"Ise Meotoiwa Meoto Yokocho" is located in Ise City, Mie Prefecture. This is an indoor shopping facility adjacent to the tourist attraction "Meotoiwa" in Futami-cho, Ise City. It's full of attractions, including good foods made with local ingredients and hands-on experience unique to Ise!
There is also an aquarium "Ise Sea Paradise" where you can enjoy interacting with sea mammals.
It takes about 15 minutes by car from Ise Jingu, so it is recommended to visit it together with your visit to Ise.
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Approximately 20 shops, including souvenir shops, restaurants, and hands-on facilities, are lined up along the 180m street that connects directly to Ise Sea Paradise.
You can go to Meotoiwa while enjoying shopping.
Let's Enjoy Foods Unique to Ise!
You can taste Ise tuna at a reasonable price! "Tuna Shrine"
If you visit Ise-Shima, you want to keep seafood in mind!
At "Tuna Shrine", a group of tuna specialists directly purchases tuna by determining "what season," "what fishing ground," and "what kind of tuna" regardless of whether it is domestic or overseas. You can have fresh seafood at a reasonable price!
The most recommended dish is the Ise tuna bowl.
Ise tuna is characterized by a low amount of excess fat due to the low seawater temperature in winter. The fatty tuna has a smooth texture that melts in your mouth.
Only available here! Handmade custard pudding "Ise Futami Meoto Kawauso Pudding"
For dessert, we recommend the “Ise Futami Meoto Kawauso Pudding,” which is named after kawauso (otters)! All puddings are handmade by craftsmen one by one.
We use ingredients from Mie Prefecture, such as Ouchiyama milk and Ise tea. The key point is the freshness that can only be enjoyed by using milk produced in the prefecture!
Served with caramel sauce.
By the way, if you read the QR code attached to the cap and get "Great Good Luck", you can win another pudding ◎
There is also a special box that can hold 4 puddings, so it's perfect as a souvenir!
Cuteness that makes you want to take a picture unintentionally! "Kawauso-kun Yaki"
Popular otters at Ise Sea Paradise are now sweets!
The crunchy, fragrant honey-filled batter is filled with red bean paste made with Futamiura's "Iwato salt" as a secret ingredient! It's full of volume, but the sweetness is modest, so you can eat it up and down.
It's also perfect for a snack while eating.
A large collection of Ise gourmet! "Umashi-kuni Ise Oinaina"
"Umashi-kuni Ise Oinaina" has a large collection of Ise gourmet! "Oinaina" means "Welcome" or "Come over" in the dialect of the Ise region.
You can taste gourmet food from three stores: Ise Kadoya Beer, which produces local and craft beer from Ise, Butasute, a long-established Japanese beef specialty store in Ise, and Isage Maruten, which specializes in deep-fried seafood from Ise-Shima.
This time, I tried Ise Kadoya beer and butasute (croquette)!
The combination of crispy croquette and fresh beer is irresistible. When you're feeling a little hungry, please try out!
Challenge some Experience at Ise!
"Meotoiwa Activity"
At Meotoiwa Activity, the store closest to Meotoiwa, you can enjoy experiences unique to Ise.
For example, at the "Moss Ball Making Experience", you can make your own original moss ball, including the "Kizuna Musubi Kokedama", which is a set of large and small moss balls imitating the Meotoiwa rocks of Ise Futami and a shimenawa (a sacred festoon) decoration.
This is the "Ise Momen Goshuin Book Making Experience". Ise cotton is a cotton using Ise Katagami, a traditional craft with a history of more than 1,000 years. You can create a one-of-a-kind goshuin (red ink stamp) book by combining various colors and patterns of Ise cotton.
By the way, in Ise City, you can get goshuin at about 7 places, including Ise Jingu (Naiku/Geku).
"Ise Katagami" is a traditional craft of Ise that is used to dye patterns on kimonos and yukatas. You can make a "bookmark" by actually carving the persimmon tannin used for the pattern paper.
"Click here for details"
https://ise-meotoiwa.jp/activity/
"Meotoiwa", the Symbol of Marriage
Futami Beach is a "sacred beach" where the waves from Tokoyo no Kuni, where the gods live, reach first.
After purifying oneself with a purification ceremony here, visitors to Ise Jingu visit the Geku (outer shrine) and the Naiku (inner shrine), which are known as spiritual spots that bring blessings such as conjugal bliss and marriage.
Meotoiwa consists of two rocks, one large and one small, connected by a large shimenawa rope, and serves as a torii gate for worshiping Okitama Shinseki, the god of Sarutahiko Omikami, who is sinking into the sea, and the goddess of the sun (sunrise).
The two rocks look like a couple cuddling together, so they are said to symbolize a happy marriage and a good match.
When you visit Ise-Shima, please visit Ise Sea Paradise together with it. From Ise foods to spiritual spots, you can fully enjoy Ise!