Cherry Blossom Spring in Japan

The first city we visited during our long visit to Japan was Fukuoka. Mjau, it was so much colder than we expected. Fortunately not as cold as Seoul. We stayed at UNPLAN Fukuoka hostel. Mjau! Goodbye our wonderful apartment in Kuala Lumpur! The hostel was quite cozy with a lounge on the top floor and free breakfast at the cafe downstairs.

It was so nice to be back in Japan. The streets are quiet and calm and the air feels fresh. At least compared to Kuala Lumpur with all the cars. We walked around some old castle ruins and even found some blooming cherry blossoms.

Near our hostel was also the Ohori Pond and Ohori Park. Really nice area to walk around. Although it still felt a bit cold. Mjau, our butler had to buy a warmer shirt from a secondhand shop.

Mjau, so much has happened since we visited Fukuoka. We are writing this post three months after visiting Fukuoka. It is difficult to remember all the small details. We really liked the underground shopping street Tenjin Chikagai. They played nice background music and it felt like we stepped back in time. We walked a lot around the malls and mostly ate our dinners from Aeon or bakeries. Sometimes we just ate strawberries for lunch as they felt more affordable than in Åland. We also visited the City Bakery and had a delicious cookie croissant and apple pie.

We did a daytrip to Kumamoto. Mjau, we should have done more research. We expected more of a countryside town. However it felt like we were in Helsinki. Mjau, we were tricked by the bear mascot! We visited the Kumamoto castle and walked around the shops in the city. We also visited the Kumamon shop to see what the treacherous bear was selling. We did not find any cozy small town cafes that we had been hoping for so we only got some Kumamon strawberries and took the train back to Fukuoka.

We also did a shorter day trip to Dazaifu, which we preferred much more than Kumamoto. Purrhaps it was the long train ride to Kumamoto on the local train that tired us out. In Dazaifu we had several small street snacks. We had the Dazaifu specialty umegae mochi, mentaiko steamed bun and ikinari dango.

We walked around the shrines and took some lovely pictures. A lady by the Inari shrine called us cute! Mjau, we hope it was not a Kitsune trying to lure us...

After Fukuoka we took the bus to Hiroshima. Mjau, it was a long bus ride but nice to just sit and watch the scenery go by. No WIFI to entertain us and if our butler reads on the bus they might turn into a fountain. Mjau... When we got there we checked into a hostel again. Mjau! We have had enough of hostels! We stayed at the Evergreen Hostel. The location and staff were nice but it did not really have a big lounge common area to relax in. There were only wooden benches. On the first day we visited the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Hiroshima Castle.

One of the highlights of Hiroshima was a small basque cheesecake shop we found. They do not have inside seating so we had to get them as takeaway and eat at our hostel. One piece costs between 360 and 480 depending on flavor. A bit expensive for the small slice you get, but compared to the cafes in the area that charges over 700 for a slice of plain basque cheesecake it did not feel too bad. We tried several different ones, Brownie, charcoal, houjicha, yuzu and pumpkin. We do not know which is our favourite flavour. We really liked the refreshing yuzu flavour but were not the biggest fan of the jelly like bits of yuzu in the cheesecake. The charcoal had a rich cocoa flavour that we liked. Perhaps the earthy and flavourful houjicha was our favourite. We prefer houjicha over matcha.

One morning we made our butler walk us to Mitakiyama so we could look at the temples there. Very relaxing up in the mountain. Not too many people as in other temples. Afterwards we went for french toast at Hiroshima Breakfast.

Another day we walked all the way to and around Ujina Island. As we were quite close to the ferry port we decided to jump on the next ferry to Ninoshima as it was the closest. Perhaps we should have done more research as the few shops and cafes that were on the island happened to be closed that day. We walked to the top of Aki-no-ko-Fuji (Small Mt. Fuji of Aki). Mjau, we did not see another person on the entire hike. We only saw one older lady in the village that pointed out the entrance of the hiking trail and yelled at us to be careful. Mjau, our butler was not really prepared for how rough the hike would be and only had half a bottle of orange juice left. In some places the trail was quite steep and their shoes did not provide proper traction so they ended up shamefully crawling on all fours using tree roots as handles in some places. The view from the top was spectacular though. The experience of walking alone in a bamboo forest and only hearing a couple of birds chirping and the sound of bamboo creaking in the wind is not something we will forget anytime soon. The way down was much easier and we took another path that would take us to The Horse Quarantine Station. We finally saw some other people and were relieved to know we were not stuck on the island alone. We decided to walk around the other half of the island (the southern half) on our way back to the ferry terminal. There we walked past what we assume is an oyster farm. We had never seen one before! As we were waiting for the ferry two young school boys came to talk to our butler. Perhaps they do not get many foreigners here. Our butler let them play with our phone and look through our pictures. They laughed and wondered who or what Si was. Mjau, I am a cat! Si exclaimed.

