Ohayo 2017 (Morning 2017)!
It is the last day of my trip to Izu and also holidays.
I enjoyed healthy breakfast at Hotel Micrus; ingredients are fresh.
Hotel is facing ocean; it’s nice sunny day to walk on beach.
Even hotels look nice; it reminds me of Hawaii…!?
Time’s up; it’s time to go back.
I took Shinkansen (bullet train) to return for Tokyo.
Time is ticking…
On the way back, I managed to catch Mt. Fuji🎶
It’s a good sign!
Let’s have fun in 2017!!
Akemashite Omedetogozaimasu.
(Happy New Year)
The first sunrise in 2017.
We eat Osechi (New Year dishes) on New Year.
Every dish has a meaning: black beans (work hard till get black), golden mashed sweet potato (wealth/gold), etc.
After breakfast, checked out the hotel and moved to Atami.
Visited Kinomiya Jinja (Kinomiya Shrine) for hatsumoude (a New Year prayer).
This camphor tree is believed to be 2000 years old.
This tree is a sacred tree for long life.
I also enjoyed a bowl of matcha green tea while looking at a sacred tree.
Today, checked in at Hotel Micuras, Atami.
This hotel is very modern and every room has ocean view.
We had French for dinner; nice.
Tomorrow, I’ll return to Tokyo. Oh, NO!
I woke up and looked outside.
Sun was about to rise.
I quickly went to an open-air bath to wait for sunrise.
Today, it’s our lazy day because we don’t have a car to go out.
This isn’t my first trip to Izu during Year-End and New Year holidays.
The traffic in this area is terrible during holidays because there are many visitors/cars from Tokyo, but a road is narrow and there is only one lane!
Usually, it takes only 2.5 hrs for 160 km, but it will become 8 hr journey during holidays.
I tried three times/years and I gave up; it’s so tiring to drive 8 hrs alone! Sob sob.
This is why we don’t have a car.
There aren’t any places that we can go by foot in the area. Hummmm
Ate brunch at 8:30 am.
This is actually breakfast, but needed to eat for lunch as well because we cannot go out. hahaha
Our accommodation plan includes a complementary himono (local specialities, dried seafood) and a can of beer from Koshien (a store in front of Atagawa Station).
After breakfast, we made a brief trip to Atagawa Station by a hotel shuttle bus.
A shuttle bus meant to send off their hotel guests to a station, but simultaneously, a bus can send us to the station and take us back!
Yes, we managed to get aji no himono (dried horse mackerels) and beers.
That was the most active thing that we did today.
Other hours, dipped in onsen (hot springs: there are five different baths),
Free Massage,
Foot Bath,
Dinner,
It is a custom to eat soba noodle on New Year’s Eve to wish for long (as soba) life.
After dinner, we have no choice, but to spend New Year’s Eve in very traditional way.
I’m watching Kohaku Utagassen (Red and White Singing Battle) on NHK.
Red Team (women singers) and White Team (men singers) compete their performances.
Every year, it starts at 7:15 pm and ends at 11:45 pm.
Then I plan to watch Yukutoshi Kurutoshi (Year Going, Year Coming) from 11:45 pm till midnight.
Temples gong a bell for 108 times to purify our 108 sins by midnight to welcome New Year.
We watch lives or listen to gongs throughout the nation for 15 mins.
These sounds are actually the countdown to welcome New Year.
The sound of gongs calm us to welcome New Year peacefully.
Another one hour to welcome 2017…
I’ll be away for few days so needed to clear my refrigerator.
I don’t want to waste vegetables; therefore, I made a power vegetable juice.
I think the recipe is good: a lots of spinach, celery, parsley and lemon.
And I think this is good because it was BITTER…
I took Marine Express Odoriko Go.
I was surprised because the coach is Narita Express (an express train for Narita Airport).
Is it recycled…? Reused…?
A seat is dressed for Marine/Izu Peninsular to stimulate our holiday spirit.
After 2.5 hour journey, I arrived at Izu Atagawa Station.
I didn’t know there is a hotel shuttle bus waiting for us; I was about to miss it.
Luckily, I spotted it and waved to stop the bus.
According to Google Map, it’s only 6 mins walk from station to hotel; but Nooooo, it’s much farther.
Once again, luckily, I managed to catch a hotel shuttle bus. Fuuuuu
Our room is spacious.
Left door leads us to a toilet, washroom and bathroom.
Right door is a storage.
And fusuma (the main sliding door)…
We went to get a Welcome Drink (Hot Yuzu citrus Honey) at a hotel coffee shop.
Then changed into yukata (I could pick yukata design) to take a bath.
It was nice to dip into an open-air bath overlooking Sagami Wan (Sagami Bay).
Okay, burned few calories and refreshed by taking a bath; READY TO EAT!
I had a glass of Sapporo draft beer produced at nearby Shizuoka Factory.
Beer must be fresh; it was clear and smooth!!
