Day 11 - One of the main attractions: Ghibli Park!

By now everything was down to routine. Today was another pretty early morning as we knew we'd have to leave by 8AM to make it to Ghibli Park for our noon reservations. At the time I made the reservations, overseas travelers were allowed just noon or 2PM entry times (the park closes at 5PM) and we were only allowed into the Grand Warehouse. I was okay with that as taking a look at anything this unique was worth the trouble of getting there. The Matsumoto train ride was a solid 3 hours, during which there were some very nice 

views and plenty of time for writing and reflection. It was pretty simple to get to Aichi from there, the station leading to the automatic train looping around to get to the park area was a simple, but decorated station. Luckily they did have large lockers for us to leave our backpacks in, but we did have to use our old trick of buying something at a vending machine to get change again. They weren't keeping it a secret that this was a station that would connect you to Ghibli, that was for sure. Some pictures and a quick vending machine snack and locker loading later, we were on the pretty high-tech cool looking elevated train to the park area.

The overview of the park area was vast, we just followed Google Maps on where to walk to as it wasn't painfully clear and there were no real signs telling you to go one way over the other. Once off the train platform we were dropped into a covered area that had a 7-11, rest stop area (both indoors) and then an outdoor café area. Not sure how far in advance we should line up for our noon tickets, we did not stop to eat lunch or grab a bite here and instead opted to go straight to the café inside Ghibli once we got inside. This is something I would do differently if given a second chance. Instead I would recommend arriving by 11AM for noon tickets, taking 30 minutes to eat here (or 7-11 food), then walking over and lining up closer to 11:45AM. The let us in at exactly noon and being towards the front of that line didn't seem to make much of a difference once inside.

There wasn't a whole lot of information on the park yet when we were planning the trip in February or so 2023. After not being able to find a lot of information, I decided to just keep it "spoiler free" and go in with an open mind. I only knew that from our limited experiences in Japan with "tourist attractions" (I try to avoid them) that food and lines would both be issues. We headed for the café first thing and were able to order the mediocre food and drink for US pricing without issue. We ate and left within 30 minutes or so, but the food wasn't "good" and I can't say I'd recommend it to anyone. A real missed opportunity for Ghibli theme pastries, desserts, sandwiches or even the food seen in the movies! They didn't even have curry! Just super bland sandwiches and drinks with little "Ghibli paper flags" stuck in them. Cost about 7,000Y for three people to eat lunch too.

    After lunch, we were off to the theater, watched their featured short (this is the same process you get at the museum in Tokyo if you've ever been). No subtitles, but generally small amount of spoken dialogue and it was all simple Japanese. Being they know their audience is largely comprised of foreigners, this always makes me wonder why not a simple set of subtitles? It was about a family puppy that gets lost after running out of the house when the kid goes to school and his little adventure. Short, simple and out of there within 20 minutes. We found ourselves in front of the kids play area next, but just pretty much walked through it, even though it was ages 12 and under, it was pretty much for little kids. On to the "food of Ghibli" special exhibit (which was pretty hilarious after eating real food at their café)- plastic models and pictures of how they have the most delicious things showcased in their films. On to the next area where they showcased their films in every language/region released. Seeing the different covers for DVD's, Blu-Rays, LP's, VHS and CD's was really interesting here and it actually dumped us into a room with an adult sized catbus! A real surprise as I was under the impression the small one in the kids room was again going to be the only version here. The disappointment faced at the museum in Tokyo. But now we could go inside and get pictures, woot!

After walking through the entire open facility where there were open sets for Arietty and Castle in the Sky (along with random Mononoke along the way, seen here), along with Baba's workshop from Spirited Away and a replicated Miyazaki desk/workroom, there were two "buildings" left. One was a covered warehouse where you were on an elevated walkway with a large variety of items "in storage" below you. Dimly lit, on purpose and very atmospheric (a good camera or phone camera snaps great shots in here). The only one left now was the "red building" a we decided to get in the very very very long line as by poking our head around, we realized this is where all of the newsfeeds got their pictures from, it was where various Ghibli scenes were scaled up to life size so you could take a picture of yourself in the action. Referring back to one of my first pictures here, this was the "red building" when we first entered and went about our business. When we finally got in line for it closer to 3PM (closing time is 5PM and there is a second timed entry at 2PM), the line was a solid hour long to just get into the first scene. Yes, go to the red building FIRST (whoops).