Another day we visited Miyajima. It is quite a popular day trip destination when staying in Hiroshima. There is also a popular hiking trail to the top, but we decided against doing the hike. Since it is more popular it would be more crowded and therefore less enjoyable. We walked a bit of the bottom of the trail and our suspicions were proved right. Large and loud groups of tourists. We decided to instead walk around the town and have snacks and visit the ethnology museum. We had deep fried Momiji Manju, a curry bread with oysters, a maple leaf shaped cheesecake. Hiroshima is known for its lemons so we also tried Setouchi lemon mulled wine and homemade Setouchi lemon pound cake. The mulled wine was delicious and strong. The taste of the pound cake was nice but the texture was a bit disappointing. The cake was a bit too dense and almost dry.

Miyajima is known for its free-roaming deer and we could see several of them sleeping by the ferry port and walking down the streets. They were quite intrusive and started whining when our butler refused to give them food. Mjau! Those are our snacks! Get your own, you greedy deer!!! At least we can skip the Nara deer park.

We got to see the famous Itsukushima Shrine during low- and high tide. We prefer the shrine during the high tide. It looks really pretty standing alone, bright and red in the ocean. During low tide there are too many people crowding to take pictures and to touch the shrine. Mjau, why can't people just admire things from afar!?!

Our butlers made friends with the people working at the hostel and they went together to the Sauna exhibit at the museum. They got free tickets from the hostel. Otherwise we would not have let them spend our travel money on something like that! Afterwards our butler invited themselves along for a Costco trip. Mjau, our first visit to Costco! We were on a hunt for Honolulu Cookies! Which we thankfully found. They only had bags of the small ones, so we got one bag of the chocolate choco chip ones and one bag of the chai spice ones. Mjau, we got too excited and did not read the labels. The chai spice ones are not made with macadamia nuts! They were still good but not as delicious as ones made with macadamia nuts. We were lucky that we got to go to Costco as we had earlier that day seen Honolulu Cookies at the Disney Store but our butler would not buy them as they were too overpriced. No bother. We would have worn them down eventually if not for Costco.

We also went to another really nice cafe in Hiroshima. This one was called Musimpanen and was right by the Kyobashi river. It was definitely a more classy place as they even gave warm wet hand towels like in first class in airplanes. We got the delicious pineapple cake we had seen online beforehand. We could not resist getting an orange chocolate cake as well. The pineapple cake was still the clear winner.

After Hiroshima it was time for us to head to our next destination: Onomichi! We traveled by bus and stayed in a hostel once again. Mjau, we miss private hotel rooms and apartments. At the hostel we were met by two friendly plushies at check in.

Onomichi had come up a lot in our search for picturesque small towns. It is a very charming and quiet seaside town. There is a Cat Alley that is cowered in cat street art. If you are lucky you might spot a couple of cats walking around as well. The view from the Senkoji Park was also quite nice.

It was warmer in Onomichi than in Hiroshima so we could already see several cherry blossoms. We mostly had dinner from the discounted section of the Aeon store. However since Hiroshima we could not stop craving cheesecake. We found an Ube specialty cafe at Hondori shopping street and got a delicious Ube basque cheesecake. We also got an Ube cookie. Later we tried the cheesecakes from Yamaneko. We got a tiramisu that was nice and a sake lees raisin that was quite shocking, and not in a good way. Mjau, we incorrectly assumed it would be more similar to rum raisin flavour. Oh meow how we were wrong! It was still somewhat edible. We made our butler eat it all since they paid for it.

We only stayed in Onomichi for three nights but it was the purrfect amount of nights. There was not much left for us to do without going on daytrips. We then jumped on the train to our next destination: Kurashiki.

We were pleasantly surprised by Kurashiki and it ended up being our favourite town we visited during this trip. The hostel we stayed at was also much better quality than the previous ones we stayed at. It was almost like a private room as we got the upper bed next to the window with a curtain blocking the entrance. The beds were in an upright zig zag pattern so the lower bunk had their entrance on the other side. The only downside was that the shared lounge area was not the biggest or most inviting. The bar on the bottom floor was just to our liking though. Dark wood and leather interior design. We got a houjicha latte and sakura basque cheesecake from there.

The hostel was right by the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter which was perfect for us. There is a river lined with colourful parasols and small river boats you can pay to ride along the river. There are several old cobble stone side streets to walk and discover with small shops and restaurants. Some might say it is too touristy, but it was perfect for us as it was accessible but not overcrowded.

