Today I traveled to Imari. It’s a very small town. I didn’t really have lunch, but I’ve been eating a lot lately so it’s not like I’m going to waste away.

I think I decided a couple things about Nagasaki. First, I think I’ve seen most of the things in the city that I want to see. But second, I really like the place and I’ll definitely go again.

Started out the day with breakfast and I’ve had the Japanese breakfast at the restaurant at least three times already so I decided to try the American breakfast. As you can see, it’s kind of Japanese. How often do you see picked vegetables and stewed tomato something-or-another in an American breakfast? The rest is my own fault: the salad, croissant, and coffee are from the buffet. I’m used to doughy flat croissants but this one was crisp and flaky.

Then I checked the train schedule and saw if I just left a little earlier I’d make it to Imari before lunch instead of after. I had a non-reserved seat ticket which meant I could leave whenever I wanted. Even after buying a coffee at Mickey D’s, I made it to the train platform a half hour early and was first in line. It wasn’t crowded so there was no problem.

It was the weird shinkansen that doesn’t really go that far. It’s supposed to connect Fukuoka and Nagasaki but Saga Prefecture in between thinks no one will stop there and won’t allow them to connect the two ends.

I transferred to the Huis Ten Bosch line which I think also goes to Sasebo, but I only rode it one stop to Arita.

Then I got on the Matsuura Railway which was two cars that ran like a bus. That is, you take a ticket (or scan your IC card) on the way in, and then pay for the distance when you get off. Being the sticks, the train only comes once an hour. I guess Google Maps doesn’t like lettting you backtrack, so it told me to get off in the middle of EBFE and wondered if I was just going to a farmer’s house.

I think it was about the same as going to the station and backtracking.

I left my bags at the hotel and headed off to see Imari. The front desk told me I should go to Okawachiyama, where the potters historically had their kilns. I only had 15 minutes to make it to the bus, which ran once every two hours. Okawachiyama was a nice little town in the hills, only a 15 minute bus ride away, so I bet a taxi wouldn’t’ve been expensive..

Did I mention the hills? It’s pretty steep. Lots of pottery stores and my sister suggested I buy a mug. Since the cheapest one I liked was about $60US, I punted. (The cheapest one I saw was probably $40.) So many beautiful things wasted on me there. Anyone have a million yen for a vase?

I guess this is a waterway and not a stream. 

And a spillway or a water diverter?

I didn’t take any pictures of the pottery because they were stores and not just galleries. I’m filling in by showing pictures of the creek.

I tried looking for the shrine built into a cave but I went the wrong way (as usual) and ended up at the cemetery. It’s not in the guide book but there was a sign that said there were many Korean potters who were brought to Japan and never got to go home. There’s a monument to them made up of their gravestones in a mound. I didn’t think it would be respectful to take a picture. Sorry.

I had a few minutes to kill before the next bus so I got a my usual sightseeing lunch: soft ice cream. It was out of one of those machines that uses a pod and they let you (make you) make your own cone. I should not be trusted with a soft ice cream machine.

Oh, I got some tea as well.

I caught the bus back and did the tour of the town. There’s a very small pottery gallery at the station with several pieces of Edo era pottery. The information bureau also suggested the Silk Road exhibit and the merchant house next door to it.

The Silk Road exhibit is in an old house. The first floor is a pottery store (of course) and the second floor had a few displays. There was also a larger area where you could paint your own pottery.

The merchant house was more fun. If you follow Japanese history you know how the rulers liked controlling things. People weren’t allowed to go to the pottery studios  in Okawachiyama but were made to buy things from the merchant in town. The lady there was super nice and explained the whole thing to me, showing me all the rooms.

I took a picture of both buildings and they’re the smaller ones in the middle.

My last stop was Imari shrine and on the way there were ceramic tiles on the walls. As you’d expect, there’s ceramics everywhere. The most interesting ceramics were at the ends of the bridges.

There were way more porcelain figures but I’m not really a pottery guy so I only took two pictures. Plus one of these roosters.