Pictures were taken, fun was had and luck would have it we got the best picture of the entire trip when the kiddo attempted to 'pretend' getting punch by a Porco Rosso statue and ended up actually falling down. This provided comic relief for the rest of the day (trip... year...) and was worth the wait. A good amount of time spent in the overpacked gift shop (very high prices for Japan, but think going to Disneyland, it's the same thing, stuff you won't find anywhere else). And we emerged back outside. Unfortunately none of the other parts of the park were either open, or open to foreign visitors yet, but you could see the construction taking place and some buildings in the background. On the visitor brochure they also discussed this large gate that actually came from a Chinese restaurant, but was used as the real life inspiration for Spirited Away. We were allowed up to the gate area and to a small area just inside with some statues and other things, however further down that trail started Totoro Forest and another ticket would be needed to enter there, so we headed back to the station. 

We took a breather at the rest area and 7-11 I mentioned previously before heading back up to the train. The outside gate from this side was decorated with icons of Ghibli dates such as when their first film was released and formations of relationships, etc. - it was a pretty nice touch. Our next stop was Nagoya where we would spend the next two days. Nagoya is a very fast up and coming major city in Japan and I wanted to scope it out for future information so we would stay, for just a little while.

Train trip was pretty forgetful, it was all a blur at this point. The local system did drop us on the literal block of our hotel though, which was a very nice change. Hotel check-in was smooth and it was early enough (5-5:30PM?) that we checked Google and decided to hit up the Nagoya tower before it got dark as it was a bit out of our way and would be difficult to fit into the next day. Unfortunately, Google isn't always correct and it seemed they closed early on days there weren't many visitors and this was one of those days, making it a bit of a waste of the 1,800Y taxi fair and ten minutes there. The night would end with a trip over to the local (large) Don Quixote for a new roller bag (we ended up purchasing a very cute yellow roller with a Pikachu picture on it, perhaps I'll snap a picture for here later) and then walking back to the hotel (25 minutes or so total), grabbing a burger and eating in the hotel tonight. It was a very long day and we were just sorta done. But, there was the photo.

Day 10 - Matsumoto and the Black Castle

Early morning with another Shinkansen ride.  This time it was off to one of the most anticipated stops, Matsumoto. I went all in with this one, booking a traditional ryokan hotel with onsen and Japanese-style room just a few blocks from the castle. What castle you might ask? Well, 2 visits, both with Hime-ji "the white heron castle" visited both times. One of Japan's few remaining original structure castles, what you see on any postcard of "traditional" Japan and we got the treat of seeing it right before and right after restoration. But we had seen enough of the "white castle", this trip was all about the "black castle" and boy was I waiting to see how it would compare. 

Shinkansen rides are always a time for catching up and getting things back into order for me. Now packed with a bag of snacks (literally), another quick breakfast and a charged laptop, that's where a lot of my "work" such as updating social media, organizing pictures and even drafting these entries happened and this was no exception. Two hours straight on the shinkansen to Nagoya Station and then a local rapid straight to Matsumoto would be the only trains we would need to see today, Matsumoto is very centrally laid out around the castle (look up a map of the city sometime, it's very interesting), so just walking, biking or small taxi rides/car rides is all it takes to commute pretty easily. Having our heavy backpacks with us and seeing the walk was well over twenty minutes from the station and a taxi stand right in front of us, it was a no brainer to just have one take us over to our accommodations at Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu.

We quickly drop our bags off at the hotel, being surprised by the first native English speaker on this journey made that process much smoother than it could have been. I then wanted to head over to a café I heard about years ago called "Storyhouse Café" located on Nawate (Frog) Street, run by a sweet couple where the husband was from Canada and the wife a local. They host local Jazz bands, run it completely bilingual and serve a mix of drinks and casual food. Again, refreshing to be able to speak simple English for a few minutes and have a short conversation with the owner before being on our way. The food was simple and nothing to really write home about, but getting a Matcha latte with Almond milk and a small burger was enough to satisfy me. The atmosphere was also very laid back, a vibe I was getting from the entire town.