And…
After dinner, I became so full; my body is still warm from dipping in hot spring…ready to sleep…
Oyasuminasai
Today I spotted this experimental project (Ha:mo) at Marinouchi, Tokyo.
This is an eco car (low CO2 emission, saving energy and saving space) developed by Toyota.
Ha:mo shared system is currently experimented at Tokyo and Grenoble, France.
It is ideal for ride and drop concept to be used at cities and sightseeings.
Designated car parks for Ha:mo are available at office, shopping, hospital, etc.
I wonder how’s the ride like..?
At Tokyo Station, I had a bowl of tendon at Keyaki, Tokyo Station Kitchen Street for lunch.
And I had a Santa cup cake at Fairycake, Tokyo Station for dessert.
It’s so cute!
For dinner, I had my favorite Big Mac!
There isn’t any MacDonalds in my area so it’s nice to have it once in a while.
I’m full and still tired from yesterday; I plan to go to bed early tonight. Zzzzzz
I played golf yesterday (on 19 December 2016).
I usually go to golf by car, but this time, we took train.
It’s our Year-End golf and we plan to have Year-Emd party with drinks after the game.
The game starts at 9:30 am; therefore, I took 7:42 train (Kegon 1).
This train goes all the way to Nikko where there is a nice shrine named Nikko Toshogu.
One day I will introduce Nikko when I visit there.
The weather was very nice (sunny, warm and no wind), perfect for a golf game.
However, my game wasn’t good; I just couldn’t hit right.
After nine was better, after lunch.
I had Genghis Khan (lamb) for lunch and it was nice.
Other than my game, everything was nice: golf course, weather, food, bath, fee (my friend had a special discount) and Year-End Party food.
It was just my game… boo hoo
I went to Roppongi Midtown (shopping complex) to buy thermal shirts at Uniqlo.
Before I do some shopping, I thought it’s better to get a point card.
I was informed that it takes one hour to prepare a point card cum credit card (free annual membership with benefits).
Fortunately or unfortunately, there is a free and charged wine tasting area.
While waiting for my point card to get ready, I tried a ship of numerous wines…
And nice (charged) wines.
This is a glass of Corton Clos Du Roi 2010 (USD 80 per bottle).
and Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2013 (USD 430 per bottle).
The price for tasting these two wines (20 mil each) and a pair of wine glasses to bring back for USD 30.
It was fun.
Did I go to Uniqlo? No…decided to go for dinner.
I found a nice Ramen shop: Ichiran.
It’s been there, but I’ve never tried this one.
After buying a ticket from the vending machine (not much of choice, either simple ramen with char siu (sliced of porks) and negi (leeks) for JPY 710/USD 7.1 or with hanjuku tamago (half boiled egg) for JPY 910/USD 9.1), I had to wait to be assisted.
According to a board, the store was full house.
Then, I was led to my cubicle and asked to fill up how I want my Ramen to be prepared: strength of flavor, oiliness, amount of garlic, with or without leeks, with or without char siu, secret recipe spicy sauce, hardness of noodle and any additional request such as more garlics and secret spicy sauce for additional cost.
This is how my cubicle looks like.
A half boiled egg was served first.
It’s hard to see a store staff over a cloth curtain, but after serving my Ramen, wooden curtain was closed to give me a total privacy. hahaha
If you like Tonkotsu Ramen (thick pork flavoured Ramen), Ichiran is highly recommended.
If you like a spicy ramen, you can request secret recipe spicy sauce to level 10 for free.
I tried 1/2 for a beginner.
This Ramen is very gooooooood!
Today, Mom brought me many Tai (red snapper).
To celebrate happiness, happy outcomes and congratulate somebody, we use red snapper.
Why…? Because red snapper in Japanese is Tai.
The word to celebrate happiness, happy outcomes and congratulate somebody is Medetai.
There is Tai (red snapper) hidden in the word.
Look there are many Tai!
These are ingredients for Ochazuke (rice soup).
Prepare Tai, dashi (stock gelee) and rice.
Pour dashi gelee on rice.
Place a Tai on rice and pour hot water.
Mix.
Quick, simple but delicious!
Then she also brought Osumashi (soup) in Tai.
Pour hot water.
Mix well.
Tai surely made me and my stomach happy!
I received more surprised today.
I received sea urchin from Kitakyushu, Fukuoka.
It’s nice to eat with hot plain rice.
These bottles were in a box of paulownia, most formal way to send a gift.
I will keep this box and make it to a jewelry box by making partitions.
And I received another parcel from Malaysia.
Yeah! I received my Els’ golf tag!
Thank you, Santa!
I went to an interesting restaurant: Ton Ton in Hibiya.
This restaurant is situated under a rail way.
The restaurant has the taste of Showa Era (1970s…?).
I ordered a glass of red wine and was served as if it is a glass of sake. hahaha
Ate varieties of Yakitori (skewers).
The restaurant is reasonable; a glass of wine is USD 4.00 and one skewer USD 1.60.
English menu is available.
This restaurant is highly recommended to go!
sonokotchi 