I took a picture of what I thought was the shrine was just the bottom of the steps to the shrine. There were also some shrine office buildings to the left that I didn’t photograph.

The shrine itself was quite peaceful and no one was there! Usually there’s people selling fortunes and amulets.

I walked back to the hotel and they recommended two places for Imari beef but one no longer serves dinner. The only choice was a cafe that serves Imari beef hamburger steak. I know it’s kind of a waste to grind up good beef but it was very tasty. But I started off with a lemon squash, which I hadn’t had in years.

I’m just building up the suspense.

Sometimes you get off flavors with hamburgers but this one was just perfect.

I had what I hope is my last disaster of the day — when I tried to pay for dinner I couldn’t find my wallet! I’ve pulled this stunt before. Since I pay for most things with my Suica card (IC transit card) I didn’t realize my wallet was in one of the bags back at the hotel. I rushed back to get the wallet and came back and paid. Phew. They were super nice about it.

Oh and the convinience store wasn’t conveniently located to I first tried the Daiso for some more Wilkinson fizzy water. No dice, but there’s a MaxValu supermarket next door. And they had another flavor!

There’s a big bath on the third floor of the hotel so I’m going to head up in a bit. I hope I’m done with all my mistakes for the day.

This post will be edited after I go out for dinner, but it’s about 3:30pm and I’m back in the hotel relaxing for a bit. Hey, it’s my vacation, I can do what I want.

Nagasaki is much better without sciatica. I’ve been here twice before, once with my mom and sister about 20 years ago (man I’m old) and once three-ish years ago, right before the new section of the station shopping mall opened up. It was the year the Japanese COVID travel restrictrions lifted. In any case, I got sciatica on the trip and going up slopes and climbing stairs was particularly painful. Nagasaki has a lot of small steep hills and pedestrian overpasses with stairs.

Breakfast was in the hotel and I remember it being better. Then again, it was right after the COVID shutdown and I think there wasn’t a buffet. I also remember it being way more crowded since there weren’t as many breakfast options then. Either way, breakfast today was really good and honestly I wasn’t hungry when I had lunch.

They even had a couple of desserts but I just took a picture because I was full.

I actually put in my contacts today and then I couldn’t find my reading glasses that I swear I packed. Off I went to CanDo, a 100 yen shop, and the ladies laughed because they wore reading glasses too and probably have done the exact same thing.

After that I went to the tourist information counter at the station. As usual, they were surprised that I wanted to walk around instead of taking transit. The first thing I did, of course, was get lost. I did find this great view of the harbor.

It was actually not far from the back of the train station.

After that I wanted to find the mall we ate at during my first trip to Nagasaki. It was a long time ago and there was nothing at the train station back then. Now there’s a giant complex of stores.

I was expecting a run-down department store like I’ve been to in a lot of smaller Japanese towns, but it was renewed quite recently. Very clean and nice and much further from the station than I remember. It was pouring rain back the first time we went.

Then it was off to walk to Chinatown (or more literally translated: China Street). On the way I was going to a shopping arcade to check out the chawanmushi shop where I think they invented the dish. In any case my sister wouldn’t stop telling me to go there and so I did. Turns out I went there on my first trip to Nagasaki and I remember the entryway.

I was still full from breakfast so I got the basic set.

Ha. Here it is with the lids off. It was very tasty and I’m saying that as someone who wasn’t even hungry at the time.

Then it was off to Chinatown. I gave you the literal translation earlier because Chinatown is two blocks long, in an ell. It’s tiny. I was hoping to try some street food but it was mosly pork buns and Nagasaki pork buns and you can get those at the station. Plus I was stuffed from the chawanmushi.

By that time it was only about 12:30pm and I had run out of things on my short to-see list. I decided to visit the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture which is also quite new. On the way I saw this restaurant that was full of businessmen and took a picture of the plastic food display mainly for my sister who hates onions. Every dish seemed to have a ton of spring onions in it. (The joke probably isn’t worth it, but you’re not paying to view these pictures so whatever.)

