niigata-kamo-higashi sanjo-yahiko-tsubame sanjo

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel buffet there were some items served that were foods of Niigata, in particular, Yasuda yogurt, thick aburaage and koshihikari (variety of rice), so I made sure to try them 

After checking out, we caught the train and headed to Kamo.

It was after this photo that I "gracefully" fell while crossing the street, luckily I was wearing long sleeves...why is it that whenever I fall it is in slow motion?!

I surprised myself, Satoshi and the probably the people sitting in their car waiting for the light to change...luckily, it didn't seem like anything was broken. (just my ego...ha!)

The reason for stopping in Kamo was to see this...500 koinobori

It was something to see

Then we went across to Aoumi Shrine

And Kamoyama Park where they have a tsubaki area with about 100 different types of tsubaki (camellia)…so pretty

And the squirrel area...man, those guys run fast!

(When they let you go in or out, the people manning this area watch so the squirrels don’t get out)

Across the street is Marudai Arimoto Shoten, which has been in business since 1919, they sell varieties of local sake and we picked up some souvenirs here.

Mameten by Ohashi Shokuhin, handmade soy bean "chips"..410 yen (tax included)

Chocoman by Magara Kashiten, white bean paste filled manju is covered with chocolate...800 yen (tax included)

This product is only made during the winter because the chocolate will melt.

Magara Kashiten has been in business for over 120 years!

And then we went two stations to JR Higashi Sanjo to look for lunch...

Tarekatsu don...tare is a sauce, katsu is tonkatsu and don is short for donburi (bowl) is a popular food in this area

I ordered the mini, with no miso soup...800 yen (tax included)

Satoshi ordered the Niigata tarekatsu don...1090 yen (tax included)

So ono! the tare was a little sweet salty. The pork was tender and the panko (bread crumb) coating stays a little crisp

We then walked to find Kanegi Fruits

At the entrance we found this friendly furry one...hello!

Kanegi Fruits has been in business since 1903!

I wanted to try the Echigo Hime (area variety) strawberry, fruit sandwich...650yen (plus tax)

Satoshi chose the Honey Glow Pineapple...600 yen (plus tax)

We found a place to eat our fruit sandwiches...outside the Kita Sanjo Library!

What a beautiful building!

After eating and then checking out the library, we went to the train station to see what time we could catch the train, unfortunately, it would be over an hour wait for one, so we checked out the Blacksmith Learning Center then walked to Tsubame Sanjo.

At Tsubame Sanjo, we caught a train to Yahiko, so that we could visit Yahiko Shrine. (the train connections are sparse so be careful of the times)

This area reminded us of Nikko.

There were still some weeping cherry blossoms as well as the double type too.

We returned to Tsubame Sanjo and checked in to our hotel.

(One exit of the station connects to the Tsubame side and the other exit connects to the Sanjo side of the area.)

And then we went to look for dinner...

I had several places marked "to try" but we ended up choosing the closest, since our feet were kaput

At Mizusawa, I tried the shoga shoyu (ginger shoyu) won ton men...980 yen (tax included)

Shoga Shoyu is a popular soup base of ramen in the Nagaoka area of Niigata

Satoshi had gyoza and the shoga shoyu ramen...1200 yen (tax included)

He said the gyoza was meh

And a beer...550 yen (tax included)

What a long day...lots of walking (31759) but we got to see, do and eat everything we intended to.

Marudai Arimoto

10-9 Kokucho

Kamo, Niigata

Hours: 8:00-19:00

*cash only

Tonkatsu Sanjo

1-3-27 Higashi Sanjo

Sanjo, Niigata

Hours: 11:00-21:00

Kanegi Fruits

1-3-23 Hayashicho

Sanjo, Niigata

Closed Wednesdays & Thursdays

Hours: 9:30-18:00 (Saturdays & Sundays), 9:30-18:30 (Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays)

*cash only

Hotel New Green Tsubame Sanjo

2-116-2 Sugoro

Sanjo, Niigata

Shoga Shoyu Ramen Mizusawa

3-88 Idomaki

Tsubame, Niigata

Hours: 11:00-21:00

*cash only