Last summer in August 2017.

A new prefecture conquered – Aomori, 青森 in Kanji, which means “green forest”.

I don’t know why but there’s something mysteriously romantic about the name Aomori, maybe because of the image of deep, mystical wildwoods, maybe I have remembered the mesmerizing photos I have seen of Aomori in the past… But it has always been very high on my visit list!

We took the Hayabusa Shinkansen to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. The ride took only around 2 hours 45 minutes!

Bento on board!

Junya in his favorite bullet train.

Hanichone station!

Just in time for their summer festival!!

 

Hasshoku Center 八食センター

If you’re in Hachinohe you can’t miss out Hasshoku Center, a huge marketplace selling fresh seafood as well as restaurants that offer local delicacies.

And do you know what Hachinohe is famous for?

UNIDON!!!!!!

YES!!!

This was the first restaurant we saw (right at the entrance), called Ichiba Tei (いちば亭). And they had a huge poster standie at the restaurant entrance featuring their specialty sea urchin bowls. And I told the danna, “Ok we are going in. No need to see the rest”. Haha.

Which one would you choose?

Omg I wanted ALL!!!!

The danna was the moderate one. He picked Sansshoku Don that has squid, ikura and uni as topping. But he ordered one extra small bowl of uni topping.

Me. The uni maniac. Of course go full out uni!!! I think there are like $80 worth of uni in this bowl!!!! And only 3,480 yen!!!! I LOVE JAPAN!!! Hahaha.

Ok ok ok baby you may have one bite.

Ah~~~~~~~ happiness.

AHHHHHHHHH. Come open your mouth I feed you.

Come I share with you.

Junya eats Ikura Don.

 

Aomoriya 青森屋

Our accommodation was Aomoriya located in Misawa city. It is one of the resorts by Hoshino Resorts. And I am so so so glad we picked here because omg Hoshino Resorts is really the best. And Aomoriya it’s actually quite reasonably priced too!

Junya knocked out after lunch. Our welcome drink was, of course, Aomori apple juice!

View from our room.

Soooooo much green! Really is 青森. ^^

It was mid summer and the temperature in Aomori was about 25C? It was perrrrfect omg. I think now I can visit Japa

Relaxing time. ^^

Haha see Sakura toddling gingerly on tatami mat.

Welcome snack in our room. Two for the kids, two for us grown ups.

Aomori Gotochi Kitty I got from the souvenir shop near train station!

Love the matching Jinbei for us all!

 

Onsen

There was an onsen nearby within the resort, so we went for a warming soak.

Ice cream after onsen.

Haha very generous this Junya.

Thank you thank you!

This is how the outdoor onsen looks in winter! I gotta come back again for snow.

 

Gold fish & Yukata

Goldfish bowl is an iconic summer decoration in Japan, you may loan one for 500 yen to add that cooling ambiance in your bedroom!

Also, you can also rent yukata for 500 yen, and choose from a variety of pretty summery prints.

Mine was white yukata with blue polka dots.

Kids get to pick their yukata for free! There isn’t one for Sakura’s size so she’s wearing her own haha.

TV time.

The best thing about Hoshino Resorts is that you practically don’t need to go anywhere. There are too many things to enjoy from within.

There would be daily performances and activities at the event hall.

 

The Nebuta Matsuri was happening soon and this year’s decoration theme was gold fish.

Lots and lots of gold fish lantern!

And a real fish bowl.

很有feel haha.

A giant Nebuta deco on in the middle of the event hall. We were gonna catch the real event two days after!!

Little rubber ducks in origami paper hats.

 

Apple Juice

What do you think this tree is? It’s an apple tree!!

Well, an Apple Juice Tree! There’s a tab on the tree and from morning until evening, all resort guests get free flow of apple juice!!

 

Aomori Garlic

Aomori ninniku. I love ninniku.

We had dinner in the resort of course, and I was captivated by a poster standie again.

“臭くてご麺” (Kusakute Go”men”) lololol Japanese pun ok if you wanna laugh please go learn Japanese. Incentive for you here.

Yakisoba that uses 15 pieces of garlic, OK ON!!!! I told the danna “ok no need to see others WE ARE EATING THIS!!!”. Heng the next day no need to meet anyone so however smelly also no problem hahaha.

Anyway, Aomori Garlic is famous for being pleasantly aromatic yet the smell won’t linger in your mouth. And the noodle was 2,299 yen per plate, which at first I thought was super expesnive for a plate of yakisoba. But it turned out that the portion is so huge that the danna and I struggled to finish.

Junya helping me take IG stories of live scallop.

Danna’s sake.

LAI LIAO!!!! My garlic yakisoba!!!!!

Omg now I look at this already my stomach grumbling. The black stuff are black garlic, which I thought the dish can do without because black garlic tasted more like fruits than anything else. @.@

But it was SO GOOD. There was garlic chips, garlic tempura, and crunchy onion… omg we couldn’t stop eating but it’s SO HUGE and we were really full and in the end we finished it all.

I miss this yakisoba until today. I wish I could tapao back here… If you ever go to Aomoriya please taste this on my behalf T__T.

Danna’s favorite ika.

Omiyage

There are of course souvenir shops in the resort. And all I could see was red and red and red apple everything!!

Apple pies, apple cakes, apple rusks, apple cookies…

Cartons and cartons of ringo juice

Even a cute apple dress!!

The next morning at breakfast table.

We checked out and then took the shinkansen to Hakodate, Hokkaido. That’d be in the next post!

 

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