Near the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture was the Santo Domingo Church Museum which was free but I really couldn’t be bothered to go. The NMHC (I’m not typing it all out again) was interesting, half being history and the other half being a reproduction of historic government offices.

The reproduction area required you to remove your shoes because there were tatami rooms you could enter to see what the government offices looked like.

That’s it for except for dinner. I’ll add that later (the half-dozen people who read this probably won’t notice because you’re in Portland and it’s after midnight and you should all all be asleep.)

—–

I was paying my bills on my computer, one reason I bring my computer, and I had to scribble some notes using the hotel room pen. It had a surprisingly nice feel to it but it had some interesting writing rather than a logo:

That’s not Photoshop, just a weird reflection.

I tried booking my “Shinkansen” ticket online (the mini Shinkansen that goes from Nagasaki to Takeo Onsen) and the payment page said I had to go pick up the ticket in person so I just went downstairs to the Midori-no-madoguchi. That’s one of the benefits of staying at the station. The ticket office was surprisingly empty and they told me I just hit it at the right time. They’re usually quite packed. I remember having to take a number the last time I was there.

It was dinnertime but I wasn’t hungry yet so I went shopping. I’m not a great shopper unless there’s something I’m looking for. I checked out the new water-based gel ink pens since I saw several ads on Instagram but couldn’t decide on anything. I also looked for some better reading glasses but they were ¥4000! I’ll stick with the cheapies. Then I looked around the restaurant floor of the new mall building thinking it was very familiar just to realize it’s the same one where I had breakfast. It’s weird approaching it from a different direction. I also realized I’d been there before when all the restaurants were open. There is only one open restaurant at brreakfast time.

I usually ask the front desk of the hotel what the area food specialty is and they suggested toruko rice (Turkish rice, which has nothing to do with Turkey) at “Nicky Austin” in the train station restaurant area (not the train station mall restaurant area). I ordered the one that was marked “ichiban ninki” (most popular) because they have over a hundred different combos.

Needed a touch more salt but it was good.

Here’s another picture that’s mainly for my sister.

She said she couldn’t find flavored WIlkinson during her last trip to Japan in the fall and so far I’ve had good luck. Usually it’s just lemon but in Nagasaki I’ve been finding all sorts of flavors. It’s like LaCroix but better and the flavor is minimal. Just like LaCroix the flavor does make a difference.

Anyway, that’s it for day 1. It’s only 7pm but I’m no longer a drinker so I’m just going to hole up in my room and hope my jet lag doesn’t get to me tonight.

I didn’t make it to Japan in fall of 2025 because I was feeling poor. Being retired and having no job means my income is less which is usually fine, but covering all my medical bills was making me nuts. I didn’t spend any more on medical bills than a usual year but my financial advisor wasn’t trickling out enough money to me on a regular basis to cover it all. Plus, one of my doors was rotting and I had to pay for that (which was months later but that’s another story). Anyway, it’s spring of 2026 and I’m back in Japan!

First day was kind of a doozy: 26 ½ hours from when I got up to now. Got up at 4 AM to catch a flight from PDX to SEA, and then the long flight from SEA to HND. I got my flights on Expedia and my sister wondered why it was so expensive. Turns out I got the Comfort++ seats (or whatever they call the class between comfort plus and business) where the food was served with tablecloths and was better than what I usually get. They provided headphones, not just earbuds, but I like to use my noise cancelling headset. The plugs were all moved around though and I ended up using the provided headsets. That means I carried my bulky headphones for nothing.

Watched a few movies, like I usually do. First Anaconda with Jack Black and Paul Rudd. Plenty of dumb fun. After that I watched Zootopia 2. Then I tried watching No Other Choice which is supposed to be a black comedy but I found no humor in it. Maybe I’m not cut out for Korean movies. It was also hideously long and I could only stomach half of it. I switched to watching Shrek which I’ve never actually seen, and after being scarred (ha) by the Korean movie I stuck to watching episodes of High Potential since I’m not caught up on the current season.

The long slog from the plane to immigration started out the same as usual.

