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

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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