This year the string of national holidays called Golden Week in Japan was one day longer, giving us ten full days off. As usual we avoided making any travel plans, because Golden Week is a holiday for almost everyone in Japan, and so the airports, train stations and highways are crowded, and ticket prices double (or even triple).
Surprisingly, our little town of Okubo was pretty quiet during the holidays – apparently many people went elsewhere and so we kind of had the town to ourselves. The first half of the holiday was cloudy and rainy, so we spent most of our time inside catching up on several years’ episodes of Game of Thrones. We cooked and ate very well, and took care of housecleaning and other chores.
The second half of the holiday had much better weather which we took advantage of right away. We did loads and loads of laundry, washing the cold weather stuff like blankets and jackets, so our balcony was always full of clothes drying in the sun. We sat out back on the patio several days sipping prosecco or margaritas (for Cinco de Mayo), and we also walked around town exploring some new places.
We dropped into a mysterious karaoke/pub that looks like someone’s house down the block from us. Called “Koume” (little plum) it was like visiting your grandmother’s house. The living room was where we sat, and the lady cooked us “ham egg” and sliced up some tomato to go with our beers. I don’t think we’ll be back but we did satisfy our curiosity. In addition to the usual walks to the beach we made a long walk to Nishi Akashi on the backstreets to try a Korean restaurant and a Chinese restaurant that looked interesting. The Korean place was pretty good but a little overpriced for what we got. The Chinese place turned out to be great – full of weird people (staff included) but with some great nikuman and tantanmen (spicy noodles). I definitely think we’ll go back there in the future. On the walk back home we stopped at a small taiyaki restaurant for dessert, and also picked a roadside tofu shop to do some shopping as well. We were buying from locals and supporting the local economy, so that felt good.
On our last Friday of Golden Week we hosted Yoshi, Mamiko and Akira for some burgers and sausages out on the grill. We spent a nice evening with them talking about food, travel, and the future, and we made plans to go to another beer festival with them this month. They are such nice people!
Golden Week was a success, so now we are starting focus on losing the weight we likely gained during the holiday and getting back into a work routine. We won’t have any more holidays until July, and the rainy season is coming up. Time to get back in shape!