After lunch, it was on to the main attraction, Matsumoto Castle! We were hopeful there would be some English language tour service as we had seen with Hime-ji and were not disappointed with the stand immediatley in front of the entrance stating "free English tours here". Yay! We were paired up with a nice Japanese ladies probably in her 50's that spoke English fairly well and was versed in the history of both the castle and area. She seemed surprised that a family of 3 to include an 11-year old were more interested in the authentic history of the castle and area rather than more shallow things, I suppose? I'm not sure what her normal tourists ask about, but it seemed we were a bit more versed and unusual. We learned about the history of the castle being built in the 1600's, the families that had occupied it, how the grounds had gone from private to publicly owned and a little bit on the castle structure itself and how the second smaller building was newer and constructed to host special elite guests of the time overnight to boost the status of Matsumoto. The grounds and castle were smaller than Hime-ji, but so impeccably kept and much quieter than what we were expecting for such a nice Sunday afternoon (busy, but no overly so). Unlike Hime-ji, the tour only lasted until we got in line to enter the castle itself, but provided more than enough information for us to then tour inside on our own and finish walking the grounds where they had a small shop and snack area set up. Before departing, our tour guide also gave us the tip to come back in the evening as the area is lit up and stays open instead of the normal "dawn to dusk" hours we've encountered elsewhere, a very good tip indeed. The inside of the structure was indeed original, with the signature narrow stairs and wood quarters. They also boasted a very large gun collection precured from a local man after he passed away and his family donated them, which was unusual to see. I believe we were here for about two hours in all, but it was a great time and not to be missed if you find yourself in Nagoya at all. I've also been told that in winter, instead of simple lights (I'll talk about that later here), they do full illuminations.

Matsumoto was quickly shaping up to be my favorite stop. We grabbed a few items at the shop, a souvenir coin and snack before heading back over to Nawate Street for further shopping and perusing. We now had to stay active until evening to come back for the night time view! The walk between the hotel, castle, Nawate Street and surrounding areas was on the back alley's and streets that reminded me the most so far of Kyoto with the traditional feel. This particular Sunday we were able to catch a small flea market setup with some local handicrafts (we bought a wooden cat spoon for 1,000Y) and snacks. This particular snack was a giant cotton  

candy for a mere 600Y, with no waiting might I add. These sort of things are about 1,200Y in Osaka and Tokyo with waiting and likely just a boring rainbow instead of a bear! We then walked the street slowly and ducked into a few shops after our "snacks" (we also got shaved ice I didn't take a picture of). So many little frog items, as one should expect! While eating at one of the benches facing the canal just off the road, we spotted some bunnies. Not know exactly what was "native" to this part of Japan I had no clue if they were wild or what. There were several places you could walk down stairs and get closer to the canal, so Terra headed down to get a better look. Turned out an

older gentleman had about 5 "pet bunnies" just hopping around down there, looked like he was with a slightly younger lady and spoke just enough English to understand she wanted to pet/feed/take pictures with them, gave her a few carrots to do just that. They had cute little bows and ice packs to also cool down on (even though it must have only been 70F outside at this time). It was so cute and unexpected, another charm of Matsumoto. Having done some shopping and eating, and knowing we still needed to do laundry again, it was time to head back to the hotel for a few hours before waiting for nightfall, dinner and an illuminated castle. The room was super comfortable and easy to relax in, the washer/dryer situation was not ideal, but at least closer than in the Akita hotel. I think the machines were 30 years old and it did, once again, take about 3 rounds of 30 minutes to dry our 2 days worth of clothing. But by now I learned it was what it was and at least had enough coins for it to not be too much of a hastle.

2-3 hours later, after a little organizing and planning, we headed out to what we thought would be the Soba shop the owner of Storytime Cafe recommended. Unfortunately they were closed for some reason (timing, day?), so we walked a little aimlessly trying to find dinner as the sun set. Stumbled into a Parco ("normal") mall thinking they would have a food court... they did not. After about 45 minutes of walk both the streets and the mall we happened across an Italian Steakhouse with a Japanese fusion menu... they is the best way I could describe it. Fully bilingual menus and staff were enough for us and so they were able to get "steaks" (maybe sirloin? nothing fancy) and I got a spaghetti/hamburg fusion dish. It was interesting and tasty, but nothing to "write home" about. I was glad we got a full meal in without hassle though.

