Thursday, April 30, 2015

Nameko's Hanami Adventures, Part 1 - Hirosaki

In Japan, the start of spring is marked by cherry blossom trees in full bloom. People young and old gather to picnic, drink and frolic under the cherry blossoms. Such cherry blossom viewing parties are known as hanami (花見 literally "flower viewing").

The blooming period for cherry blossoms is very short (just a little over one week from when the flowers are almost in full bloom until they start falling off the trees) so it can be difficult to hit the sweet spot of a weekend with good weather and nice looking cherry blossoms, but this year the timing was perfect.

So Nameko decided to spend the weekend of April 25-26 enjoying hanami !

One of Japan's top cherry blossom viewing spots is in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture: Hirosaki Castle Park. There are over 2500 trees in the park, including a "Sakura Tunnel" that is particular impressive at night when illuminated by large free-standing lanterns during the Cherry Blossom Festival (さくらまつり sakura matsuri).
Hirosaki Castle Park Sakura Tunnel by Day 弘前公園 日中の桜トンネル
Hirosaki Castle Park Sakura Tunnel by Day
Hirosaki Castle Park Cherry Blossom Festival Sakura Tunnel by Night 弘前公園 さくらまつり 夜の桜トンネル
Hirosaki Castle Park Sakura Tunnel by Night
Hirosaki Castle (a 3-storey castle tower reconstructed in 1810 after the original 5-storey was struck by lightning burnt down in 1627).  The stone walls under/around the castle building are undergoing repairs so this year is the last year where the castle will be visible from the red bridge. The moat surrounding the castle was drained and prepared for construction starting in Autumn 2014, so this year's Cherry Blossom Festival was the first time the moat area was open to the public to walk around in!

Not wanting to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime chance to walk around the moat (and the last chance for about 10 years to see the castle in its original position), Nameko spent the first day of the weekend, Saturday, April 25 in Hirosaki Castle Park.

He entered the park from the northwest, crossing a lovely green bridge, Ichoubashi. The outer moat was filled with sakura petals and simply gorgeous.
Hirosaki Castle Park Ichoubashi (Bridge)  弘前公園 一陽橋
Hirosaki Castle Park Ichoubashi
Hirosaki Castle Park Ichoubashi (Bridge) 弘前公園 一陽橋
Hirosaki Castle Park Ichoubashi
Once inside the park, Nameko made his way through the crowds and past many delicious looking food stands until he eventually was able to enter the inner moat for a previously impossible view of the castle.
Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival Food Stalls 弘前さくらまつり 屋台
Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival Food Stalls and Crowds
View of Hirosaki Castle from the Inner Moat 弘前公園 内濠から見る弘前城
View of Hirosaki Castle from the Inner Moat
View of Hirosaki Castle from the Inner Moat 弘前公園 内濠から見る弘前城
View of Hirosaki Castle from the Inner Moat
After the inner moat, Nameko made his way to Honmaru (paid area of the park) for more cherry blossom trees and a great view of Mount Iwaki. It was a hot day so he stopped to get some 100% apple juice from a vending machine along the way.
Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area) 弘前公園 本丸 有料区域
Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)
Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area) 弘前公園 本丸 有料区域
Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)
Apple Juice from Vending Machine in Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area) 自動販売機のりんごジュース 弘前公園 本丸 有料区域
Apple Juice from Vending Machine in Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)
View of Mount Iwaki from Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area) 岩木山 弘前公園 本丸 有料区域
View of Mount Iwaki from Hirosaki Castle Park Honmaru (paid area)
Before leaving the paid area, Nameko ran into Takamaru-Kun, Hirosaki City's cool but also cute falcon/hawk mascot character! After that he went for a walk through the Sakura Tunnel, stopping to take pictures of the many people taking rental row boats out on the West Moat.
Hirosaki Mascot Takamaru-Kun 弘前市のマスコット たか丸くん
Hirosaki Mascot Takamaru-Kun
Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat 弘前公園 西濠
Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat
Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat 弘前公園 西濠
Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat
After all the walking, Nameko needed a break. So he headed to some food stalls for a steamed bun filled with sakura-flavoured bean paste, and Hirosaki Park's famous "Jumbo Konnyaku".
Sakura Man Steamed Bun 弘前さくらまつり 桜マン
Sakura Man Steamed Bun
Sakura Man Steamed Bun 弘前さくらまつり 桜マン
Sakura Man Steamed Bun
Jumbo Konnyaku 弘前名物 ジャンボこんにゃく
Jumbo Konnyaku
Jumbo Konnyaku 弘前名物 ジャンボこんにゃく
Jumbo Konnyaku
Later in the afternoon it got rather chilly, so Nameko headed into town (stopping for more pictures of the outer moat) for a break at a cafe, Mother Leaf Tea & Waffle located along the central Hirosaki shopping arcade, Dotemachi.
Hirosaki Castle Park Outer Moat 弘前公園 外濠
Hirosaki Castle Park Outer Moat

