timing of the making process, and its catchphrase is "pudding that melts in two seconds. The manufacturer is "Hana Gokoro" and it is sold as "Hitoyoshi Pudding" at Michi no Eki Hitoyoshi. The slightly bitter caramel is a perfect match.

Around Roadside Station Nishiki

Shiki, a naval town in the mountains Secret Base Museum

If you want to have fun in the area

There used to be a naval air base in Nishiki Town in the Hitoyoshi Basin, far from the sea. It was built by the Navy in November 1943 and spanned Nishiki Town and the neighboring village of Sagara. After the war, even its existence was forgotten, but recent research has revealed that the bunker was a large-scale underground military facility. This facility was built on the site of that bunker. Upon entering the museum, visitors are greeted by a life-size replica of a Type 93 intermediate training plane for suicide attack training, known as the "Red Dragonfly. At the end of the war, there were 96 of these aircraft left at Hitoyoshi Naval Base. Part of the underground torpedo adjustment area, the underground operation room/radio room, and the underground barracks bunker are open to the public. The Basic Plan (30 minutes) includes the museum and the underground torpedo control area, the Standard Plan (90 minutes) includes the museum and three underground dugouts, and the Premium Plan (150 minutes) includes the remains of the government housing area. Both plans are guided by a full-time guide.

Shingu Zenji Temple and the Six Avalokitesvara Bodhisattvas

If you want to have fun in the area

Shingu Zenji Temple is the 32nd temple of the Sagara 33 Kannon. Six statues of the Kannon (Goddess of Mercy), created over a 53-year period from 1577 to 1630, are enshrined in the Kannon Hall on the temple grounds. Designated as an important cultural property by the town, the shrine is visited by many pilgrims from within and outside of the prefecture on the days when the statues are simultaneously opened in spring and fall. It is also one of the best spots in the prefecture for viewing the autumn foliage, which is lit up at night. The temple also offers yoga lessons on the first, second, and fourth Friday nights and the third Saturday night, and free zazen meditation sessions on the third Saturday in the early morning and afternoon.