hikone

On our way to Kyoto, we stopped off at Hikone to visit MIL's family grave.

We saw this huge, beautiful succulent plant.

And these delicate glass hinamatsuri (girl's day) figurines and sakura tree.

Every time we go to Hikone we pass by Pomme d'Amour, a tiny bakery with a cafe and terrace area.

I guess we go so early in the morning to visit the family grave that this bakery is never open.

We finally tried some of their baked items.

The chausson aux pommes (apple pie) was so flaky and delicious!

Satoshi had their ham baguette.

The chocolate banana danish was different but delicious!

And their sesame onion loaf was delicious toasted.

I'm glad we got to try their baked goods and we'll be back whenever we are in Hikone.

Pomme d'Amour
2-8 Tachibana-cho
Hikone, Shiga
Phone: 0749.21.3515
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 9:00-19:00

sunday

Sunday we went to meet MIL and BIL at Hikone.

We got there early, so Satoshi had an egg sandwich and I had a caramel banana cake at Micro Lady Coffee Stand.

The baked items and sandwich were made by Mashita, a pop up shop.

It was my first time trying an espresso tonic.

Strong shot of espresso, tonic water & some citrusy syrup.

Different but delicious.

We met MIL and BIL in front of Gennai, and then had unagi for lunch.

Satoshi teased me because I previously checked out their menu and knew what I wanted to order before hand...

I ordered this umaki (grilled eel is enveloped in a fluffy rolled omelette) and shared with everyone...so good!

I also had their mini unagi donburi.

The skin of the unagi is cooked until crisp. Delicious!

We then went to visit the grave of MIL's family and then reconnected with MIL's cousin's son's wife (distant relative).

The birth home of MIL's grandfather was turned into a city historic site so we weren't able to see inside the home.

Apparently it is 250 years or so old though...amazing!

The city recently refurbished the roof...bummer we hadn't reconnected with this distant relative sooner, the home was accessible up until 3 years ago.

Still, it was nice to make a connection and spend some time with MIL and BIL.

yesterday

Yesterday, we headed out quite early to Hikone.

It's been a year since Satoshi's grandfather's 50 year service and we wanted to bring some flowers to his grave.

We also wanted to check out what was left of the cherry blossoms.

On the train we shared a variety of baked items (ginger cheese roll, fig & walnut bread, bacon epi, cream pan & basil olive bread) from Manpuku Bakery. It was our first time buying items from here and they were so good, next time I go to Kitahama, I'll have to pick up other items to try.

We also had a cup of Sunaba Coffee. This coffee is from Tottori prefecture, it was siphon-style, but had been sitting out for a while, so it wasn't too good.

After arriving in Hikone, we decided to have some coffee at Micro-Lady, while we waited for the florist to open.

Cappuccino for me and a house blend for Satoshi...way nicer than the cup we had earlier.

As we walked towards Hikone Castle, we were surprised that there were quite a lot of blossoms to see.

We then grabbed some sweets from Kimura Seika (a sakura mochi for me and a kusamochi for Satoshi) and headed to Azuchi.

Azuchi is the area where Oda Nobunaga built a 6-story castle called Azuchi-jo.

The castle only lasted 3 years before it was burned down when Oda Nobunaga was killed.

The area is huge!

We didn't have enough time to go up to see the ruins. I'm glad too...look at all those stairs!

Luckily, we rented some bicycles too, walking to all these areas would've taken us forever!

One area we visited housed a replica of the top three stories of Azuchi-jo.

It's so big that you can't really get a clear shot of the whole thing!

After returning our bicycles, it was nice to finally be able to have something for lunch.

We had Omi beef bowls at Sawae-an which really hit the spot!

Then we went back onto the train to the Yamashina area to check out their cherry blossoms along a canal.

I've seen this on tv many times and wanted to see it for myself.

Though most of the blossoms had fallen it was still really beautiful!

Even though the whole day was overcast, I'm glad we got to visit Satoshi's grandfather's grave and also got to see some new sights and some cherry blossoms...have a nice week!

