Hey Hive!
So if you missed the last post, we started recounting our final journey to Japan back in July 2019 when we decide to explore a new region and see Hokkaido in summer (since everywhere else in Japan is really hot during that period)!
Last week, we flew to Haneda in Tokyo and took the bullet train up to the highest region on the mainland - Aomori! It was quite a long journey going on the plane then the train and was pretty tiring but we had a nice welcome to Aomori and settled into our hotel.
After such a long day I was pretty beat after we had lunch so we took a nap in the hotel for a while and ended up sleeping in until about 11pm. Woops! It was quite a bit later than I had wanted but Sean thought I should get a good rest since we were on holiday after all, and at least we dodged the afternoon heat. So after washing up, we headed out into the street to see more of Aomori and hopefully get some food!
The weather was a lot cooler at night and it was nice and quiet too, which tbh is just what we needed after a long train ride with a screaming baby. There' s just something about the tranquility of the night that is so calming and peaceful.
But we were getting pretty hungry after missing dinner, and after walking around for a bit we thankfully found one family restaurant that was still open! These casual western-style diners are typically open 24 hours so we were really glad there was one nearby! And it looked pretty comfortable too with the natural wood furnishings and nice pleather booths.
I think the entire restaurant was deserted except for us so we were promptly served and could enjoy a nice private supper.
The menu was a fusion menu with different Western cuisine dishes and also some Asian ones. Sean decided to try their carbonara since that's his favourite:
I think Sean's carbonara was pretty alright if just a little bland. Some chili flakes or more cheese would've made it better I think.
I ordered the omurice since I don't think I've tried omurice in Japan before.
The gravy was a little sweeter than I would've liked but the egg was nice and runny and mixed well with the rice. The meat was kinda average but still tender. There was definitely a lot of gravy and I think I would've preferred it to be more salty and savoury but it was definitely very filling.
After that we took a walk around the neighbourhood some more and went to the convenience store to buy snacks before heading back to our hotel.
This also gave us the chance to explore more of the hotel since there wasn't anyone around except the staff. You actually had to take the stairs up to the lobby on the second floor.
And this was the floor guide for the hotel:
This was the place for the meeting and fitness rooms:
And this was what the whole lobby looked like! It was very open and spacious and definitely had a more professional look over a homely feel but it was nice all the same.
We slept in after that and woke up during the late afternoon which was perfect since it was after the period of peak sunlight and heat.
It was still a nice day for a walk but a tad warmer than preferred if you ask me.
We found that there was an outlet mall not too far away so we headed there to find some lunch and maybe buy some snacks.
And of course our first stop at the outlet mall was the Food Marche!
We saw that they had this whole line of special Aomori apple juice! I guess this region is known for their apples. Initially we thought it was some alcohol but it's just pure apple juice so we bought a can to try and it tasted pretty good! Would've been nicer if it was colder but either way still nice and refreshing!
The whole supermarket was actually very big and wide which was nice compared to some of the supermarkets we've seen in Tokyo.
There was also a nice and spacious eating area for the patrons to sit and enjoy their snacks from the supermarket or the shops around it which I thought was really convenient.
After we took a look around the supermarket we left the mall and realised there was a Donki Hote here too! Donki is probably our all-time favourite variety store that sells all kinds of stuff so we had to go check it out too.
Donki has all sorts of stuff from household goods to apparel, accessories, costumes, games, and lots of food! They even have some luxury items too! So you can see why it's our favourite store to visit.
They even sell all sorts of fitness equipment, and also have a more "adult" section for special toys and such.
We somehow always find ourselves in the gaming section and they had a classic famicom out on display!
We never had the chance to play this back in the day as we grew up with handhelds so this was surreal. And playing on a classic CRT too! I'm not sure what game this was but you play as a whale and had to dodge stuff coming at you.
Games and food - that's pretty much what we're about to be honest.
But since it was still early and we were going to Hokkaido the next day we didn't want to buy and bring too much more with us. So we resisted the temptation to buy a lot of snacks. For now.
After we were done looking around in Donki we headed to the nearby arcade! There was a Round 1 here too, which was just awesome since this is probably one of our favourite places to visit too!
And thankfully, this Round 1 was pretty empty at the time so it was spacious and not as noisy apart from the machines of course. It also meant there weren't any smokers at the gambling section which is always good.
They even had a special golden DDR machine for the 20th anniversary or something that looked so cool! Sean went to play a few games.
By the time we left the arcade the sun was setting! So we were greeted by a beautiful sunset.
We said goodbye to the mall and headed out to enjoy the evening. I know a lot of people would say it's a waste to spend the day in the mall but we personally like malls quite a lot and they're a good way to dodge the heat since its air-conditioned.
We found our way to this cool-looking building that looked like some museum.
Turns out its the Aomori Nebuta House, which is a museum that houses and honours the gods, heroes and demons that are handcrafted into luminous floats for the Nebuta festival. That explains all the paper mache floats that we saw at the station!
The design aside the interior didn't look too impressive to us at the time and we didn't know what it was and thought it was a library of sorts so we didn't bother entering the building.
But it was right on this pier next to the highway which reminded me of the Golden Gate Bridge.
It looked so pretty so and I got curious to see if we could actually walk along the highway to get some pictures. Turns out we could! There are actually stairs leading up to the highway and there was a separate walkway for pedestrians!
The lights had just come on too so it was perfect to capture both the lights and the sunset in the background. It was pretty windy up there with all the cars passing by and us being right next to the ocean so after taking a bunch of photos we went back down to street level.
And we were getting hungry so it was time for dinner! And what better place to dine at than our favourite steak restaurant - Ikinari Steak!
I've written about this place a number of times already but since we discovered this restaurant franchise back in Hiroshima, it's become our go-to place for steak and we're always on the lookout for it!
This particular outlet was also really big and spacious which is a stark contrast compared to the one we went to in Kawasaki, Tokyo which was just a standing restaurant.
There were a lot of tables here with plush comfortable chairs and even long counter tables for individuals.
And we noticed that you could change the side toppings here for different vegetables too! They also had a special lunch time promotion for 2 different cuts of meat for just 1,250 yen! What a bargain!
There were only a few people in the restaurant so we picked a table by ourselves.
And there were so many things between the tables too; different sauces, spices and utensils.
I think we ordered the same sirloin steak and changed our sides of corn to broccoli this time so we had some vegetables. We still got a side of onions and of course our steak was topped with garlic chips.
It was absolutely delicious! The steamed broccoli paired with the steak pretty well too, especially with the different sauces although that wasn't really needed since the steak itself was so flavourful.
It was a truly spectacular meal and I was savouring every bite since it was probably going to be a while until we see another Ikinari Steak. Plus there were plenty of other foods to try in Hokkaido!
After that delicious meal, we left with our bellies very satisfied. And since we were leaving for Hokkaido the next day it was time to retire back at the hotel!
We took a nice leisurely stroll back to the hotel and settled in for the night in preparation for our trip up to Hokkaido! We were so excited and hope you are too.
Tune in next week for our first look in Sapporo!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #168 (Japan 9.0 - Hokkaido): A Foodie-Packed Journey to a New Region! 🛫
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