I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
If this ditty from the fun-loving 1902s best describes the mood of you and your family, I suggest that you visit Blue Heaven in Hojo. This little roadside ice cream shop sits behind the seawall overlooking a stretch of tiny sand beaches with fishing boats tied up in the shallows of the Seto Inland Sea. Many customers choose to eat their ice cream sitting on the seawall, gazing out at the fine view of Kashima Island and the big ships that ply the Inland Sea.
Blue Heaven takes its name from the Blue Seal ice cream it serves. Blue Seal originated in Okinawa as a product of an American dairy company. The ice cream was only available on U.S. military bases, although its reputation spread throughout Okinawa. Eventually, a company was established to sell it outside the bases too, and from Okinawa, it has gradually made its way to the rest of Japan. To quote from the Blue Seal website;
“There are many special products of Okinawa amongst our excellent ingredients. Starting with sugar harvested from sugarcane grown in Okinawa to the Vitamin C-rich Shikwasa, purple sweet potato, and other raw ingredients used commonly in Okinawa. In addition, Blue Seal has a lineup of the preposterous variety, starting with fruits and also using various raw ingredients to draw different flavors from.”
I went to Blue Heaven with the intention of trying one of the preposterous variety of flavors—bitter gourd perhaps, a pungent Okinawan vegetable that I enjoy eating in summer. But unfortunately, Blue Heaven didn’t have anything that could be considered preposterous. I hummed and hawed between the cane sugar and the coconut, and finally opted for a single scoop of coconut in a waffle cone for 270 yen. It was rich and creamy, not too sweet, with a good fragrance of coconut. The scoop was large enough to last until the bottom of the cone. You can get a double scoop for 370 yen, and there’s a choice of corn and waffle cones or a paper cup and spoon. Soft ice cream in a choice of three flavors is 300 yen.
Hojo isn’t exactly Okinawa, and the Seto Inland Sea isn’t quite the blue Pacific, but the authentic taste of subtropical Okinawa overlooking the beach comes close enough to satisfy.