But then there was a choke point. I didn’t see any Chinese tourists but holy crap there were a lot of tourists coming into the country.

It took a while but like the friendly guys in the seats next to me said, “It’s way faster than Disneyland.”

I had a five hour layover before my flight to Nagasaki and there was a lot to do in the airport (at least for me). First, shipping off all of the gifts for friends and family, checking in my bag for the flight from HND to NGS, and then getting dinner since I wasn’t getting into Nagasaki proper until 10-ish. I went to my usual casual cafe and got my usual Napolitan spaghetti (ketchup spaghetti). I love the stuff. Probably too sweet for most Americans.

The view from the cafe isn’t bad, either.

Up to that point I was feeling great. I usually start fading after eating dinner, even though it was pretty light. The flight started boarding about 6:30pm and they were really quick about it. The plane was mostly empty and it took a couple of hours to get to Nagasaki airport. It’s small. I only saw two other planes on the field and one was a commuter plane. From there the bus takes about 50 minutes to get to Nagasaki station and I checked in before 10pm PDT, 26 hours after leaving. I hit a combini before I went to bed (had to make sure to hydrate) and also got a korokke (beef croquette) as my late-night snack. WIlkinson is fizzy water and Pocari Sweat is a sports drink.

That’s it for my first travel day!

My sister planned a trip with the two of us, my brother-in-law, my brother-in-law’s college buddy, and the buddy’s son. We were going to ride the ferry from Osaka to Kagoshima too! But I panicked when I saw all my bills and instead of contacting my financial planner I just canceled everything. This is my first year of having no (paying) job at all and I panicked. Medical bills sure add up once you’re no longer working for a high tech company with good benefits.

For anyone waiting for my fall pictures (both of you) I apologize. I just sent an email to my financial planner and I might try to go twice next year, once in springtime and once in the fall.

But who knows? I was awoken by military helicopters over my house (they rattled my windows) because Portland, so who knows what’s in the future? Closed borders? Well, I’ll worry about that when it happens.

Day 17 isn’t a full day but the day we traveled back from Japan. We did most of our last-minute shopping yesterday so we could just relax before getting on the plane. Surprisingly I didn’t have the pre-flight sleeplessness though I did have something like it last night. And I stayed up until 10pm which meant I had a 30 hour day without feeling woozy towards the end. Strange.

I also slept OK last night. Wanted to sleep in but I had to get up for the housecleaners (who didn’t come) and to let the HVAC guy get into my neighbor’s garage. He’s quite friendly and told me why the furnace was broken, why it needs replacing, and how much a new one costs. I was surprised he could do it all in one day!

Back to Japan. We got a lazy start and went out to my favorite Hoshino coffee which has pancakes! Very few locations seem to have them. Mariko isn’t a huge pancake fan but the ones are Hoshino are more cake-y. We discussed our shared childhood trauma of box pancakes and Aunt Jemima syrup. These are much better.

I have a second pancake is under the egg.

Mariko had a giant salad and one pancake.

Then it was time to pack and then wait for the ride to the airport. At the airport we wandered around for a while and got soft ice cream (matcha and hojicha swirl, which was the best).

Mariko got a fancier one. But the same ice cream flavors.

Then it was off to the lounge where we both got the traditional mini-ramen (no pictures this time) and a couple of snacks. Chatted with a couple who sat across from us and they were so nice.

The plane flight was fairly uneventful. There’s only one meal and one “breakfast” served so that usually leaves a lot of time for movies. The entertainment system for my seat was acting up and they had to reset it four times before they just gave me some miles and gave me the option to sit in a bulkhead coach seat just to watch the movies. I took them up on the offer and I watched some winners: Bad Boys (which I had never watched before), Bad Boys II, and Deadpool and Wolverine (again). I went back to my seat and while I couldn’t do much with my screen, it did have a limited selection of movies available so I watched part of The Beekeeper (again). 