As everything is built around the castle, I believe we ended up not 3-4 blocks away from it, so the walk over to see it illuminated was quick. It was so much worth it, a little bit more people than we had thought were out there (most were obviously tourists), though we did have fun taking pictures of a swan that obviously thought it was all his domain. It was a very nice night and the illumination were so pretty, one of my favorite times/spots of the whole vacation. The last part of the night was the construction going on just outside the castle that we aptly named the "giraffe rave". Out of all our travels, never have I seen a construction zone in or outside of Japan exactly like this. We do have video I'll have to see if I can upload somewhere later, a photo just does not do it justice!

After a lot of laughs and a slow stroll back to the hotel, it was time for another dunk in an onsen and sleep.

Day 9 - Akita to Omiya - Idols, Bonsai and Arcades!

I'll start this entry with an abridged version of the hemming and hawing we did regarding the day 9 plan. We walked through it so many times and I thought we'd be okay, but come the evening on day 8, it was a whole new ballgame. The plan? To take a main train as close to Nagaoka as we could get, then hop on to two local lines to a very small town and rent a car, the car drive would then be 30 minutes through the country to the beach. The rental was already reserved and the beach house was nearly $400USD for the night and non-refundable, a place called "日本海夕日ヴィラOne Story" on Agoda, located in Nagaoka. We were paying attention on this long ride out to Akita and saw the wide open roads, nothing for miles and lack of English anywhere at all. It broke down to not being too nervous to drive, but too nervous to deal with renting the car, filling it with gas (or if that was even needed?) and returning the car in a timely manner. We discussed and discussed some more and finally arrived at just not doing it. Instead, I was able to locate a hotel in a place called Omiya, just outside of Tokyo, which had a direct train route both from Akita and to Matsumoto. Candeo Hotels Omiya was booked and we had a whole new plan for day 9. This one involved sticking around Akita for just a tad longer, there were dogs to see at "Akita Dog Station" (true name) and they didn't open until 11AM.

Ready to get on with the day, we check-out and leave our bags with the aforementioned, way-too-helpful staff at our Akita hotel. With time to burn, we ended up walking up to Senshu park and the ruins of Kuboto castle- an area I wasn't even aware of until we literally just started walking around what surrounded us. It ended up being a very open public park area, up a winding path and a bit of a hill, but not too hard to walk through. There were some torii gates, a small waterfall and what appeared to be boy scouts (Japanese equivalent?) doing a ceremony of some kind here, there weren't too many people out and about as it was still early (9AM-11AM range), which was always nice. There were some very interesting structures and a museum looking part of a restored building, but unfortunately we didn't have time to go in. There was also a couple of shops/snack areas, but we also did not stop for them. Maybe next time if we end up in Akita for longer there will be time for exploring. Also a reason why I put a * on Akita as being my least favorite stop. Where I did not enjoy the station center, getting lost in the malls and the surrounding facilities, the park was nice and I'm sure given the chance there were plenty of good things here as well.

Being hyper aware of our timing for the day (which was knocked completely off by the change in plans), we wanted to get to the Akita Dog Station right before they opened at 11AM. Not being sure what to expect, we got there about 10 minutes before and had to wait for the dogs to arrive and doors to open. It turned out to be a literally cubby hole of a shop, selling Akita inu and city branded goods (postcards, books, stuffed animals, dog treats, snacks) with a small gated side that opened to a 4 cubby windowed views. This is where they would put the Akita's that were visiting for the day. This particular morning we had the female gray dog here being swept in (I don't know where they walked them from, but it wasn't too far away). She seemed super hyper and the trainer/worker had a hard time getting her in there, but she seemed content and fed with plenty of treats once she was there. I think they take shifts of less than an hour and are only open a few hours every few days. It's a bit of an odd tourist draw. You can't pet, touch or play with them, just see them through the window, which was a bit disappointing. 

A few pictures taken, items purchased and it was back to Akita station to grab our bags and hop on the train. Omiya was a bit further away than our original destination, but it was a straight shot. We stopped at a bakery right outside the Dog Station to get sandwiches and curry buns for the train this time, since it was going to be 4 hours and we were getting the hang of how not to starve to death by now. The train ride was quicker than the scenic, but still filled with the scenery we were quickly becoming accustomed to. There was never a complaint as looking at the window and seeing this is nothing short of relaxing. The rides themselves were always smooth and having something as simple as a clean restroom to use when you needed it and food on hand to eat made it feel like you were actually on vacation and not just running around to the next destination. We truly became familiar with the train system at this point and were able to "experience" it for the first time in three attempts.

