sai-shimokita-aomori-asamushi onsen

In my previous travel post, I forgot to mention a couple of things...at Mount Osore, they have mediums that help you connect with your deceased loved ones (for a fee), they are called "itako" in Japanese.

One family that was staying at the lodge at the same time we were there, was interested in connecting with their loved one, but at the last minute got cold feet.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that Ooma is the most northern point of Honshu and they even have a monument for it (see photo above).

Okay, now on to today's post...

The next morning, we awoke to drizzles.

Breakfast was an assortment of things, including some seafood like ika (squid).

The nori was thicker and "rougher" than I was used to, I think the owner makes her own.

Since Satoshi said that public transportation ends at Sai, he had originally thought we might take a sightseeing cruise of the area past Sai, and maybe even take a ferry back to Aomori, but since it was raining, we decided we might not be able too many sights from the boat and it probably wouldn't be too nice if the ride turned choppy.

So, we caught the bus from Sai all the way back to Shimokita...2 hours or so.

And another 2 hours or so from Shimokita to Aomori by train.

The temperature had dropped quite a bit with the rain, so we went in search of ramen for lunch.

Miso Curry Milk Ramen from Aji no Sapporo Onishi.

The family that runs this shop is originally from Hokkaido.

I know it sounds weird, maybe even a little too much going on with flavors, but the miso gives the soup a salty component, the curry a spicy component, and the milk balances everything out.

They even top the ramen with a pat of butter, to give it some richness.

I'm not too sure what the base of the soup was.

I liked that the noodles were a bit firm.

The toppings were wakame (seaweed), bean sprouts, menma (bamboo shoots) and char siu (roast pork).

Even at 1-ish in the afternoon, we had to wait for seats, but the line moved quite quickly.

I really liked that Aomori's city streets had apple trees everywhere! Cute tiny crab apples and even regular sized fuji apples too.

I wondered if people that live there were allowed to pick fruit from the trees?

Then we were off to Asamushi Onsen (about 40 minutes by train from Aomori).

At this point it was drizzling quite steadily.

After checking in, we warmed up in the onsen, rested a bit then went down for dinner.

The dinner was a variety of foods.

Starting off with a little assortment of appetizers and raw fish.

There was even matsutake (mushroom--its price is based on quality, availability and origin) dobin mushi (a traditional Japanese seafood broth, steamed and served in a dobin tea pot with lime, and matsutake).

Then you could choose all sorts of things from their buffet.

We enjoyed this type of dining and everything was delicious.

After dinner, everyone was invited to a Tsugaru Shamisen show in the lobby.

It was quite a long day and we hoped the weather would get better for the next part of our adventure.

Aji no Sapporo Onishi
1-15-16 Furukawa
Aomori City, Aomori
Phone: 017.723.1036
Hours: 11:00-21:30

Nambuya Kaisenkaku
31 Hotarudani Asamushi
Aomori City, Aomori
Phone: 017.752.4411