bel amer

For the last weekday of Golden Week, Friday, I had planned for Satoshi and I to go eat soft serve because Saturday and Sunday was supposed to rain.

And then late Thursday night his tour guide friends emailed him and he decided to go out with them instead...boo

So I went by myself…ha

The backstory: Just as the pandemic started in 2020, I was walking around our area so that I wouldn’t ride the train.

On one of those walks, I stumbled upon the factory that makes Bel Amer's products.

Bel Amer makes chocolates as well as chocolate baked items and their products are sold in many department stores in Japan

I've tried Bel Amer's soft serve way back when I went to Kyoto.

And tried their chocolates here.

Fast forward..In front of their factory shop they have a sign for soft serve and every time I would pass by, I told myself that when wearing masks wasn't totally mandatory, I would come back for soft serve

Anyway, I finally got to do just that.

From where we live it is about a 20 minute walk.

Unfortunately, there are no benches around the shop so I stood in front of a condo next door under one of their trees and ate my cone, at almost an inhaling pace because it was so warm on Friday, that it was melting fast!

Today, May 8th...Japan downgrades COVID from pandemic to influenza level.

Everyone is now allowed to enter Japan without having to test for COVID and no need to show proof of vaccination

Back in March the government left it to us as to whether we wanted to mask or not from here on..

Well they and the media are now making commentary and wondering out loud as to why no one has stopped masking…um you left it up to our discretion?! no grumble as to what we’ve decided…WT?!

I still wear my mask especially in stores and on public transportation.

I still takeout whenever possible and if we are eating at the restaurant, I wait until the food comes before removing my mask.

If I’m out walking and no one else is around I take my mask off for a little while then put it back on if I see someone coming towards me.

Changing the subject, over the weekend there was a large earthquake in Ishikawa prefecture, a lot of areas around them felt the quake but we didn’t.

Hoping they will be able to return to their daily routines soon.

I hope you are doing well where you are.

Have a good week!