If you are keeping track here and able to do some math, you'll know right around this point what comes next. Yup, we arrived in Omiya RIGHT before rush hour! Did I mention this was a Tokyo suburb? Yeah, we weren't in the countryside anymore and that was super apparent. A quick, what felt like, jog to our hotel (about 15 minutes if taking a straight shot) from the station to drop our bags and right back out the door we went. Getting there so late in the day, we weren't sure exactly what to do, but were quickly sidetracked by an idol (boy band) concert taking place right in front of the station! We were no strangers to this happening, as we've stumbled across these performances in the past, however they were usually inside malls and part of festivals/celebrations. Not just being put on in front of a train station in what seemed randomly on a Saturday evening. A few of the dancers were cute and you could tell they had all of the pop idol charms that are cliché. Entertaining for a song or two, but with the crowds and wanting to get in SOME sight seeing before dark, we left before too long. Terra seemed to think it was pretty cool though and I think I'd like to purposely attend one of these on a future trip.

Never regretting keeping all of my Japan newsletters, prior planning notes and NHK programming thoughts together, I was aware of Omiya and what it had to offer. They boast a manga museum, "Bonsai Village" and were rapidly expanding with new malls and hubs to become more large city centralized. It was unfortunate that we only would get a taste of this town and it would be after most of the buildings had closed, but I figured at least walking around the area would give me a good idea if it would be worth returning to in a future visit. The "Saitama City Cartoon Art Museum" looked pretty cool once we arrived! It was in an old-styled building (I believe it was newer construction, but made in a traditional style) with Koi garden out front. The residential neighborhood surrounding it was all within "Bonsai Village". There was a central "Bonsai Museum", it was sadly already closed for the evening as well, but the small tourist shop with maps of the local area and hot spots on where the small parks were and participating houses was still open though. We precured a map and just went for a stroll. Once again amazed by how quiet and rural it seemed to be just 5 stops up from the centralized Omiya area and crowds we just left, to quote Weathering with You "Tokyo sure is amazing". 

The area itself was super interesting, but spread out and a little hard to understand where the "bonsai" all were. We instead opted to just looking around and would spot little clusters of them outside of what appeared to be normal houses, but I think that's all it was outside of the museum! Some of them were so cute and you could tell it was this common thread amongst the residents here. Such a neat idea.

After an hour or so of walking, it was time to go eat a decent dinner. I had time to do some quick research on the train ride out here and came across a new mall complex called "Cocoon City" (yeah, creepy name, I know). It seemed like a promising area to explore, grab some "food court" style food, possibly some dessert and then head in for the night, so off again we were. It was only a short 20 minute or so ride to a station that dropped us right into the complex. The shopping mall area was very large and appeared to be three or four malls connected by outdoor walkways.  As soon as we walked into one of the main indoor areas, we here the clacking sound of paddles and I knew what it was! The hard candy with little designs in the middle, a "show" I had meant to catch during New Year's our last visit, but we didn't get the chance.

Unfortunately, we caught this particular show right at the end, something to keep in mind for the future mall visits however as we bought a small jar to enjoy later (more info on this candy, see youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-3Xe7RMg3w). Landing ourselves in the food court after some exploring, I was able to get a delicious bowl of Udon while Matt and Terra bought Gyudon, everything was pretty darn good for food court food. Afterwards we splurged on crepes, that could then be enjoyed in the outdoor area just outside the food court complex. It was an interesting indoor/outdoor area. With full bellies, it was time to indulge Terra in her everyday request of visiting an arcade. We hadn't been able to hit up too many yet as we were outside of major city districts, there were some nearby as we were just outside of Tokyo. (photo just outside the mall complex before hopping back on the train)

