Nameko's Hanami Adventures, Part 2 - Towada

After a fun but tiring Saturday at Hirosaki (see Nameko's Hanami Adventures, Part 1 - Hirosaki), Nameko's hanami adventures continued on Sunday, April 27 at the Towada Spring Festival (春まつり haru matsuri). (The day out in Towada was in fact more about the various festival events than actual flower viewing.)

Around noon Nameko head out to watch horseback archery (流鏑馬 yabusame) in Towada Central Park. It was an especially lovely sight with the cherry blossom petals raining down upon the archers and their horses.

 

After watching a few rounds of the yabusame competition, Nameko headed to the food stalls! He got pig's foot, mini meat buns, and fried pig's ears among other things. And since it was a hot day, he ended off the meal with "hanabi ice," different coloured sherbets/sorbets layered on the cone to look like hanabi, fireworks.

Then it was across the street to the Sakura Hiroba to watch the Yosakoi Genki Matsuri. There were a lot of people so it was a bit hard to see, but the dancers' energy and excitement was nonetheless contagious.

Once the yosakoi was finished, Nameko was feeling a little tired and overheated so he headed to a nearby bakery and cafe, Shiroi Mori, for a break. Along the way to the cafe, he noticed that some of the trees along Kanchogai Dori already had leaves coming out.

 

At Shiroi Mori, he enjoyed a cake and mini chocolate parfait set with iced tea to end off the weekend of flower viewing and festival fun. 

Nameko's Hanami Adventures, Part 1 - Hirosaki

In Japan, the start of spring is marked by cherry blossom trees in full bloom. People young and old gather to picnic, drink and frolic under the cherry blossoms. Such cherry blossom viewing parties are known as hanami (花見 literally "flower viewing").

The blooming period for cherry blossoms is very short (just a little over one week from when the flowers are almost in full bloom until they start falling off the trees) so it can be difficult to hit the sweet spot of a weekend with good weather and nice looking cherry blossoms, but this year the timing was perfect.

So Nameko decided to spend the weekend of April 25-26 enjoying hanami !

One of Japan's top cherry blossom viewing spots is in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture: Hirosaki Castle Park. There are over 2500 trees in the park, including a "Sakura Tunnel" that is particular impressive at night when illuminated by large free-standing lanterns during the Cherry Blossom Festival (さくらまつり sakura matsuri).

Hirosaki Castle Park Sakura Tunnel by Day

Hirosaki Castle Park Sakura Tunnel by Night

Hirosaki Castle (a 3-storey castle tower reconstructed in 1810 after the original 5-storey was struck by lightning burnt down in 1627).  The stone walls under/around the castle building are undergoing repairs so this year is the last year where the castle will be visible from the red bridge. The moat surrounding the castle was drained and prepared for construction starting in Autumn 2014, so this year's Cherry Blossom Festival was the first time the moat area was open to the public to walk around in!

Not wanting to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime chance to walk around the moat (and the last chance for about 10 years to see the castle in its original position), Nameko spent the first day of the weekend, Saturday, April 25 in Hirosaki Castle Park.

He entered the park from the northwest, crossing a lovely green bridge, Ichoubashi. The outer moat was filled with sakura petals and simply gorgeous.

Hirosaki Castle Park Ichoubashi

Hirosaki Castle Park Ichoubashi

Once inside the park, Nameko made his way through the crowds and past many delicious looking food stands until he eventually was able to enter the inner moat for a previously impossible view of the castle.

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival Food Stalls and Crowds

View of Hirosaki Castle from the Inner Moat

View of Hirosaki Castle from the Inner Moat

After the inner moat, Nameko made his way to Honmaru (paid area of the park) for more cherry blossom trees and a great view of Mount Iwaki. It was a hot day so he stopped to get some 100% apple juice from a vending machine along the way.

Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)

Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)

Apple Juice from Vending Machine in Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)

View of Mount Iwaki from Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)

Before leaving the paid area, Nameko ran into Takamaru-Kun, Hirosaki City's cool but also cute falcon/hawk mascot character! After that he went for a walk through the Sakura Tunnel, stopping to take pictures of the many people taking rental row boats out on the West Moat.