Hirosaki Castle Park Outer Moat 弘前公園 外濠
Hirosaki Castle Park Outer Moat
Waffle with Vanilla Ice Cream Topping and Lychee & Grapefruit Tea at Mother Leaf マザーリーフ弘前店 ワッフルとバニラアイス ライチ&グレープフルーツティー
Waffle with Vanilla Ice Cream Topping and Lychee & Grapefruit Tea at Mother Leaf
After the short break, it was back to the park to enjoy the yozakura (夜桜 cherry blossoms at night)!
Lantern 弘前さくらまつり 提灯
Sakura Matsuri Lantern
Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat at Night 弘前公園 夜の西濠
Hirosaki Castle Park West Moat at Night
Although still rather full from the waffle, Nameko had to have some Dakekimi Corn Tempura right before leaving for a delicious end to the day.
  

More Information:
Towada and Beyond, "2015 Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival":
http://towada-city.blogspot.com/2015/04/2015-hirosaki-cherry-blossom-festival.html

Sources:
Japan-Guide.com, "Hirosaki Castle": http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3700.html
Hirosaki Tourism and Convention Bureau, "Hirosaki Castle, reconstruction of stonewalls schedule": http://www.hirosaki-kanko.or.jp/en/edit.html?id=edit12

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Lawson Gudetama Sweets

Gudetama is a Sanrio character created in 2013. He is a lazy, lethargic egg.

At first I thought it was a really strange idea for a character, but after seeing the character in action (in short animations, comics, and Twitter pictures), his unique personality came to grow on me--probably because I'm pretty lazy myself.

Lawson started selling Gudetama-themed foods starting in late March. They are limited in quantity, so best not to wait if you see them and want to try them!

Here are some of the sweets I have managed to try so far:

Lawson Gudetama Mango Almond Jello & Egg Bread ローソン ぐでたま マンゴ杏仁豆腐 たまごぱん
Gudetama Mango Almond Jello ぐでたま マンゴ杏仁豆腐 (gudetama mango annin dofu) 195yen *probably sold out*
Lawson Gudetama Mango Almond Jello ローソン ぐでたま マンゴ杏仁豆腐
 Lawson Gudetama Mango Almond Jello ローソン ぐでたま マンゴ杏仁豆腐
 Lawson Gudetama Mango Almond Jello ローソン ぐでたま マンゴ杏仁豆腐
As you can see, the Gudetama face is just printed on the plastic covering the pudding. Taste-wise, a standard/straight forward mango pudding and almond jello. Tasty but a bit pricey for what you get.

Egg Bread くでたま たまごぱん (gudetama tamagopan) 130yen *may still be available*
Lawson Gudetama Egg Bread ローソン ぐでたま たまごぱん
 Lawson Gudetama Egg Bread ローソン ぐでたま たまごぱん
 Lawson Gudetama Egg Bread ローソン ぐでたま たまごぱん
Castella sponge cake-like filling wrapped in a cookie/biscuit dough--like melon pan. Loved how the shape and yellow inside really made it look like an egg! Good value for the price, too, since it was quite filling. I would buy it again.

Gudetama Pudding くでたま プリン 240yen *should still be available*
Lawson Gudetama Pudding ローソン ぐでたま プリン
 Lawson Gudetama Pudding ローソン ぐでたま プリン
 Lawson Gudetama Pudding ローソン ぐでたま プリン
Like the Gudetama Mango Almond Pudding, the face is simply printed on the plastic around the pudding. Didn't really like the thin sponge-cake-type layer at the bottom of the pudding. Also, to keep the pudding from losing its shape, it was firmer than the typical Japanese pudding which I didn't really like. It was worth trying once, but I would rather get a bigger, tastier, and cheaper "normal" pudding rather than paying a premium for the cute packaging.

More Gudetama Information:
Gudetama Sanrio Character Page (Japanese): http://www.sanrio.co.jp/character/gudetama/
Gudetama Short Animation Playlist (Japanese): YouTube
RocketNews24: "Meet the most unmotivated Sanrio character ever -- Gudetama, the lazy egg!"