We get back to the main Omiya station in time for Saturday night parties to begin, little did we anticipate. The main shopping/station area was apparently party central and the first time we were exposed to night life Tokyo out on the streets. Tons of smoking, cursing (yes, I could tell) and side eyeing by having an 11-year old out there past dark (it was about 7-8PM, to be fair).  We were able to pop into a few arcades to check out UFO catchers (still not buying/collecting items at this point) and play some Rhythm/Taiko games. After not feeling welcome for a bit, it was time to go turn in for the night. This hotel happened to have an onsen/spa downstairs, so after Terra insisted, we headed downstairs to check it out. It was the first time I turned out to be brave enough for this whole "public bathing" thing. It was a weird mix of not knowing what to do, not sure if I was doing it right, trying to keep my eyes to myself, and then relaxing in a very hot bath for a few minutes. I still don't know if we did everything right, but there were at least other kids there, however Terra stated the girl a few years younger than her kept "staring". I don't know, but we got our bath, "relaxed" for a few and can now state we've done it, so there's that. Back in the room, we were treated to the night city skyline for a few before looking forward to what tomorrow might bring (castle!)

Day 8 - Scenic train, Akita and the mall to get lost in

Woke up pretty early to a rainy, little chilly, Aomori. We were in the northern most part of the main island, and that was more evident than ever with the June rainy season chill in the air. I was hungry for breakfast and refused to pay the outlandish price (I believe it was something like 2,600Y per person) for the hotel offerings, so I went for a walk by myself to find a konbini or really any place that could provide anything to eat. Walking to the left side of our hotel, there was a main shopping arcade (mostly with a covering over the walking area, which was nice in the rain), but sadly nothing was open there yet. After going down 5-6 blocks and only seeing the occasional jogger or person walking their dog, I decided to head back down and go the opposite direction from our hotel, facing the tourist center once again. I happened by a larger konbini (the kind that even had a parking lot) less that two blocks in this direction and was able to precure the "normal" of boiled eggs, muffin/bread items and a juice or two. This is just enough to hold us off until a larger meal, but always helped to supplement the absurd amount of water I had to drink before really heading out to start the day.

On this trip, I always took the time to breath in the fresh air and take a little deeper look around the area(s) we stayed in. The quieter moments are what I find myself treasuring the most out of the safe Japan streets. I could never walk around a main town in the US by myself with next to nobody around and feel like this. The random torii gates and shrines provide me with a certain sense of connection and appreciation as well.  After returning to the hotel, downing "breakfast" and demonstrating my perfected ability of repacking into two backpacks, off we were. By the time all of us made it outside to trek for the train station it was legitimately raining, what would turn out to be one of the heaviest downpours we'd get stuck in the entire trip. I'd be lying if I said it was "no big deal". I tried to hail a cab to get around the issue, but we had no luck and were in enough of a rush with confusion as to "exactly" what station we were starting the scenic train from that we just wanted to get on and be able to relax again. We were all pretty much soaked through by the end of the 15 minute walk with fully packed bags on our back and it wasn't pretty. Throw into the fray that we were confused what station our scenic train started from as there were two "Aomori" stations and the signs in the station we were using seemed to say the scenic train ran from the one a stop away station "Aomori" and not "Shin-Aomori" from which we were staying near. We felt that the sign would have the correct information and headed over to that station (during rush hour, which was busy, but not Tokyo busy) only to not understand where it was an ask the station manager. He explained it started from multiple lines depending on the stop on your ticket and ours, was in fact, for the "Shin-Aomori" station we original went to and just came from. Oops! Back we went, as we were slowing naturally drying out, to the original station. Luckily, we still had about 15 minutes in our pocket, but it wasn't enough to truly feel comfortable to stop and eat or do anything leisurely. 

We were, in fact, now in the right place and the train pulled up exactly on time. In the back of my mind I was both relieved and worried. None of us had much more then a konbini snack and this was a "scenic train" we'd be on for about 5 1/2 hours, until 2PM or so, well past lunch time. I wasn't sure if there would be any stops or snack service on such a train and our snack bag didn't have too much left in it... The train itself was "old style", but very spacious and had a real charm to it. As everything was in Japan, even if it looked old, it was very clean. 

We timed this so there wouldn't be too high of demand (no fall foliage or cherry blossoms to see right now) during a weekday morning and got just that. There weren't more than 3 or 4 people in our back car at any given time during the ride and generally speaking we could use the larger observation seating (seen in the second picture) at any time. The train "turned" several times so our back would become the front, which made for optimal viewing. There were several artisan's that came on board for a few stops to sell wares, we got a cute hand carved lion for Terra, but sadly no handmade meals!

