Regional Cuisine of Amami Oshima

Amami Ōshima is an island belonging to the Amami group in the Pacific Ocean close to the Okinawan islands. It is part of the Japanese prefecture Kagoshima and can be easily reached by airplane or ferry. From Tokyo it takes around 2 ½ h or from Osaka 1 ½ h by plane. Due to its southern location, the island has a humid subtropical climate with very hot summers and mild winters.

Since Amami Oshima is an island, the main focus of the local cuisine is on fish and seafood. But you will also find a lot popular dishes with chicken, pig or goat.
Let´s take a look at some of the most popular dishes from the island:

Keihan
Keihan just means chicken rice and is the most popular dish at the island. The main ingredients are chicken broth, rice, chicken slices, mushroom slices, sliced egg, green onions and ginger. Depending on the restaurants the ingredients can be a little bit different, but it is always served with rice in a chicken soup and of course with chicken.

You can find restaurants, which are serving that dish mostly everywhere around the island. It is still very popular by the island residents. Keihan is very healthy and light, that´s why it is perfect for the very hot humid summers on the island.


Goat soup
Another specialty of the island is goat soup. Not easy to find, as the production of goat meat on the island is declining, but especially in larger cities like Naze or Amami City, it is no problem to find this delicacy. The soup contains fresh vegetable and sliced goat meat. The goat meat has a very strong taste, that´s why it might be nothing for everyone.


Bluefin tuna
The Serouchi Town, southern part of the island, is popular for its huge Bluefin tuna farming. The Bluefin tuna sashimi is very popular at the island and a must try! It is really very delicious.


Giant lobster
Of course there are many kinds of delicious shells and other seafood, you can find on the menu in Amami, but the giant lobster is really great. I´ve never seen before such a huge lobster. The white grilled soft meat is really melting on the tongue.


Grain Miso
Gain Miso often mixed with a wide variation of ingredients like fish, pork and vegetable is very typical side dish for a dinner on the island. Perfect with a bowl of rice, some Bluefin tuna and a bottle of beer!


Papaya pickles
You can find many tropical fruits on the island like mango, papaya or Pitaya. One of the specialties is the papaya pickles as a small side dish. The papaya has a lightly salty taste and is sliced like very thin paper. Don´t expect any fruity taste, it really taste like normal salty pickles!


My recommendation for trying out most of those dishes is very beautiful Beach Restaurant “Bashayamamura”, just 10 minutes away from the Amami airport.
The Restaurant belongs to a nice hotel with a huge beach terrace, straw huts and giant palm trees. You can even have a barbeque at the beachside with a great variety of seafood and good meat! The restaurant is very popular around the island and also many foreigners can be found there in the evening. The staff can speak Japanese and also English.