Manpuku Bakery
5-1 Kitahama-higashi
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6944.4488
Hours: 10:00-22:00
Closed: Mondays and every 3rd Tuesday

Micro Lady Coffee Stand
1st floor of the JR Hikone station
Phone: 080.1445.2374
Hours: 7:30-20:00
Closed Thursdays

Kimura Seika
11-18 Sawa-cho
Hikone, Shiga
Phone: 0749.22.1934
Hours: 9:30-17:00
Closed Wednesdays

Sawae-an
1334-1 Kamitoyoura Azuchi-cho
Omihachiman, Shiga
Phone: 0748.46.5570
Hours: 11:00-21:00

Yamashina Canal
10 minutes walk from the JR Yamashina station

sakura in osaka & hikone

Saturday, Satoshi started his next rounds of German language classes, so I had some time to walk around and check out the sakura on the top floor of Lucua.

They have a small Japanese garden here with about 3 sakura trees. Really beautiful when they are in full bloom.

The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds...

After his class we caught the train to Hikone.

We checked out the keyaki michi which I've mentioned here.

And then walked around the Hikone castle grounds. There are a lot of areas you can check out without having to pay the admission.

We found this huge sakura tree in one of those spots.

Near a corner of the castle we also found this grove of sakura...so huge and beautiful!

Love the reflection on the water too.

It was even more beautiful lit up!

The weather is drizzly today. Hope the sun will come back soon!

50 year service

How many immediate family members do you know that have been gone for 50 years? For me, no one.

Until yesterday.

We got together in Hikone to hold a memorial service for Satoshi's grandpa...he's been gone for 50 years.

The priest mentioned that while it is a sad thing that Satoshi's grandpa is gone, it is also an amazing thing that family would be around and able to hold the 50th memorial service, so in a sense it is quite a celebratory event.

In fact, instead of using a white candle, they light a red one as a symbol of celebration.

Since the service would be held in Hikone, Satoshi and I went a day earlier and stayed over in Hikone.

In the morning, we met up with BIL, SIL and MIL.

Unfortunately it rained all day.

Lunch was at an unagi (eel) shop called Gennai.

I am not too crazy about unagi but know that Satoshi and his family love the stuff.

I enjoyed the way this unagi was prepared though. Crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.

Though Satoshi never met his grandpa, I'm glad we got to attend the service.

Apparently the next service is in 50 years...

Gennai
2-1-6 Honmachi
Hikone, Shiga
Phone: 0749.27.5025
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:00-14:30 (lunch), 17:00-20:00 (dinner)

hikone plus plus

Sunday, we woke up early because we wanted to head out to Hikone.

It had been several years since we had been there and even more since we paid our respects to MIL's family graves.

We stopped at Umeda to buy tickets for JR. When Satoshi walked up to the counter he asked the guy if they had any discount tickets, the guy replied no...then he checked a manual and voila!

An all day pass to travel anywhere listed on the ticket in Kansai.

One way to Hikone would be 1940 yen, for this ticket 3600 yen, it would be a little less than a round-trip ticket (3880 yen)...Satoshi felt like he hit the jackpot with this.

As we rode JR to Hikone, Satoshi looked at different travel guides and decided that he wanted to check out some places on the JR line.

Since this ticket allowed us to get off and on the train this was perfect. Usually in Japan, when you buy a ticket they only allow you to get off at the specified destination.

When we arrived at Hikone, we bought some flowers for MIL's family graves. And then we made the trek to Soanji, which is located on the Yume-Kyobashi Castle Road.

Over the years I think this road has become a bit more touristy. But, I like the way they make all the buildings look like you are in an Edo time period.

After calling MIL to reconfirm the exact location of the graves, we said a few prayers and then decided to look for something for lunch.

We stopped into Lu Pan, a tiny burger shop serving Omi Beef Burgers. Omi Beef is the brand beef of the area.

I ordered their standard which is shoyu based. Satoshi went with their burger with curry sauce. We also shared a half order of their fries and shared a coke.

Total 1560 yen tax included.

The burgers were very moist and the buns very airy. Even though the guy running this place had absolutely no personality, the food was delicious.

Then we were off to Yogo.

When I asked Satoshi what was there, he said, "a lake".

Before hopping on the train though, we got some dorayaki from Kotetsu. Sweet bean paste for Satoshi and walnut sweet bean paste for me.

A nice snack and a nice place to rest our feet.

From Hikone it was 9 stations to Yogo. When you get off the train, you'll know that the only thing to see here is "the lake".

There are no shops near the train station, just a walk to "the lake".

