asamushi onsen-aomori-sendai-ishinomaki

When we awoke, it looked like it would be sunny.

Breakfast was buffet-style and I liked this sectioned tray. You could put a little of this or that into it.

No wasting of food.

After breakfast, we headed back to Aomori to check out the Aomori Museum of Art.

We were greeting by passing showers...

This huge objet, is called "Aomori-ken" by Nara Yoshitomo, an artist from Aomori.

The name of the piece is a sort of play on words, "ken" means prefecture as well as dog.

We also viewed the photo exhibit of Sawada Kyoichi, a UPI photographer, who was from Aomori that won a Pulitzer for his combat photography.

I was even interviewed by local television while at the exhibit...hope my Japanese was okay...gasp!

Lunch was this "hitokuchi darake" (literally full of one bites) eki ben (train bento).

We had seen this on tv and were happy we found this.

The lady selling the bento also gave us two bags of ikamenchi--fried fish paste, squid and veggies, so good!

I want to re-create this!

We also got a chance to ride the Tohoku Shinkansen from Shin-Aomori to Sendai...about 2 hours.

From Sendai, it was about an hour by local train to Ishinomaki.

If I'm not mistaken, this area was one of the hardest hit by the tsunami in 2011.

We asked the woman working at the tourist information office where would be a nice place to eat at.

She said Tomofukumaru.

We were in luck because it was right next door to where we were staying.

Tomofukumaru was totally destroyed with the tsunami in 2011, but due to the requests of their customers, they decided to open a shop in Ishinomaki.

Satoshi ordered their Arigato-don...all sorts of local seafood and rice grown by an Ishinomaki farmer.

I wasn't too hungry and went with their uni chazuke.

This was interesting.

The uni (sea urchin) is congealed in a collagen (gelatin) ball.

Hot water is poured over and voila, uni chazuke. There is no actual tea used in this chazuke.

I think I would've enjoyed this more had that dollop of wasabi on the side of my bowl not secretly fallen into my chazuke and disintegrated...oopsa!

At least my sinuses were clear...

Even though there is a lot of land that has not been rebuilt on, it was nice to see businesses and people moving forward.

We were glad we were in Ishinomaki.

Aomori Museum of Art
185 Chikano, Yasuta,
Aomori City, Aomori
Phone: 017.783.3000

Tomofukumaru
3-15-28 Minami-nakasato
Ishinomaki, Miyagi
Phone: 0225.22.2851
Closed Mondays
Hours: Lunch: 11:00-14:00, Dinner: 17:00-20:00

Hotel Value the Ishinomaki
3-15-37 Minami-nakasato
Ishinomaki, Miyagi
Phone: 0225.92.7567