Queue the picture dump here (maybe I'll make an album eventually). We were on this one train the entire time, it was a "train" day to say the least. Not my optimal cup of tea, but both Terra and Matt were really enjoying themselves and that was great. The amount of pictures taken were proof enough of that. It was a relaxing enough ride, I enjoyed being able to walk around the car and seeing the ocean for a good bit of the journey. We ended up stopping twice, once for a very brief picture chance (5 minutes or so) and another where we could swear he said "15 minutes", but I think it ended up being 30 or so? It was at a rocky beach area and there was small rest house I could swear there might even have been food at, but I was too chicken to stay away from the train that long. We stuck with the other passengers when it came to walking around the beach and taking pictures and then scuttled back as soon as we saw the first few people leave. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure it was 30 minutes and we could've gotten food, but who knows. Oh yeah, food? There basically was none, so there was that too. If you ever plan on a long train journey, I'm going to state it again, BRING FOOD. The bento boxes are at the stations for a reason! They did luckily have a small food/snack stand that was self serve, so we had some cookies, chips and chocolates, but actual lunch would have been much tastier. Oh, and these little apple pie things, local for Aomori. I was thankful for those and they were really good!

At the end of this scenic journey was Akita. Oddly enough, though they advertise it EVERYWHERE and it's the first thing you see when you walk off the train, it's not that easy to meet an Akita Inu (dog) here! There is a small section of the station (like, gated?) where they bring one to great people one weekday and one Saturday a week for a few hours and then a side station, about 20 minutes from this main station where you can meet them via a window greeting and buy merchandise a few times a week for limited hours and that's it. The main "area" of Akita PREFECTURE (there is both a city and prefecture at play here) that centers around the dogs is called Odate, and actually 2-3 hours away from the city of Akita. Once I found this out while planning the scenic train portion of this trip, we knew there was no way we could get Odate to work, so here we were, working with what we had. Which really wasn't too bad!

The hotel we were at for the night only needed to be two things (1)- close to the stations and (2)-have laundry facilities. Hotel Metropolitan Akita turns out to be one of the swanky places I still couldn't believe was under $100USD/night. To stay at a place half as nice as this in the US would cost 3x or more, especially given that is was attached to both a large mall and train station. The service here was the first time we dealt with what felt like true English speaking staff and they obliged to every request with a smile. I almost felt bad as they were so willing to help and you simply don't tip in Japan! We were able to drop our bags off with them since we arrived early and then immediately head out to get some real food to eat. 

Being overly hungry and in a complex of malls (Fonte and OPA) surrounding Akita station turned out to be my least favorite stop of the trip. It was confusing, easy to get lost and crowded. Due to these facts we were all a bit cranky and ended up at a MOS burger, which was below ideal. The burgers here were small and greasy, the fries barely passable, but it was food. I didn't "dislike" Akita, we barely made it out of this city center in the 20 hours we stayed to be fair, but it simply wasn't my favorite. It still had some residential, canals and Japan feels nearby. We were able to hit up our first Animate of the trip, stop by a handful of Gatcha machines and Terra decided to beg for Baskin Robbins ice cream after we had lunch. It had been a long day, which likely had something to do with the amount of times I circled the mall trying to get to/from our room, find food, do laundry and finally rest. I don't think I spent more than an hour awake in this hotel room before it was time to be done for the night. 

Before ending the day, I'd like to dive into the area just a bit more. The hotel only had 3 "all in one" laundry machines (they wash and dry), but they required coins and were all the way through the lobby and nearly out the door to the back alley. It would've been super sketchy for anywhere except Japan. The dryer (which is normal) took FOREVER to dry and did annoy me as I didn't have enough coins to get it going again at one point. Also turned out to be a vending machine wasteland (which meant we had to walk 2 blocks to find one and get coins instead of 10 feet, lol). While waiting for it to dry, I took Terra back into the connected mall where we purchased pork buns for dinner. I had been waiting for good "homestyle" steamed buns the entire trip and these were not a disappointment. Thought it was funny the salesman gave us samples and tried his best English to explain to us what they were, we knew and were already buying them when we came up to the counter! Ha!

