yudanaka-obuse-shinshu nakano

Breakfast the next morning also had more Nagano items like miso with shoga

An unusual item was the soy meat simmered with ginger

After checking out we explored the Shibu Onsen area which is about 32 minutes walking from where we were staying.

Kanaguya was apparently a model in the Ghibli film "Spirited Away"

Again, the fall colors were very vibrant!

We then explored the upper area of Yudanaka where the Sekai Heiwa (World Peace) Kannon is

It was cool to see apples growing along the roadway

We also explored Issa's walk, Kobayashi Issa was a poet and I think he was from the Yudanaka area.

I was really impressed that this small town had wifi service everywhere!

From Yudanaka we took the train to Obuse

Obuse is known for chestnuts...in the past we tried Obusedo's mont blanc

Their kuri daifuku! was so ono

One huge chestnut is surrounded by kuri paste then wrapped with a soft mochi...

Lunch was at Masuichi Club, I tried their Shinshu Pork with apples and balsamic sauce...so so good! The pork had a crisp outer crust and the meat was so tender

Satoshi had their Shinshu Pork Ginger, he let me taste some and it was so good too.

The yamaimo (Chinese yam) pickles were so good!

After lunch we checked out the Hokusai Museum.

Apparently Hokusai was in this area for many years.

The panels in front are real, and huge! the ones on the float's ceiling above are replicas

This variety of chrysanthemum is called Hokusai tomoe nishiki...so pretty!

We saw these at the Takai Kouzan Memorial Hall

Again the fall colors were vibrant especially at the Obuse Museum and Nakajima Chinami Museum

It was a great day

From Obuse we headed back to Shinshu Nakano, to meet up with Satoshi's classmate for dinner.

Masuichi Club

807 Obuse

Kamitakai, Nagano

Open daily 11:00-22:00

Obusedo Sanpuro

500 Obuse

Kamitakai, Nagano

Open daily 9:00-17:00

Route Inn Grand

4-3-27 Nishi

Nakano, Nagano

tokyo-yudanaka

From Tokyo it takes about two hours and a half to Nagano and then about an hour to Yudanaka

Lunch was from Lawson because there didn’t seem to be anything around the station open

From Yudanaka it’s about a 40 minute ride by bus to the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park

Where the bus drops you off you then walk about 30 minutes to the park

At the entrance there is a sign indicating if there are monkeys out and about 

Bear bells on!

Luckily we did not see any bears even if there were signs that noted sightings of them

Once you reach the end of the trail there is a geyser, this is where we saw a monkey on the hillside

Climb up the stairs to the monkey park

Admission is 800 yen for adults

*TIP: if there aren’t any monkeys I would suggest not climbing up the stairs to the monkey park and save your money on the admission

otherwise, you will only see an empty hot spring for 800 yen....boo!

If you wondered how the monkeys learned how to use the hot spring... 

When the owner of the ryokan below, Korakukan, put out some apples for the monkeys and one of the apples rolled into the hot spring.

When the monkey went into the hot spring to get the apple, this was supposedly how they learned to use the hot spring.

Even if we didn't see any monkeys or bears, we were glad we were able to explore the area

We returned to Yudanaka and checked into our ryokan, Biyu no yado 

After setting down our things we went out to look for Yudanaka Onsen Pudding

It was an unmanned shop with an honor box, we ended up trying 3 puddings (flan) since they had a “sale” 3 for 1300, price of 1 was 500 yen

We tried the retro (firm), nameraka (smooth) & cinnamon apple

My favorite was the cinnamon apple because it was like a crustless custard apple pie  

We returned to the ryokan to bathe in their hot springs and get ready for dinner.

The fall colors that we saw on the way back to the ryokan were so vibrant!

Dinner was an assortment of ingredients especially found in Nagano prefecture.

I thought picking your own shiitake off of the cork like log then grilling them was cool!

They asked if we wanted to take the log home to grow more shiitake but I didn't want to lug it around, so we declined.

It was quite a long day but we got to see a lot and do a lot.

Biyu no Yado

2951-1 Hirao Yamanochi

Shimotakai, Nagano

I'll continue with our trip in the coming days, but if you are interested in seeing photos from our trip, please look here.

ambulance

Did you know that if a train is coming, the ambulance also has to wait until the train passes?

Sometimes the crossing area stays closed for some time until the train passes and whenever we see an ambulance waiting there we always worry that it won't be able to get to the person in need in time...

Another thing I noticed is that whenever they come to an intersection, they stop to make sure other cars know they are coming.

