The day started out dull again, grey and rainy. Forecast said it should stop around 11am and forecast was only wrong by an hour. It didn't get lightly clouded with sunshine, but it was dry at least. So I decided to visit the Senshukoen, a park where the old castle used to be.
As provisions for the long trek I bought an Anpan in the bakery in my hotel. It was good. They handle each piece of baked goodness like a little gem you are about to gift to your beloved.
Very fluffy and with a good bean paste filling.
The hotel looks nice even without sunshine.
The way was uphill and more uphill, past a concert hall a museum and a high school premise. Finally I reached the park entrance.
In Japan maps are a bit differnet. We are used to "up is north". In Japan it is "up is where you are looking when standing in front of the map." I realized that back in 2019 in Ueno Zoo when I ran in circles because the maps were weird.
A lot of stairs in this park. Really. A LOT.
One of the buildings they have reconstructed The house of the gate keeper as far as I interpreted the map.
They had an information area about Akita Inu dogs. There are some sad stories. In WW2 almost all native dog breeds were nearly extinguished because the army needed the meat and the furs. After the war some races had so few dogs left that they needed to inbreed them with all the known drawbacks. Today genuine Japanese dogs often have eye and joint problems. They fight that with rigorous selection but it is hard when all the dogs are essentially close relatives. The best known breeds in the West are the Shiba Inu, the Akita Inu and the Tosa Inu. But there are 10 more native breeds like the Shikoku Inu and the Kai Ken for example. I was researching the Shikoku a few years ago but there are only like 25 dogs in Europe and breeding them is a very expensive enterprise as is the price for a puppy. The Kai Ken looks awesome, striped like a Tiger (google it for images) and it is strictly forbidden to export dogs of this breed.
Anyways, they had a puppy and a 2 year old male there. They exhibit them only for 2 hours before noon, then take a 2 hour break and another 2 hours afternoon. The cages are more or less there to keep the greedy hands of visitors away from the dogs. Both were really relaxed, the puppy was dozing and the male was sifting through the visitors. Maybe he got the smell of my dog from my boots because he was really interested in me and said hello. Oh and they don't make money off that. No fee or begging for donations.
The sleeping puppy. I estimate around 6 months old.
The male.
After that short intermezzo on with the park.
A nice pond with a special kind of Lotus on the left. It looked a bit down, but well, it is slowly getting autumn in Japan, too.
A stone lantern in the background and a pretty old one at that. Probably from the original building time.
Some kind of management building with a life saving vending machine. It didn't have Pocari Sweat, but at least the Coca Cola copy of that called Aquarius. I bought one for later.
To get to this point above the pond I had to climb like 100 stairs. Each stair was not that high for easier walking, but the number still suck. I was soaked in sweat again.
I found a wooden pavillon for a short break. The building there is a toilet. They have like 5 or 6 on the premises.
No. That is a lie. Sweat is not beautiful. It is icky and a nuisance!
That is a reconstructed watch tower.
A bit zoomed in.
A monument to something with a first glimpse of a shrine in the background.
The Torii for the Inari Shrine (Fox deity).
Both shrines were side by side. This one is a Hachiman (war god) shrine and the oracle and souvenir shop were open. And who is that on top of the Torii?
Yep, Huginn and Muninn obviously. Fits, Odhinn was a war god, too after all.
A glimpse into the shrine.
In front of the Inari shrine were those stones. Looked more like gravestones than monuments.
Here left the Hachiman Shrine and right the Inari Shrine
Between the torii gates are fox statues. Each one is different, so I guess they were donated together with the Torii.
These looked pretty new.
The Shrine itself was closed.
Just another angle.
Taken from the wooden bridge. Japanese parks and peculiar. You only need to walk a few meters, turn around and have a completely different view.
A bamboo grove.
After a while I wanted to get down from the hill, because I needed to go to the station. And I totally lost my way. I took a way without stairs (had enough of them for a couple of weeks) and well it led me into a very remote living quarter. But it had nice houses.
From there I had to climb down stairs again...
