Conbini breakfast for us. I got a cream bread and an onigiri that they heated up for me. I just kept saying yes and wham it was hot haha. I’m noticing them asking me a lot lately so now I know what they’re asking. Kasumi got some oden. Afterward, we walked over to the Tomioka Silk Mill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The streets were packed. We saw so many giant tour buses. As a resident of Tomioka, I could get in free. We confused the teller though when Kasumi asked for one adult ticket and one resident, and I was the one to show my residence card ha. I actually got a brochure in English with a bit more of the history. If you are more of a group, you can ask for an English tour ahead of time. Otherwise, all the signs and tours are in Japanese there. You can rent an audio guide for 200 yen in a couple different languages or do the audio for free on your phone with a QC code.

It was cool to be there on the weekend because they had some demonstrations of the silk weaving, taking the cocoon apart till only the worm was left. I also got to touch one of the cocoons and pull the silk off the outer shell, and see the worms wiggling around and make the cocoons. A lot of the site is still under construction and being restored. It’ll be interesting to see the finally product. I think I’d enjoy it more if I got more historical info about the place. Afterward, we went to get yakimanju, a Gunma speciality. They are soft buns are coated with a rich, sweet and salty miso sauce and grilled. So delicious and cheap! The best shop in Gunma according to many JETs is right by my school. I know what I’ll be getting for an after school snack somedays!

We went to get lunch next at CO-JIRO and stopped in some tourist shops along the way. Trying to get some Christmas ideas. I had heard good things about the restaurant so I wanted to try it out. Made Kasumi translate again for me, heh. The interior was nicely decorated and the sign has a cute cat next to it. They offered two lunch set options, A and B, so easy enough for me to order in the future. The food was amazing! Definitely lived up to its reputation.

Then we headed off on to Nukisaki shrine which was about a 40 minute walk away. You can take the train a bit closer, but it honestly doesn’t save much walking time so we decided to work off our food. The last stretch is really steep, straight up hill. What a workout! We had to start pulling off our layers. What’s special about Nukisaki is that you have to descend down stairs to the shrine. This is extremely rare to find in Japan. As we were leaving, some kind of ceremony had started with chanting inside the shrine. It looked like a blessing or so.

Lunch at CO-JIRO

Tea house garden

From Nukisaki, we went to a green tea house that had opened this past summer, ちゃきち, Chakichi. I had found it through instagram pictures. It was amazing. The decorations were fantastic and the sliding doors and windows were open to the little Japanese garden in the back. They had many green tea and other ice cream flavors. We both got matcha parfaits that were very yummy. It was difficult to choose what to order! Before we left, one of the staff struck up a convo with me. He had studied abroad in Australia and had lived there extensively. His English was so good and had an Aussie accent. I will definitely go back! So much more to try.

The small train station was about a ten minute walk away so we took it back to my station. It was a bit tricky this time because since it was the weekend, there was no one at my station or the one we departed from. That means taking the number ticket on the train and then paying the driver directly when getting off. You need direct change though so we had to figure out how to use the machine in the front of the train to convert a coin to smaller coins. It all worked out though and now I know how to do it for the future! We popped by my place to grab our bags (and for me to change into my hiking clothes), and headed off to Takasaki. Kasumi was heading back to Saitama and I was heading up north, a little past Numata to Gokan to spend the night in preparation of hiking Oze tomorrow. The public transport takes so long so I wanted to get as close as possible: 40 min train to Takasaki, 50 min train to Numata, 80 min bus to Tokura, 20 min shuttle bus to Hatomachitoge and one of the park entrance.

Matcha parfait

I had extra time in Takasaki so I grabbed a cheese bun from a bakery and a coffee at Starbucks, and hung out there. They have all the drinks written in English as well as Japanese so it was easy to order. They have an extra size here called short that’s even smaller than tall. The short prices are about the same as the US tall prices. It was a comfortable ride. I was planning at crashing at another ALT’s house, K, and she had offered to pick me up at the train station. So kind! Instead, another ALT, J, was driving and she was riding along with. That zero tolerance drinking policy. I had planned to join in on a game night at her apartment. I got to meet some cool new people, eat lots of junk food and pizza, and play spoons for the first time in forever. Apparently J lives far from Numata in a small village, Katashina, only 10 minutes from Oze. He offered to let me crash at his place and drive me to the shuttle bus pick up. This would save me 2050 yen and allow me to get an earlier start tomorrow. Super nice of him. We left around 10:30 pm for the long drive back to his place. We made it in good time. The stars were pretty amazing and it was so cold! About 45 degrees as a low. Thus, his place was already a lot colder and it was comfy to bury myself in a blanket.