grateful

Yesterday we received these beautiful shine muscat grapes from Satoshi's friend, A, who lives in Nagano

We tried some last night and the orbs are huge, and sweet

Thank you A!

matsumoto-tokyo

After breakfast, we checked out Ishii Miso, which has been in business since 1868! 

You can view a short video and then check out some of the aged miso to learn about how miso is made

They also have guided tours but they were later in the day

We purchased this moromi miso, it is good with crudite (veggie sticks)

And then we walked up the street to the Matsumoto City Museum of Arts so that Satoshi could see where it was

They have a permanent exhibit of some of Yayoi Kusama's artwork

There are some artworks outside...the guy on the stool, just in his own world and in everyone's photos

Afterwards, we walked to Matsumoto Castle so that Satoshi could check out where the bus parking was

While waiting for him, I was impressed that you could find wi-fi almost anywhere on the castle grounds and had a nice conversation with a couple from Yokohama and a guy from California

For our lunch on the train, we bought some baked items from Murata

This tiny shop has been in business since 1907

We tried their milk bread...this was unfortunately very dry

I had their chikuwa bread...chikuwa, corn, tuna, mayo and lots of Japanese mustard, I enjoyed this except for the mustard.

On our way back to Tokyo, we saw this huge Kannon (statue of Peace) near the JR Nirasaki station

And castle ruins near the JR Kofu station

It was also cool to see all the pink flowers on the peach trees as we went through Yamanashi Prefecture.

And it was also cool to see this huge love letter on the hillside near the JR Fujino station. (the person who posted their video on YT, climbed up and gave a detailed look at the art objet)

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did

Have a safe weekend

Ishii Miso

1-8-1 Uzuhashi

Matsumoto, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-17:00

Murata Bakery

1-2-33 Fukashi

Matsumoto, Nagano

Closed: Mondays & Thursdays

Hours: 7:00-19:30 (Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays), 6:30-19:30 (Saturdays & Sundays)

*cash only

yudanaka-nagano-matsumoto

From Yudanaka, we headed back to Nagano and then went on to Matsumoto

On the way, we passed by an area called Ubusute

Ubu stands for elderly and sute is to throw away

This was an area where people "left" their elderly family members so that they could "save money" not having to feed another mouth

short video here

After leaving most of our stuff at the hotel, we went to the Metoba River area to look for lunch

The Metoba River is in between of Okinado and the Nawate Shopping Street

Okinado is a cafe/coffee shop that has been in business since 1933

The wait for a table was 40 minutes, but we actually got in a little earlier because most of the people before us gave up...ha!

Satoshi chose the otona no lunch (adult lunch), a version of the kids meal (probably bigger portions)...hamburg with demi glace sauce, omurice and napolitan...he said he enjoyed this

Kat chose the half and half...half hayashi beef and half pork curry

The meats in both were so melt in your mouth!

We shared this housemade caramel flan (purin) delicious!

Loved that the "ice" in the iced coffee were cubes of coffee.

After lunch, we went to Matsumoto Castle and the wait to get in was 50 minutes!

Be prepared to take off your shoes, carry them in a plastic bag, as well as what ever "stuff" you have too

One staircase was super steep and the distance between each step was about 40 centimeters (15 inches) !

No photos especially on the staircases, because it is so dangerous and everyone is waiting to get up and down the stairs

Believe me, you gotta hang on for dear life on some of those stairs

My legs and arms were sore the next day because I used a lot of the muscles I never knew I had!

Nearby is the Former Kaichi School, one of the oldest schools in Japan

Next door is the home of a Catholic priest

On the way back to the hotel, we walked through part of the castle grounds and came across this vibrant ume tree.

You can refill your water bottles at most Tourist information offices, but we were also told that the water from this well was also potable.

Since we had a late lunch we decided to just have some soba for dinner at Iidaya

Satoshi chose the wasabi leaf soba...he said he enjoyed this

I chose the walnut sauce soba, the sauce was mixed with sesame seeds so the walnut flavor was kinda lost...bummer

I picked up this guide on everything delicious of Matsumoto

It also explained some of the culture and sights too.