After walking around for a while more I found a bigger street and called a taxi via the GO app which I fortunately had installed already in Tokyo. Your current location is the pickup and you enter your target location and off you go. When you have a Japanese payment system like GO pay or PayPay the price is automatically paid. I don', so I pay in the Taxi. Doesn't really make a difference.
Oh yeah. I had to go to the station to reserve my seats for tomorrow. I finally decided what to to with the final five nights. I'll go to Kyoto. It is freaking hot and rainy down there, but rain and thunderstorms are coming to all of Japan, so doesn't make a difference. And I can't really go on 2 Japan trips without even a glimpse of all the totally Japanese stuff they have there. Emperor palace, a few hundred shrines, museum... and of course the highest density of Michelin stars in the world. And that in spite of a lot of restaurants rejecting the stars outright. The more traditional chefs says (of course more politely) that they always give their absolute best and they don't need some retarded Europeans giving them grades according to the latest fashion in Europe and America. And the only thing worthwhile is anyways the Emperor's medal of excellence.
But I digress. I got good seats for tomorrow. 4 hours from Akita to Tokyo station and then 2.5 hours to Kyoto. Both window seats and for the Kyoto trip the friendly clerk made sure that I am on the right side so I have the full view of Fujiyama.
I made it to Genius level 3 with booking.com and got a real steal again, 4* hotel directly at the station in Kyoto for less than 100 € per night with breakfast included. Kyoto is normally more expensive than Tokyo.
While I was already at the station I stumbled over this:
This is kind of a mini shopping mall in the station. On the ground floor (1F) you can buy groceries and have some simple food, 2F is shopping and 3F is fine dining. The enumeration is a bit confusing for Germans. We have "Erdgeschoss", "1. Stock", "2. Stock" etc. In Japan (and I guess in most countries in the world) they start counting with the ground floor. So 2F is "1. Stock" etc.
Overview of the restaurants on the top floor.
I had no lunch again and after the long walk I was pretty hungry. So I walked around the top floor once and then decided to try the Chinese restaurant first. I took the "tipsy set", meaning 3 meals and 2 drinks. Meals were decided by the chef but I was lucky, he chose things I wanted to try anyways.
Mapo doufu (Minced meat, Tofu and Chili) and 3 different deep fried things on a salad (Onion ring, squid ring and chicken). I forgot to make a pic of the third item which was an octopus salad. The Mapo doufu was a bit mild for my taste but very aromatic and flavourful.
So I ordered some dim sum and had them with chili oil. They were freshly made by the way. I could see the chef making them.
As was the case with the spring roll. No comparison to the shitty convenience stuff most restaurants and stalls in Germany have on their menus. This one was crispy on the outside and meaty and juicy and full of flavor and spices on the inside. As it should be. Amen!
That was a good start, but I was still a bit peckish, so I decided to try the Sushi joint, too. Good decision.
They recommended and served me a truly excellent Sake. Very rich. The black thing in the background is a thermos with green tea, which is included in the meal aka "free", like the ice water.
The 3 item Sashimi. Numbered sets like this are always decided by the chef. They serve what they got fresh on the market in the morning.
3 types of clam on the bottom or more exactly a whelk (carnivorous sea snail) on the left, blood clam and scallop. The snail has a very different texture than the clams. It is more firm but tastes very good.
After that I was rather full, but since they had it on the menu I had to take it. Left is Hon Maguro Otoro, the fatty underbelly of the blue fin tuna. Looks like Wagyu meat and tastes heavenly. Literally melts in the mouth like Wagyu fat with a deep flavour. On the right sea urchin. That was a wee bit bitter. Since it is getting autumn the urchins caught are already pretty old and they get a bit bitter then. But the fresh urchin taste which is sweet and umami at the same time was still dominant.
And last but not least a "Live Abalone", another kind of sea snail. Dunno if it was really still alive. It didn't move. But it was even more firm than the whelk in texture, almost a bit crunchy. After that I rolled back to the hotel.
Oh god, it's far too late. I have to get up early tomorrow...
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