And that’s it for this trip. I didn’t feel the dread I usually feel when coming home. I guess that’s probably because I don’t work at Intel any more. Hahaha. Oddly, one of the things I started fantasizing about is doing my laundry. And when I got home I did HOURS of laundry. Hahaha.

Today was mostly a travel day and the last full day in Japan. At least I hope so. A couple of years ago my flight was delayed and I was in Japan an extra full day, mostly in the airport. It turned out OK.

I woke up a lot last night but felt more rested than the day before. Can’t really explain it. I usually sleep pretty well in an APA hotel. I guess Mariko likes the harder beds everywhere else but the slightly softer bed at APA is more to my liking.

We went to Hoshino Coffee for breakfast. Mariko just had toast and a hard-boiled egg with her coffee. I had one of the more elaborate morning sets which really wasn’t that elaborate. One of the Hoshino Coffees in Shinjuku has pancakes and egg and bacon.

After that it was a 3+ hour shinkansen ride from Okayama to Tokyo. I remember it took four hours or so but maybe I’m misremembering. We sat on the side away from Mt Fuji (which looked socked in from where I sat) and a bunch of seats on the other side was a big group from SE Asia all with large suitcases. Fortunately, the green car accommodates those pretty well.

Anyway, we had ekiben from Okayama Station. Mariko had inari sushi.

I had the Okayama Station bento. Shrimp with small clams, potato salad, very stale karaage on the top row. Sukiyaki and rice on the bottom left. Egg and ham, vinegared fish and something, seaweed, and finally kinako mochi. It was pretty good.

We got to Tokyo and did some final shopping. Bought some candy and a new kitchen timer. We had dinner at the same place in Keio Department Store as we did before with our friend Chico but we went fancier this time.

Mariko’s started with the yudofu that I forgot to take a picture of last time we were here.

She had the matsutake dinner. Lots of mushrooms in the tempura. Matsutake in the rice and in the soup in the kettle.

I had the yuba and maguro.

Mine ended up with ochazuke with yuba flakes on the rice but I ate it before I remembered to take a picture.

Mariko wanted to get more strawberry daifuku at a store at NewWoMan (pronounced Newman) but it was actually inside the station! We had to pay ¥150 to go in and go right back out. It was worth it to get the daifuku, but the best we had was in Kamakura.

While we were screwing around we met a woman from Oz who was completely lost. We got her on a train to her station, but I hope she made it to her final destination.

Woo, I was tired this morning and I ate way too much last night. We met Yumi later but I wasn’t hungry at all so I had one of the box juices from the conbini for breakfast. Our first stop was food anyway, a very popular bakery in Soja named Bon Bon.

We got there a half hour early and there was no one else waiting. By the time they opened, there was a line.

Everything was fresh, large, and made with whole wheat flour or at least flour that was less processed that most.

One of my favorites was the “scone” that said it was the most popular item. It was somewhere between a scone and a biscuit and I loved it.

My seconf favorite was the sausage baked into a very dense bread.

After that we went to the five storied pagoda of Bitchu Kokubunji Temple. Finally, I got to see a proper pagoda this trip.

After that we went to Kibitsu Temple to meet Yumi’s brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. Her nephew was in very good spirits because he just got a new job and bought a new car. This is a Toyota Yaris that’s tricked out from the get-go for racing.

I thought I took a picture of the shrine. It’s so old that it seems like a temple. Back in the old days they were intermixed. It looked more like a temple, there was incense burning, and the priests looked like Buddhist priests. I thought I took a picture but I didn’t. Here’s one from Yumi of my sister buying traffic safety promoting stickers.

We parted ways with Yumi’s brothers’ family and went to Japan’s biggest candy warehouse. I was a bit disappointed because I thought it would have more old-school treats and that it would have warehouse-like prices. I guess it is a tourist destination so the prices are only slightly cheaper than normal.

Yumi found a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere that was very old-school. Lemon squash, cream soda, fruit parfait, etc. but it looked renovated and was run by a younger looking gentleman. I wish I could come back and try more things!

Yumi and Mariko got coffee floats!

