The train to Nikko and some munch near the station.

Nikon F100 / Fuji Industrial 100

The indeterminate puck of fried matter I’m holding in my wizened, withered, weather-beaten mit is actually yuba manju. It’s deep fried, salted tofu skin (yuba) filled with sweet red bean paste (manju). We bought these tasty morsels from Sakaeya (さかえや) a little shop on the corner of the square over the road from the train station where the buses pull in.

I’ve since learnt that this shop is somewhat famous for these snacks and that yuba is actually a local delicacy. We were served by a delightful young lady of no more than seventy years of age who skilfully willed me into buying not one, but several of these modest but immensely flavourful snackettes and I’m so glad she did because we did something downright touristy and didn’t even realise it at the time. We had a jolly nice time as we waited for the bus all thanks to the charm and charisma of an elderly and rather attractive yuba manju lady.

You’ll definitely want to be like us and go there so here’s some info-goodness for you.

http://nikkosakaeya.co.jp/shop/

To get to Nikko from Shinjuku we took the subway from Higashi-Shinjuku to Shinjuku station (¥‎140) and then from Shinjuku, the Chuo line to Ueno (JR Pass). The “Yamabito” Shinkansen took us to Utsunomiya in about 50 minutes and at Utsunomiya we changed to the local Nikko line (pictured).