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing is the cherry blossoms that encircle the tomb on Mount Kobo

After dinner, we shared this chocolate soft serve at Gaku, which uses a lot of ingredients from Nagano

It was quite a long day, lots of "climbing", eating and walking

Okinado

2-4-10 Chuo

Matsumoto, Nagano

Closed: 2nd & 4th Wednesday

Hours: 11:00-15:30 (lunch), 17:30-21:00 (dinner)

Iidaya

Midori Matsumoto 4F

Matsumoto, Nagano

Hours: 11:00-20:00 (earlier if they run out of soba)

Closed: when Midori Matsumoto is closed

Alpico Plaza Hotel

1-3-21 Fukashi

Matsumoto, Nagano

tokyo-obuse-yudanaka

Last Friday, I went to meet Satoshi in Nagano
 

But first, we went back to Obuse, to check out Iwasaki Bakery

If you remember we tried last November, but they were closed

They were open this time, but, they were out of Chelsea Buns and out of mostly everything else too

The most interesting out of the things we tried was this chikuwa bread

Chikuwa, cheese, nori and a little tuna salad were baked in this bread

I was bummed that we couldn't try the Chelsea Buns, but happy we were able to try some of their baked items.

The owner's wife said that the owner is on dialysis, and we hope he will get better soon.

After lunch, we walked to Ganshoin

As we walked, we passed by many grape vineyards

I thought it was so cool that this grandpa was on his crane gadget, working on the vines and blasting his radio, listening to the high school baseball tournament going on in Osaka, just in his own world

Ganshoin has a large phoenix on the ceiling that was painted by Hokusai Katsushika

The painting was created on 12 different cypress panels and used pigments imported from China, and the colors were so vibrant that they haven't needed touching up since!

Hokusai returned to Edo (Tokyo) after finishing the painting and passed away the following year.

No photos...boo! but it was cool to see

Right outside of Ganshoin is a tiny cafe called Kuten Fruit & Cake

We stopped in for some coffee and something sweet

I like that they used a lot of ingredients grown or made in Nagano

Kita Shinshu strawberry tarte...delicious!

Shibukawa chestnut matcha mont blanc tarte...this was delicious too

I enjoyed the interior of this cafe and it was nice to sit in the quiet

Then from Obuse we went back to Yudanaka

The hotel/ryokan we stayed at had so many flowers

Each room had an oshibana (pressed flower) representing their room name

Our room name was Azami which is thistle in Japanese

The front desk was decorated with many oshibana too

Dinner was an assortment of things

This was the most interesting...yurine (lily bulb) shiratama (dumpling) soba kernel with ankake sauce (slurry sauce)

So many flowers!

Kuten Fruit & Cake

604 Karida

Obuse, Nagano

Closed: Mondays

Hours: 10:00-17:00

Masuya

2296 Hirao

Yamanouchi, Nagano

last thursday

Last Thursday, Satoshi took a family from Germany to the monkey park in Nagano.

Remember we went to check it out last November?!

Well, I happened to check their live camera and saw "someone" and took a screenshot ...you might be able to spot him too...

At least there were lots of monkeys for the family to see

He was worried it might be super muddy or the trail would be covered with snow, but he said it wasn't too bad.

Glad that his tour went well.

thank you

Thank you A for sending us a box of apples.

These apples are called San Fuji. 

Crisp & sweet

If you are interested in the difference between Fuji and San Fuji apples, please look here.

We appreciate your kindness A!

shinshu nagano-zenkojishita-nagano-tokyo

It had been over 20 years since I had been to Zenkoji

When I first came to Japan back in 2001, we went with Satoshi's co-workers by car from Osaka to Nagano

It was Golden Week and the traffic was so awful...

Anyway, I don't remember that much about Zenkoji, so it was nice to reconnect 

We were there early so it wasn't too krazy with people

This pillar looked like it was twisted...

The leaves were so beautiful

Glad that most of these areas were roped off so that there weren't hoards of people in there...

At about 11:00-ish the head priest (I think) walked through blessing everyone on one side of the walkway

Lunch was at Kado no Daimaru

Apparently they have been in business since 1703!

Kat had their tenzaru...while the soba was delicious

The tempura was disappointing...the outer coating was hard and dry

Satoshi had their sansai (mountain greens) soba...his looked way better

Across the street is Yawataya Isogoro...famous for their shichimi (7 spice)

They have a lot of variations to choose from, even an area to make a custom blend

Around the corner we saw their "so teeny" truck

From Zenkoji walking down to JR Nagano station, we saw all sorts of beautiful leaves

We tried kuri dorayaki from Sakurai Kanseido...they have been in business for over 200 years! so good! 

On the way back to Tokyo, we were lucky to see Mount Fuji as we passed through Saitama

We bought sauce katsu sandwiches for dinner from Meijitei...it turns out that we had tried them before when we were in Osaka.

Their katsu was so delicious, no fat, just tender pork

We ate a lot, saw a lot and walked quite a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did.

Kado no Daimaru

504 Nagano Daimoncho

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:30-16:45

*cash only

Yawataya Isogoro

83 Daimoncho

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-18:30

Sakurai Kanseido

1-22-6 Minami Chitose, Midori 2F

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-20:00

Closed when Midori is