Hirosaki Mascot Takamaru-Kun

Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat

Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat

After all the walking, Nameko needed a break. So he headed to some food stalls for a steamed bun filled with sakura-flavoured bean paste, and Hirosaki Park's famous "Jumbo Konnyaku".

Sakura Man Steamed Bun

Sakura Man Steamed Bun

Jumbo Konnyaku

Jumbo Konnyaku

Later in the afternoon it got rather chilly, so Nameko headed into town (stopping for more pictures of the outer moat) for a break at a cafe, Mother Leaf Tea & Waffle located along the central Hirosaki shopping arcade, Dotemachi.

Hirosaki Castle Park Outer Moat

Hirosaki Castle Park Outer Moat

Waffle with Vanilla Ice Cream Topping and Lychee ＆ Grapefruit Tea at Mother Leaf

After the short break, it was back to the park to enjoy the yozakura (夜桜 cherry blossoms at night)!

Sakura Matsuri Lantern

Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat at Night

Although still rather full from the waffle, Nameko had to have some Dakekimi Corn Tempura right before leaving for a delicious end to the day.

  

More Information:
Towada and Beyond, "2015 Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival":
http://towada-city.blogspot.com/2015/04/2015-hirosaki-cherry-blossom-festival.html

Sources:
Japan-Guide.com, "Hirosaki Castle": http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3700.html
Hirosaki Tourism and Convention Bureau, "Hirosaki Castle, reconstruction of stonewalls schedule": http://www.hirosaki-kanko.or.jp/en/edit.html?id=edit12

Lawson Gudetama Sweets

Gudetama is a Sanrio character created in 2013. He is a lazy, lethargic egg.

At first I thought it was a really strange idea for a character, but after seeing the character in action (in short animations, comics, and Twitter pictures), his unique personality came to grow on me--probably because I'm pretty lazy myself.

Lawson started selling Gudetama-themed foods starting in late March. They are limited in quantity, so best not to wait if you see them and want to try them!

Here are some of the sweets I have managed to try so far:

Gudetama Mango Almond Jello ぐでたま　マンゴ杏仁豆腐　(gudetama mango annin dofu) 195yen *probably sold out*

 

 

As you can see, the Gudetama face is just printed on the plastic covering the pudding. Taste-wise, a standard/straight forward mango pudding and almond jello. Tasty but a bit pricey for what you get.

Egg Bread くでたま　たまごぱん (gudetama tamagopan) 130yen *may still be available*

 

 

Castella sponge cake-like filling wrapped in a cookie/biscuit dough--like melon pan. Loved how the shape and yellow inside really made it look like an egg! Good value for the price, too, since it was quite filling. I would buy it again.

Gudetama Pudding くでたま　プリン 240yen *should still be available*

 

 

Like the Gudetama Mango Almond Pudding, the face is simply printed on the plastic around the pudding. Didn't really like the thin sponge-cake-type layer at the bottom of the pudding. Also, to keep the pudding from losing its shape, it was firmer than the typical Japanese pudding which I didn't really like. It was worth trying once, but I would rather get a bigger, tastier, and cheaper "normal" pudding rather than paying a premium for the cute packaging.

More Gudetama Information:
Gudetama Sanrio Character Page (Japanese): http://www.sanrio.co.jp/character/gudetama/
Gudetama Short Animation Playlist (Japanese): YouTube
RocketNews24: "Meet the most unmotivated Sanrio character ever -- Gudetama, the lazy egg!"

Manga-Inspired Gluttony

I love food manga. Last year I started reading a manga series called "It will be breakfast at Tiffany someday" (いつかティファニーで朝食を　Itsuka Tiffany de Choushoku wo) by Maki Hirochi, published by Bunch Comics, Shinchosha. (Only five books in the picture, but there are currently 6 volumes of the manga out.)

The protagonist, Mariko, grew up enjoying eating breakfast with her family as a child, but as a working adult living with a boyfriend working late hours, she finds that they sleep in late and  can't be bothered to eat a proper meal together in the morning. After going out for breakfast with a group of girl friends, she realizes that she is losing her sense of self in her efforts to accommodate her boyfriend's schedule/routine and that his lack of understanding of her desire to enjoy breakfast together is a sign of bigger problems with their relationship. She decides to move out of their apartment and break up with her boyfriend in order to start a new life of enjoying breakfasts.