After that it was dinner at a traditional Japanese restaurant that we’ve been to before. I got the same thing Mariko did, the pork filet katsu and I was not expecting it to be this elaborate. I still was semi-full from the day before, but I ate this whole thing.

I even had some of the amazake ice cream dessert. It seemed more like ice milk and tasted more like the kinako than the amazake so and it was light and refreshing.

Thanks to Yumi for a fun visit!

Oh, and the bonus picture – the pitch that got dropped on my head yesterday. Very very sticky and a bigger blob than it looks like here.

It’s been a very long day and I just had to wash mayonnaise out of my hair so let me post some pictures with comments coming later.

OK, we met our friend Yumi fairly early this morning and had to leave by 7am and didn’t get back until 9pm-ish. We went to a bakery at the station for breakfast that was the only thing open. I really didn’t need two bread things plus the yogurt, but there was a “set” deal that also got my coffee included.

Yumi drove us to Mt. Daisen which, as it’s name states, is a mountain. Everything from the parking lot is up.

There’s a little village with not much there. TabiEats was there and had a video on YouTube about it.

Up one of the longest (the longest?) stone path in Japan is a temple and a shrine.

I was told the shrine is more interesting than the temple but I don’t know because we just went to the shrine.

We kept going up to a viewpoint where there was a clear view of Mt. Daisen.

And there it is, Mt. Daisen.

We went back down to the village to get lunch we had curry and ran into members of Yumi’s climbing group.

After that we drove on the loop around the mountain to see some more fall views.

On the way back to Okayama, we stopped at a gelato store kind of in the middle of nowhere. They’re right next to the dairy areas and have prize-winning gelato. The closest is mine, Yuzu and Strawberry. Back left is Mariko’s, Kinako and Matcha. Back right is Yumi’s, Matsutake and Golden Milk. Lots of the flavor advertised and quite tasty.

Back at Okayama we went out to yakiniku with Yumi’s running group and it was an old-school store with gas grills.

I ate too much and I’m quite tired from the mountain. That’s about it for the day.

Oh, yeah, while on the mountain I got a glob of pine sap in my hair. A big glob. I didn’t know how I was going to get it out and every time I forgot and touched it I had pitch all over my fingers. We figured I could buy some cooking oil or peanut butter (like I’ve seen peanut butter here) to get it out but what I found was a mini bottle of mayonnaise at the combini. It worked great and didn’t take that much so now I have most of a mini-bottle of mayo to throw out.

We’re off to Okayama where my sister worked for a year, to visit friends. The night in the hotel wasn’t that bad but it was kind of smoky and cigarette smoke can trigger Mariko’s migraines. The breakfast there changes from year to year but this year it was quite minimal. That’s a very soft boiled egg that goes on the. The miso soup was in packets that required hot water, and the onions were freeze-dried in another packet. I also got a slice of toast and some weak but not bad tasting coffee.

We left Hikari and the station amazingly had three electronic gates. Other than that it really hasn’t change in years, other than the reduced frequency of trains.

Here’s the Sanyo Line that goes from, well, somewhere to Iwakuni. We rode on the train in the other direction. I think it’s an electric train because I didn’t hear diesel engines. There’s probably a pantograph somewhere but it’s hard to see with the overpass structure in the way.

We made it to Okayama with no real problems. This time my sister took a silly picture of herself.

We went to Nana Green Tea for lunch and I made the mistake of getting a latte. Dairy and I aren’t getting along any longer so I felt like I had a rock in my stomach for most of the afternoon. That’s passable taco rice with miso soup that once again tasted like it came out of a packet.

Mariko didn’t even get matcha. She had the ground chicken.

We went shopping in the afternoon and then out to get tonkatsu for dinner. I got something that looked small in the pictures but in real life it was kind of big. Roast tonkatsu on the left, two “bite sized” filet tonkasu on the right. They were both cut in half and each half was more than a bite. Mariko told me I didn’t need to eat the whole thing so I left some shredded cabbage.

And that’s it for the day. Oh, I had a giant ichigo daifuku but there’s no picture of it.