It was beautiful to see Lake Yogo.

Since there weren't many trains running, we hopped back on the next train and headed to Torahime.

This is where Satoshi's grandma used to live. He was in awe at how small the river (stream) he used to play in was and how close the walk was from the train station to his grandma's house was.

Apparently the house that Satoshi's grandma used to live in is no longer there, but it was nice for him to re-connect with the area.

Since we had some time before the next train, we popped into a new bakery that is in the JR Torahime station and bought some snacks.

I had this blueberry cream cheese walnut bread, super soft. Just the right amount of sweet from the blueberry preserves, a little tartness from the cream cheese and some crunch from the walnuts.

A nice thing about this bakery is that everything was 108 yen! A bargain if you've ever been to bakeries in Japan.

Then it took us some time from Torahime to get to Omi Hachiman, so by the time we arrived in Omi Hachiman it was 17:30.

The place we had wanted to have dinner at was fully booked so we jumped on the train and went to Yasu (2 stations over from Omi Hachiman).

Kurogama is a restaurant in a 100 year old house.

Satoshi and I both ordered the luxurious Omi beef course. He had 5 different cuts while I had 3 different cuts of beef.

Dinner started out with this beef shabu salad. The dressing was citrusy and really brightened the flavors. The meat was thinly sliced and super tender.

Next came the slightly seared beef sushi...talk about melt in your mouth!

Here are the 3 cuts that I ordered, sorry I can't remember what the waiter said they were!

To cook them they heat up a ceramic disk and you add a little nub of butter. You can cook it as rare or as well done as you wish.

Rice is cooked on a very old stove and is served with pickles and their shigure-ni.

I've made shigure-ni in the past. And we both agreed they didn't need to serve the pickles, just the shigure-ni with the rice was perfect!

To end the meal they served us some yuzu (citron) sherbet with fruits. I loved that there were bits of yuzu in this!

What a wonderful meal! we raved on and on about how soft the meat was. At 5800 yen and 7000 yen plus tax, it wasn't a cheap meal, but we agreed it was worth every penny!

A very long day, but we got to do so much. We were really happy with that train pass because it allowed us to see more than we would've had we got just the regular fare.

Hope you enjoyed this adventure too!

Lu Pan
located along Yume-Kyobashi Castle Road
Hikone, Shiga

Kotetsu
1-2 Tachibana
Hikone, Shiga
Phone: 0749.26.3838
Hours: 9:30-17:30

Amour
JR Torahime Station
Phone: 0749.73.8066
Closed Thursdays
Hours: 10:00-18:00

Kurogama
2343-1 Koshinohara Takeda
Yasu, Shiga
Phone: 077.587.3191
Closed Mondays
Lunch 11:30-14:30
Dinner (weekdays) 18:00-22:00, (weekends) 17:30-22:00

day 3 hikone

The inn we stayed at was located in a district with lots of small pubs, so you could hear karaoke almost all night long. Another thing was that someone at the inn was chain smoking for most of the night too.

The smell and noise made it a rather sleepless night. Still, on Sunday we woke up to, sun!

After a hearty breakfast of grilled aji (horse mackerel), nagaimo (chinese yam) with katsuobushi (shaved bonito), a piece of ham, over-easy egg, some tsukemono (pickled veggies), miso soup and rice, we checked with the ferry people to see if they were running and they were (woot!).

There was a free shuttle from the JR Hikone station to the harbor, so we did a little galavanting before the pick-up time.

Our first spot was a walkway lined with keyaki (zelkova), these trees are huge! I can only imagine how beautiful they must be with leaves.

To the opposite side of the walkway were sakura (cherry) trees, this walkway must be beautiful when the sakura is in bloom and the leaves of the keyaki comes in.

We then went to Daishiji which has a ne-kobo (sleeping Kobo Daishi aka Kukai). Kobo Daishi was a Japanese monk and is the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

We then caught the shuttle to the harbor. From Hikone, it is about 40 minutes by boat to the island of Chikubushima. And a round trip ticket costs 3300 yen (about US$33) per person.

This island is considered a holy place and one of eight beautiful views of Lake Biwa.

The ferry to Chikubushima runs 4 times a day, and for each run they give you about 70 minutes to explore the island before the next ferry arrives to take you back. I am not sure if you can skip a run to stay longer.

