Tuesday, September 12, 2023

okutama

Friday, we were supposed to visit Okutama, but Typhoon Yun-yeung had other plans for us.

Luckily, we didn't have any damage, other areas of Japan had flooding and damage, hopefully they can get back to their daily routines soon.

From where we live it takes about 3 hours to get to Okutama, the west area of Tokyo.

Saturday, we arrived just in time for lunch. 

I tried Okutama Kitchen's fried yamame (landlocked salmon) bento, this came with karaage, fried tofu, wakame musubi and shiso musubi.

Satoshi tried their salmon wasabi bento, since Okutama is known for their wasabi.

Both were hearty and more than enough food.

Across the street from JR Okutama station is Okuhikawa Shrine...beautiful cedars.

After lunch we headed to Nippara Limestone caves.

On the weekends, the bus cannot drive you in, so you need to walk 2 kilometers to the caves, so I enjoyed all the scenery along the way.
For me, it was kind of scary inside the caves, there were lots of wet stairs, the lights in the caves, had a glare that gave me "night blindness" making it hard for me to see sometimes.

Did you know 1 centimeter of stalagmite takes about 150 years to “grow”?!

And even if my feet are rather small, I barely fit on some of the stairs.

The “coolest” area was the wind blast at the entrance to the caves.

NOTES: if you have luggage, put it into the lockers at JR Okutama before coming here, not fun (and super scary) climbing stairs with a backpack.

Loved the green background as we waited for the bus to come pick us up 
Afterwards we shared Runway's custard pudding, so rich! delicious.

(Since they are known for their eggs, I want to go back to try their dashimaki omelettes.)

We had the pudding with Akabeko's coffee.
 
There was so much for dinner, so I’m only going to share my favorites.

Homemade konnyaku with wasabi, yuzu and hikiji.

Eaten with sumiso (vinegar mixed with miso and a little sugar)

Delicious!

Ume chawanmushi...different but love!
We also tried Sawanoi's sake which is made in Tokyo.

Honjonamazake & Pulari (umeshu) as our apertif before our meal...delicious.

The brewery is nearby in Sawai, Ome, Tokyo.

More photos, here.

Okutama was a beautiful area, nice to bond with nature
.
Okutama Kitchen
199-7 Hikawa
Okutama, Tokyo
Phone: 0428.83.2401
Closed Thursdays
Hours: 11:00-19:00 
*cash only

Nippara Limestone Caves
1052 Nippara
Okutama, Tokyo
Phone: 0428.83.8491
Open daily 9:00-17:00
Admission: 900 yen per adult, children's admission varies on age
*bus stop: Higashi Nippara on weekends 
Nippara Shonyudo on weekdays

Runway
207 Hikawa
Okutama, Tokyo
Phone: 0428.85.8687
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:00-17:00

Arasawaya
1446 Hikawa
Okutama, Tokyo
Phone: 0428.83.2365

6 comments:

  1. I wanna see the lime stone cave! we went to the one in Yamaguchi and heard there were more beautiful ones in Japan so I was trying to decide the logistics of when and where I would go.
    the food sounds so yummy!
    v

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hope you can check it out V!

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you made it through the typhoon unscathed Kat! That dinner sounds wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. soooo beautiful pictures, mahalo for sharing !!! XXOO

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Kirk, it was wonderful :)

    Jalna :)

    Dd, glad you enjoyed :)

    Take care everyone.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete

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