Anyway, laundry, dinner in the room and crashing was all that was left for the night. Oh, and a discussion on how we were going to chicken out of the beach house for day 9. I'll start the next day with how that shakes out.

Day 7 - Off to Aomori

Knowing the train schedules and when our check-in time in Aomori was, we didn't have a super rushed day planned. The basics were to not get lost on the Hokuto Train to Shinkansen transfer and then make sure we made it to our Shinkansen reserved seats on time to make it straight to Aomori. There's not a whole lot to say or pictures being taken during this time, we were keeping our heads above water by making sure there were snacks, meals being eaten and the bags/items weren't being left behind. It was hectic and slow at the same time and I was simply enjoying the ride. The Hokuto was about 2 hours to the Shinkansen, which was then another 3 to get us back to Honshu and there weren't too many opportunities to eat on either, which continued to be top of mind and a piece of advice I'd like to pass on to anyone traveling the country, especially with a kiddo in tow. Always stop at the Lawson (or any Kobini) for a sandwich or onigiri if you know you don't have enough time to really eat and that's exactly what we did.

    Speaking of food, this was the first picture I had off the train. I'll glaze over the Shinkansen transfer to Aomori station and the 15 minute walk to Hotel JAL City Aomori. There wasn't a lot to note here, we walked from the station, to the hotel, back to the Starbucks and general shopping area (on the smaller scale compared to Sapporo, but still plenty to do/see and the necessities were covered), Matt ran to the drug store to get something for his cough (I blame Hokkaido allergies, one word of caution there) and then we walked around a small restaurant area where we decided to duck into Ootoya for dinner, which is pictured here. The exact traditional meal we had been craving, it was so good! And as was normal at this point, 3 full course meals came out to something like 2,800Y

Nebuta Museum WA RASSE was the only real attraction/tourist spot I saw when searching around for "things to do in Aomori" that would align with our timing. We were only here for one night, not arriving until 3PM, having to get a meal and then back on the sightseeing train early the next morning. I didn't expect too much from the museum, but it did look pretty cool, demonstrating and housing floats from the city's famous parade from the past years. However, after paying the small entrance fee (620Y adults, 260Y kids) and walking down the welcoming hall into the "warehouse style" museum, it was apparent how much in aw we would be. The floats were unlike anything I'd ever seen before. With our timings to Japan in the past, we've managed to miss any potential attendance to a real festival or parade (this trip being no exception), so this was a real treat. The floats themselves were HUGE, much larger than I would ever imagine could be walked around the roads of this little town. We spent the entire hour we had before closing looking around and being astounded by the craftsmanship and detail in each float on display. Being able to see some deconstructed parts and award winners of the past up close was a highlight. The museum closed at 7PM, which was about 30-45 minutes before the sun set, but there were no regrets.

After emerging from the museum, we found ourselves on the bay, like, directly on the bay.  There was a large facility to our left (which turned out to be A-Factory for their apple production, but it was sadly already closed), photo spots in front of the water and then a large area to walk down, heading back in the direction of our hotel, working itself out perfectly. The weather was overcast and not more than 70F so taking a stroll was in the books for the evening. Once again, many more pictures were taken than I can showcase here, but take my word for it that this was a great spot for snapping pics.

The bay and night were gorgeous in their own right and we really appreciated the laid back feeling people in Aomori exuded. Realizing our time in this town was way too short, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up back here again in future visits. I could not recommend a few days here enough, I'd like to be able to review more of the local food, nature further out and touring that A-Factory along with a visit to their very distinct visitor center (pyramid shaped, seen below). We were also treated to the back alley view of where the floats are prepared. The tents had small little windows where you could see them hard at work for the festival that was upcoming in the beginning of August, less than two months from our time there. I'd also love to go back to see these floats in action! It's one of the largest festivals in Japan and between the Apples and festival, it's a fight to see what Aomori is more famous for. They were both wonderful. The night wrapped up uneventfully as we walked slowly back to the hotel. I would like to note what an expert I became starting night one at unpacking two full backpacks and then repacking them in record time each day! I even kept my own shampoo, conditioner, clothing for me and the kid, makeup and the needed electronics in good working condition and cleaned regularly. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! But did require a considerable amount of planning, time and energy.