There are a few shops and some small places to eat at the base of the island and things were pricey, but for us, we just went to check out the island.

Also at the base of the island you need to pay an "admission" fee of 300 yen (about US$3) per person.

After paying your fee, you are met with stairs, lots of them and they were quite steep.

This island isn't wheelchair friendly unfortunately.

The information pamphlet says that there are 165 steps to the top. I didn't count them, but there sure were a lot.

The steps are called Pilgrim's stairs because these stairs lead people to worship.

One of the many temples on the island that we stopped at was Benzaitendo which houses one of three famous Benzaiten statues in Japan.

Benzaiten is one of the the 7 gods of good fortune and is thought to bring monetary fortune.

She also represents music and poetry.

There were lots of daruma amulets in the form of Benzaiten too.

To the east side of the island was a cliff with a torii (gateway). Below were all these ceramic disks.

For 300 yen (about US$3), you receive 2 disks. On the first disk, write your name. On the second, write your wish.

Then face the torii and fling your disks one by one (thinking of your wish as you fling it), if they go through the "legs" of the torii, like an upside-down field goal, then your wish will come true.

Most people we saw do this either hit the torii "leg" or missed completely, including us.

Just above this area, is a long hallway called Funaroka.

This hallway was apparently made from hull of Hideyoshi's boat, the Nihonmaru, wow!

There were a few more temples to the east of the island, but we had run out of time.

The boat had come back for us, so we returned to Hikone for lunch.

Our next stop was Taga Taisha, but the train was on the Sunday/Holiday schedule and only running one every hour, so, we decided to get some lunch while we waited for the train.

Yachiyo is a small shop near the JR Hikone station. I chose the kitsune udon and Satoshi had the shippoku udon (which had kamaboko, nori, mizuna, fu (dried wheat gluten), yuba (bean curd skins).

I was quite surprised when my udon came out, the aburage (fried tofu) was cut up and not seasoned like most kitsune udon you see. Satoshi was saying that it might have been Kanto (Eastern Japan) style.

Still, it was delicious and hit the spot.

Taga taisha is about a 10 minute walk from the Omi Taga Taisha mae station.

The town is quaint and in front of almost every home you will find these ema (picture amulet).

Even shop signs are in the shape of these ema, in fact, the road to the shrine is called Ema-dori (picture amulet road).

This shrine is known for en-musubi (matchmaking, god of marriage) and is a popular place for weddings.

Just in front of the shrine are several shops selling different foods.

One item in particular that we tried was ito-kiri mochi. This mochi is filled with sweet bean paste and instead of using a knife to cut the mochi, they use a string to cut each piece.

Apparently this is sweet was first created to celebrate Japan's victory over Mongolia way back when.

Besides a lot of daruma, we saw a lot of shamoji or shakushi (rice paddles) on this trip. These are considered good luck as you "scoop" up some good luck.

Despite the first two days, our last day in Hikone turned out to be a beautiful day. We were able to see all that we wanted to and got to enjoy some delicious foods.

I don't really want to end this post on a low note, but thought I should give you some update on the situation in Tohoku.

Apparently they are finding personal items (namely photos) in the rubble, so instead of gathering everything up and throwing them away which would inevitably make clean-up faster, they are sorting through to try to re-connect them with their owners, thus it is taking a little longer.

The aftershocks still continue, even in Tokyo, ranging between magnitude 1 and 5, most people they are talking to in the shelters aren't too sure they will return after things settle down, they are too scared, I would probably be too.

Sadly, a farmer has apparently committed suicide and it is thought that it was due to the ban on selling of "radioactive" veggies, though his family is too kind not to blame his death on this. (I still think we should be eating these veggies if the levels are safe!!)

The news keeps flip-flopping about the nuclear plant too.

Grim news. It will all take time to heal. All we can do is hope and pray for the best.

Sorry this was such a long post, hope our trip didn't disappoint.

Yachiyo
9-1 Asahimachi
Hikone, Shiga
Phone: 0749.22.1159

Itokirimochi Ganso Enjudohonpo
599 Taga
Taga-cho, Inukami-gun, Shiga
Phone: 0749.48.0800
Closed Wednesdays

Taga Fugetsudo
630 Taga
Tagacho, Inukami-gun, Shiga
Phone: 0749.48.1012
Closed Thursdays