Apart from enjoying the story, what I like about this manga is that it features a lot of different real cafes and restaurants where you can eat breakfast in Japan--mostly in Tokyo, although she does go on business trips to Nagoya, etc., so there are other places as well.

A spin-off manga series starring the boyfriend she broke up with also started recently; "Sotaro's lonely lunch of business trip" (創太郎の出張ぼっちめし Soutarou no Bocchi Meshi).

Sotaro is not a gourmand by any means of the imagination. When he goes on business trips, he usually eats at chain restaurants because it's easy and he knows that the food/quality is generally the same wherever he goes. When a co-worker nags him into going out of his comfort zone and checking out a local restaurant (alone) on the last day of a business trip, he discovers the joy of trying out new places to eat. From there on, he decides to make the most of his business trips by trying out local restaurants instead of going to chain restaurants.
 
In the first (and so far only) volume of this manga, Sotaro actually goes on a business trip to Aomori City and goes to a cafe that neither my husband (who worked in Aomori City for a couple of years before moving to Towada) nor I had ever been to before. Obviously, I was very interested in checking the cafe out!  

My husband had a meeting in Aomori City from 10am-12pm this past Saturday morning, so I went with him to Aomori and spent most of the time while he was in the meeting at the cafe, Kissa Marron 喫茶マロン (also known as Marron Coffee/Coffee Marron マロン珈琲店).

It has a great retro look and feel, and the atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly. It clearly appeals to a wide range of people, since in the slightly over two hours I was there, I saw single diners (male and female), couples, groups of friends, and families (mother and daughter, and mother and son) all come in.

Since we had skipped breakfast, I took advantage of their "morning service" (7am-11am)--you get free thick-cut toast and a boiled egg for free with the purchase of a drink. You can also pay a little extra to get add-ons like jam on the toast, or ham and cheese, etc. etc., but this time I stuck with the standard set. The hot chocolate ('cocoa") I ordered was dark and rich, and not overly sweet--definitely a good choice!

While I was enjoying my "morning service," I heard a number of people ordering the kabocha purin (pumpkin pudding). Once I found out that it is a seasonal item, only available from fall to spring, of course, I naturally  had to try it as well. I expected it to be like something you could get in a grocery store--an orange coloured pudding served in a dish--so was quite surprised when it came out looking more like a rare cheese cake!

Although the pumpkin taste wasn't very strong--it only hit as a very subtle when I was mostly done eating it--and the pudding was not at all what I had expected, it was nonetheless very tasty.

I had the "morning service" around 10:00am and the pumpkin pudding around 10:30am. Since the manga had featured "Jamaican curry" (ジャマイカンカレー), I couldn't very well leave without trying that, so around 11:00am (the start of "lunch service"--a drink comes with the lunch), I ordered the Jamaican curry (comes with a "stick salad").

It was really delicious, but it was a loooooot of food. I  somehow managed to finish everything, but that was probably the first time I have ever eaten so much that my stomach actually hurt. I didn't linger after finishing eating but left so I could stand up and walk around--I felt like I would explode if I stayed seated. (Plus the cafe was pretty much full and I wanted to open up a table for more customers.)

My husband scolded me for being too greedy when I told him how much I had eaten, but I rather thought that it was his fault for not being there to share with me so I could try more food! :P (jokes) I did feel sheepish, though, when I remembered that I had heard people ordering take-out, so I probably could have just asked them to box up whatever I couldn't finish rather than forcing myself to eat everything! Since not all restaurants/cafes in Japan allow people to take doggy bags, I've gotten used to assuming that everything is strictly eat-in only.

Oh well, next time I plan to go with my husband so I can try out more of the menu: the "tuna curry toast" (comes with a side of fruit) sounded really tempting and there's also still the "Marron parfait" featured in the manga that I wasn't able to try since it is only served after 2:00pm.

(I probably won't have to wait long for my chance, since apparently my husband has a meeting in Aomori next Sunday afternoon...!)

Kissa Marron 喫茶マロン
(a.k.a. Marron Coffee/Coffee Marron マロン珈琲店)
Hours: 7:00-21:00 Daily (closed 1st & 3rd Wednesday each month)
"Morning Service" 7:00-11:00; "Lunch Service" 11:00-14:00
Phone: 017-722-4575
Parking: N/A (pay parking across the street)
*Take-Out Available*