Oh and they also have speakers, so they can tell you "to move" or "thank you for moving"...(the police also have this)

What kinds of rules/actions do the ambulances in your area have?

le petit mec

I thought I posted about Le Petit Mec before but I guess I didn't

I first learned about this bakery when we lived in Osaka and I would visit Tamakikat in Kyoto.

They mostly have shops in Kyoto and in some areas of Osaka.

Back in 2019, when I went to see a movie in Hibiya, I had lunch at Le Petit Mec at Hibiya Chanter (their only shop in east Japan).

Fast forward to yesterday, I bought some items from them for lunch and dinner.

This saba (mackerel) sandwich...the bread which I think was supposed to be foccacia was too chewy/sticky, I probably should've toasted it also, but eating it as is, the texture wasn't too nice.

The fish though was perfectly cooked and seasoned simply with salt…delicious

The marron glace with coffee filling was delicious in this hard style baguette.

The base of the filling was coffee flavored cream, with bits of marron glace and walnuts here and there

And their currywurst...it got koge (burnt) because I had it in the fish grill on a timer and was doing something else...

Aunty Marialani style cooking...ha!

But I loved the snap! the curry was a little spicy and the ketchup a little sweet

It was nice to reconnect with this bakery and I'll be back whenever I am in the area.

Le Petit Mec

Hibiya Chanter 1F

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Hours: 8:00-20:00

Closed when Hibiya Chanter is

ginza hibiya yurakucho

Ginza, Hibiya and Yurakucho are relatively in the same area.

I had an errand to run in Ginza, so I also checked out Hibiya and Yurakucho

This tree was in front of Ginza Six
 

3 meter (9 foot) cat in the Nissan showroom

pocket park in Ginza

Hibiya Park's ginkgo trees were beautiful

And these other types of trees too

Near Matsumotoro, a restaurant inside Hibiya Park

The pond that Satoshi used to eat his lunch at when he worked near Hibiya

another angle

Glad I was able to see some Autumn colors

reconnect

Been reconnecting with places since it is way cooler these days...

One place is Alice, a small bakery in our area.

Their donut is a brioche type filled with blueberry cream.

I loved how this wasn't too sweet and had lots of blueberry preserves mixed in their whipped cream filling.

Their pain au chocolat had lots of chocolate...not too flaky but still delicious

Their tuna tartine has gotten smaller but at least they kinda adjusted their price to match...at one point it was nearing 400 yen! now at least it is under 300 yen...

Hope to try other new (to me) items soon

super big choco

The other day, I was out looking for these Sanrio Ziploc containers

We have many drug stores, supermarkets, DIY shops in our neighborhood, so it is sometimes easy to find things like this

After checking several places, I finally found them at one of the two Don Quixotes (Donki) that we have in our neighborhood.

Can you believe one Donki was selling them at 100 yen more?!

Anyway, when I was just about to enter Donki, a guy was outside eating this huge chocolate bar...

I couldn't find it inside the Donki I was at, so when I was at a different location, I managed to pick one up

Satoshi and I shared this...it was huge! like 10 inches long

The inside is like an airy a little salty corn snack...it reminded me of ka-ru (cheese puff minus the cheese) covered in milk chocolate

Dunno that I would buy this again, but I'm glad we got to try this

reconnect

Reconnected with Sachifukuya

When we lived in Osaka, we used to eat lunch here sometimes.

I think the menu has changed over the years

As well as they now have a robot that distributes your food...

Satoshi ordered their salmon chazuke

Kat ordered their chirimen sansho hime (princess) donburi

This came with mentaiko (pollack roe) and tororo (grated chinese yam)

Not realizing that my meal came with these two items, I gave them to Satoshi because they are not my favorite

Will order chazuke next time I'm here instead of this hime donburi...

We're glad we reconnected with this restaurant...we'll be back.

Sachifukuya

Kawasaki Azalea, B1

Kawasaki, Kanagawa

Hours: 11:00-23:00

Closed when Kawasaki Azalea is

this and that

Peanut Butter Brookie from City Bakery...peanut butter cookie on top of a brownie, love this version too
 

Satoshi received this from a co-worker...Whittard's Mango & Bergamot is a green tea base with mango and bergamot flavors...love

I spy soondubu (tofu soup) canned soup in the vending machine

MOS' avocado burger & chicken nuggets...delicious!

Marugame Udon is coming to our neighborhood...probably in January or February-ish...

been quite gloomy and cloudy, so I got a dahlia from the neighborhood flower shop

Another tea that Satoshi received from a co-worker...Whittard's Piccadilly Blend...black tea base with fruits & floral flavors...this was similar to the tea Satoshi brought back from Azerbaijan.