shima onsen-takasaki-tokyo

The next morning, the owner put all our futon away and then brought breakfast.

A lot of things...including natto and what we thought was a raw egg, turned out to be an onsen tamago (soft boiled egg)...whew!

After breakfast, the owner brought us back to the bus stop and we caught the bus back to Nakanojo station.

From there it was about an hour and a half by train to Takasaki.

Apparently, Gunma is the leading producer of daruma (the Japanese traditional doll modeled after the founder of Zen Buddhism).

We then caught the community bus to the Byakue Kannon.

This statue is 41.8 meters (137 feet) and you can climb the stairs all the way up to its shoulders (Satoshi did! (300 yen admission))

From the shoulder of the Kannon, you can see the city of Takasaki (Satoshi's photo).

Lunch (kind of sorta) was miso oden at Seishotei, a local dish.

Skewered pieces of konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly) slathered with a slightly sweet miso sauce.

Since it was near the end of the year, most of the shops in the area were closed, but I liked the atmosphere of their shopping arcade.

Back at Takasaki station, we picked up some snacks for the ride back to Tokyo.

I bought a sauce katsu sandwich by Fukuro.

Super thick pieces of pork that was very tender!

Satoshi bought a kamameshi bento that came with a teeny container of tsukemono.

Umeboshi (pickled apricots) not too sour, nor too salty, nor too sweet.

Oh em gee, this arare (rice cracker) topped with a savory caramel and shimonita leeks was so good! (wish I had bought more!)

And this shimonita leek wafer made by the same company as the arare above (Tsutsujian)...was also super tasty!

There was also some fried udon coated with curry powder that was good too (forgot to take a photo of it).

From Takasaki, it took us several hours to get back to the area where we live in Tokyo.

It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed ourselves....Hope you enjoyed this trip as well...

p.s. If you look under "Photo Gallery" under "Gunma" you can view some other photos not on these posts.

Byakue Kannon
2710-1 Ishihara-machi
Takasaki-shi, Gunma
Phone: 027.322.2269