OK, weird pictures today because we were going from the middle of nowhere (Yuda Onsen at the edge of Yamaguchi City) to the middle of nowhere (Hikari City, where my grandma’s house used to be) to visit my cousin. As an added bonus her daughter was in town with her two kids! I finally got to meet her husband, whose name I forgot TWICE. He seems really nice.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First we had breakfast and I kept it light since I knew we were having lunch with my cousin and because I did NOT sleep well last night because I ate a bunch of garlic and that made my stomach hurt. Oddly enough, I felt less tired than yesterday and my stomachache went away when I got up.

Checking google I noticed it was quicker to take the slow train than the Shinkansen because of wait times between the trains. We wasted the extra high-speed fare between two stations but that was only ¥970! Some of the Shinkansen stations are pretty close together.

I noticed that the first train stop abandoned the second rail and the second platform. A lot of people in the rural areas have purchased cars and rail use is falling.

You can see that it’s a diesel train, and not an electric train like most of the busier lines.

The local train that we took instead of the Shinkansen is electric.

We met for lunch and most of us had the daily special of tandoori chicken. It came with a small slice of quiche and sweet potato with mustard seeds.

My sister doesn’t like fatty chicken and was also afraid it might have onions so she had the mentaiko pasta with shiso leaves on top.

Most of the afternoon we spent with our cousin and we also got to shop at Jusco. This is the first time my sister didn’t buy anything at the Tamura Craft Store!

We’re staying at a very old school hotel and they finally upgraded to cardkey doorlocks! It was physical keys for years. I like it but my sister is kind of over the place. At least the toilet seats are sanitarized.

We were going to go to Joyfull for dinner but we’d just been to a family restaurant. We decided to try the Donk cafe. I had the hamburg steak with shaved daikon and it came with some goya tempura. 

Mariko got the tempura donburi.

It wasn’t great but it was good. We hit the Family Mart on the way back and I got some pumpkin pudding that I didn’t take a picture of. It was really tasty. Oh and today’s bonus pic is a tiny camper van we saw on a back street.

More pictures today because, I dunno. This was a full day in Yuda Onsen, which really is right next to Yamaguchi City, the Prefectural capital of my ancestral home. Ancestral home. That sounds so regal when my family were probably dirt farmers. Mud farmers is more likely since that’s how rice grows.

I slept pretty well considering I woke up 3 times very early in the night. Unfortunately the alarm went off when I was in a deep sleep, or was I since I remember a weird dream about being in the Intel parking lot and a co-worker had a Ferrari instead of his ancient Civic, and a Hispanic dude was giving me a bicycle he’d welded together from odd parts. TMI, I guess. Either way I got a very slow start.

Breakfast was at the hotel, buffet style. I got a little of a lot of things. Not a little of everything since there were too many things.

That reminds me, I don’t remember seeing any natto.

We walked an hour to Rurikoji Temple which has one of the “three famous pagodas of Japan” according to one sign I saw. I was looking forward to seeing it. The temple had the main doors closed so we didn’t see much. I’m visiting temples less and less. They’re stately and calming but they remind me of funerals and my impending demise. Lately I like to stick to shrines.

Behind the temple, through the closed Misunokamigami pottery shop, was a horse and the Reiwa Great Buddha (also known as the Corona Buddha). It was started by an artist group to make 1000 smaller Buddhas which are held on shelves of the larger Buddha. Probably hard to see in the picture since you can’t go in the horse paddock.

Then we wandered around the temple grounds to see the magnificent pagoda.

Yep, it’s undergoing renovation. Phooey.

My sister’s friend was obessed with the 7Eleven smoothie situation, so we decided to try them for lunch. I’ve been eating too much so I figured that would help tide me over until cake in the afternoon, and then dinner.

You get the cup from the freezer, pay for it, and then go to the machine. At the machine you scan the bar code from the top of the cup, put the cup in the machine, and off it goes blending your smoothie. Mariko got a Cafe Latte smoothie and she said it didn’t taste coffee-y enough.

