Hiroshima Lemons & Origami Cranes

28/05/2025 Leave a comment

When visiting Hiroshima this spring I noticed in the stores so many lemon themed items not just an array of foods but everything lemon themed from ceramics to beauty products. I didn’t realise but Hiroshima is the top producer of lemons in Japan. You will often find travelling around Japan that different prefectures are known for growing different fruits and vegetables. For instance Aomori prefecture is the leading producer of apples and are prized for their high quality. Or Yamanashi Prefecture is particularly known for its peach production and is sometimes referred to as “The Peach City”.
You may even see prefectures taking on cute character mascots known as “yuru-kyara” to promote and represent the fruit they are famous for like the mascot for Fukuoka is the Amaou strawberry.

This prefecture produce can make lovely omiyage “souvenirs” and you will often see a lot of them at road side rest stops known as “Michi-no Eki”.

The most famous item in Hiroshima is the lemon shaped madeleine cake however as these contained dairy I decided to bring back a simple lemon syrup made from Hiroshima lemons and beet sugar from Hokkaido.

The syrup is sold as a base to make sparkling or hot lemon drinks, however I decided to use some of it to flavour a vegan cheese cake terrine.

You may of seen my recipes for tofu cheese cake or sakura cheesecake. This is just a combination using the base recipe from the tofu cheese cake and the regular cheese cake recipe but instead of sakura syrup I used the lemon. I used four tablespoons of the lemon syrup this time. Served with a dried lemon slice and topped with yuzu jam.

Inspired by the lemon cheesecake I had at my favourite vegan cafe in Tokyo “Brown Rice Cafe”.

I had a bit of the mixtures left over so I made miniature cheese cake pots.

One of the stores in Hiroshima that had a good selection of lemon themed items is the souvenir shop connected to the Orizuru Tower.

The Orizuru Tower was officially opened in September 2016 to project hopes for peace from Hiroshima to the world. Located beside the A-Bomb Dome. Ori means folded and tsuru means crane. Origami cranes are a symbol you see often in Hiroshima it is a symbol of peace and recovery taken from the story of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She was two kilometres away and two years old when the bomb was dropped. Sadako was inspired by a Japanese folklore legend to fold a thousand origami paper cranes to grant a wish to live and recover from her illness. Sadly she died of leukaemia related to radiation exposure. A monument in Hiroshima Peace Park was erected in her honour.

It is now known as the Children’s Peace Monument. It has now become a children’s peace movement and children from all over the world send folded paper cranes to be placed there.

At Orizuru Tower on the 12th floor you can make a paper crane and dedicate it as a wish for peace and drop it in to a glass wall on the front of the building filled with paper cranes folded by visitors.

The Hiroshima Hills at the roof top offers views over historical Hiroshima.
There is also a cafe there and I was thrilled to find vegan ice cream being on offer so of course I had to get one.