We had curry for lunch at a small shop run by an old man. Very nice retro decor.

Kurashiki is said to be the birthplace of domestic jeans and therefore a lot of stores sell denim clothes and souvenirs. There is even a Denim Street! You can find several famous characters with denim clothes here, for example the minions and Rikkakuma.

Kurashiki is also the birthplace of Japanese decorative washi masking tape. We saw several Moomin masking tapes in the stores. There was also an art gallery with artwork made with masking tape. Very impressive!

Walking along the river got even more magical during the dark. The colourful parasols lit up. Apparently it is an art installation so the parasols are not there all the time. Mjau, we got lucky!

For some reason they have an Andersen Square with statues of Vikings in Kurashiki by the train station and shopping centre. Upon research we found out that they are the remnants of the former Kurashiki Tivoli Park. We mostly got our dinner from the Aeon store at the shopping centre once again. So delicious and affordable! We also tried many seasonal cherry blossom snacks. The cherry chips were surprisingly delicious. The Sakura Highball whiskey drink was not. At least it was strong.

We also got seasonal snacks when walking around Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter. We got a delicious crêpe style snack with a cherry mochi filling. Croquettes are also popular in Kurashiki so we got a potato beef one. Please excuse the poor photo quality. We had to edit out our butler's monstrous claws. We also got delicious white coffee gelato from one of the shops at Kurashiki Ivy Square.

Miffy also had bakery and shop at Kurashiki. So many cute breads. None of which our butler bought us! The insolence! We mostly spent our days walking around and admiring the view. The cherry blossoms were now starting to really bloom. We visited the Achi Shrine and the Shinkeien garden. So relaxing to just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet.

After enjoying a couple of days in Kurashiki we made our way to Kyoto by bus. There we had booked us an apartment for one month. We made sure not to miss the cherry blossoms! We have heard Kyoto is really overcrowded but it was not too bad if you stayed away from the Nishiki Market area. Our apartment was small but had all the essentials. No cockroach in sight! We wish we had a toaster oven, we only received one two days before our departure. At least we had a microwave and a coffee maker. We had two twin beds so for once we did not have to share with our butler. The apartment was in a more quiet area so it was not crowded but it was quite a long walk to get to places. Fortunately we could walk along the Horikawa-dori most of the way. It is a very nice walk by the stream under the cherry blossoms. One day they even had a market and live music by the stream.

We also walked the famous Philosopher's Path. We arrived early in the morning and we are glad we did, as on our way back it looked really crowded with tour groups and people having their photo shoots. It was really pretty to walk under tunnels of white and pink cherry blossom trees. Especially when the petals would fall down from the gentle breeze. It had rained a lot for a couple of days before we went so we were worried there would be no cherry blossoms left on the trees to admire. We walked all the way to Sanmon Gate. There we got several nice photos of us in our lovely kimonos. There was also an old railway track bridge which made for nice pictures. On our way back we tried to find any nice and cozy bakeries but were unsuccessful. We just walked back to our apartment and had some Honolulu Cookies. We had dipped them in melted chocolate mixed with instant coffee powder so they would taste more like the Kona Coffee Honolulu Cookies, our favourites.

Not finding any cozy cafes became a recurring theme in Kyoto. We were not surprised as we had the same issue when we visited Kyoto a couple of years back. We mostly got baked goods and cakes from bakeries or grocery stores and ate them in our apartment. Our butler said it is a great way to save money. Mjau! When we get to Seoul we will eat cake at cafes every single day! Just you wait and see, stingy butler! Mjau, going through our camera roll we realize we did not take that many photos of the delicious treats we had. We had strawberry cake, souffle cheesecake and tiramisu mille crêpe cake. We bought yuzu jam to enjoy with the cakes and the french toast we demanded from our butler every morning. We had the most delicious croissant from the fiveran bakery with vanilla, chocolate and raspberry filling. We usually do not fancy filled croissants that much as the cream filling is usually too sweet and overpowering. This one was just perfect. We also got apple pie from Granny Smith Apple Pie & Coffee. It was delicious with pecans and a coffee crumble on top. We also found a brownie place in Kyoto called East42st NEW YORK BROWNIE. We had the melty brownie that was almost like a Swedish Kladdkaka. We also tried the cardamom brownie that was delicious. The pieces are so small. We could eat an entire box of them!

There are only so many picnics under cherry blossom trees one can enjoy before it turns mundane. We started to get a bit bored in Kyoto. We visited the Disney Store to cheer us up and got free coffee from Kaldi when our butler needed to cheer up. We think they were starting to miss Europe and their second job as a pastry chef.

The cherry blossoms were slowly starting to disappear from the trees so we hurried to take as many photos as we could. It became summer so fast!