Of course we saw soft ice cream soon afterwards (I often eat soft ice cream for lunch when I’m wandering around Japan in the heat).

Basically we wandered around town, had some baked goods and coffee, and then walked back up the hill to the prefectural museum when we realized it was only 12:30. It was one of the smaller prefectural museums I’ve been to. Fun, but there are others that are much better.

Oh, and there are maps all over. One thing I have to say, copy writers need editors too.

We had cake and I finally tried a Japanese Mont Blanc which had chestnut cream formed into the shape of Mont Blanc. I always thought it looked like the shape of an Ultraman monster and couldn’t imagine it would be great but it was quite light and tasty.

Mariko had a cheese cream thing? It was light and fluffy as well. I think most everyone who reads the blog (yeah, both of you) know Mariko and you can ask her what this was directly. I forget.

We went back to the hotel to get some towels so we could try two of the seven (Mariko says six) foot baths in the area. Oh, looking at the map I see my mistake. They’re lettered b-g. I assumed they’d start with a. So two of the SIX foot baths in the area.

The first was calming but not that warm. Kind of underwhelming if you ask me but in a nice quiet side area.

We skipped the ones on the busy street and went to the one in the park. Lots of kids playing soccer in the field and hoo boy this one was much warmer. My feet and calves were red by the time I got out.

Oh, and I remember seeing another foot bath on another map so SEVEN. Neener neener.

After a rest we looked for restaurants in the area (lots more drinking places than just restaurants). We settled on Gusto, a family restaurant chain, because it’s close and I wanted to see the delivery robot. I would say, go for the robot, go for the cheap food, go for the drink bar, but I won’t say go for the food.

If you’re going to a family restaurant, there Fujiya, Royal Host, Joyfull in this area, or even Denny’s and I bet they’re all better. But those places don’t have a robot.

And that’s it for today. I should get to bed soon because tomorrow we have to get on a train from nowhere to even more nowhere to visit another cousin who lives where my grandma’s house used to be.

Huh. I guess I’ve forgotten to do the crossword for several days. So much for my NYT streak.

My sister provided me with several pictures of, well, me looking goofy so let’s start with one where I was trying to get a tiny Japanese payphone that wasn’t yellow. I tried three times and failed.

It was our last morning in Osaka and we went to the Tully’s in the MBS building. I had a salad sandwich because my cousins said I was fat (and I am) but it didn’t help. My sister didn’t like hers so I ate two of them. I guess each was just half of a tiny sandwich so it wasn’t that bad.

Lots of broccoli. Hmmm. Also, Tully’s isn’t as good as I remember.

And then it was off to take the bullet train to Shin-Yamaguchi.

I insisted that there were more ekiben outside of the shinkansen station, in the regular train station, but my sister disagreed. I found out that this time I was correct. But here are the ekiben, first mine.

And then my sister’s.

From Shin-Yamaguchi we took a very old train (diesel, not running on overhead lines) to a station that had no attendants.

We’re staying at Onn Yuda Onsen, which is very nice. There’s not all that much going on here, but we did find some uiro (famous in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Nagoya). Here’s the sample they gave us.

Mariko wanted some coffee so we found a little bakery. Some sort of pistachio cream cake.

And for dinner we went to a very fancy curry restaurant with private rooms. The starter is drinkable salad (or a smoothie to us Americans).

I got the meat plate and Mariko got the little bear I think. We got to pick two curries to go with it and that’s why both sides are different colors. Mine had sukiyaki with egg, tonkatsu, and a little salad.

Here’s the other picture of me looking goofy.

It also came with a panna cotta dessert. I couldn’t read the kanji and thought it was strawberry (it tasted like strawberry) but when I figured it out it said “white peach”. Not sure what’s so white about it.

And that’s about it. We went to the very nice onsen attached to the hotel and it was odd for both of us. A Korean-looking young woman was swimming in the bath (usually forbidden) when my sister went. A dude with a full sleeve tattoo did a belly flop into the water bath (both usually forbidden) when I went. Yoots. What are you gonna do.