Bit of a lie in this morning. We hadn’t bothered to book tickets for today’s Shinkansen as we were only going a short distance and we thought we’d take it easy rather than go off on the usual route march. Checked out of the hotel at around 10am and dragged our cases to the local Caffé Veloce for brekkie – today actually in time for the morning menu. And very welcome it was too – really nice coffee and sandwiches. Yes again.

We then bumbled across the road into the median between the lanes in Jozenji-dori through what we thought was a local market. Couldn’t figure out why there were so many places selling coffee and with really large queues at most. I mean, I know it’s early but how many people get up that early on a Sunday to go get…

Oh.

It’s a coffee festival.

Look, there weren’t any signs at the place where we crossed over so it’s an easy mistake guv. And it was completely heaving so someone’s doing something right. Couldn’t take photos – it was almost impossible to stop unless you were in a queue, and dragging a case each wasn’t helping.

After extricating ourselves from about half of Sendai’s population we headed towards the station via the now well-worn route through the shopping arcades. It’s actually not as far as I was making out on Thursday morning; about a mile and a half and takes about half an hour to walk. Perfectly doable. Although not being totally washed out from travelling does give it a different perspective.

On the way we stumbled into a kiddies Halloween parade. Not quite sure why they were running it on October 21 instead of the next week but still…本当に大変可愛いですね！Lots of waving and grinning, especially from Tracey.

Once the parade had passed we trundled on and were standing on the platform waiting for the train by about 11:30am. Short wait later and we were on the Yamabiko, with seats which was nice, and we were off to Morioka.

The journey takes just over an hour so after the usual onerous task of watching the increasingly rural countryside go by (worse ways to spend an hour eh!) we were soon blinking in the sunlight outside Morioka Eki and trying to work out where to get the shuttle bus to the hotel. Hotel Shion isn’t actually in Morioka; it’s about half an hour outside near a lake. But there was free transport advertised…just where do you find it…?

Actually, once we found the rear bus stance it wasn’t too difficult to find, although this was one of those times where some Japanese came in handy because I spotted the “Free Shuttle Bus Departure Point” sign long before the names of the hotels. Again, small wins.

Since the next pick up wasn’t until quarter to three and it was only just gone one, we had a bit of time to kill so, case in tow, we went to see what was around the immediate area. And if there was a coffee in our future, so much the better.

Crossed the Kauin bridge over the Kitakami river (very pretty – and yes I did need to look up the details later) and then wombled around the shops and for an hour or so. A few likely looking coffee places but nothing much that we hadn’t already seen.

Then, on the way back, there suddenly appeared a massive Mokapot.

Well, not suddenly. It had obviously been there already; it didn’t pop up like a bizarre caffeine based magic trick. Anyway.

The world’s biggest coffee maker was outside a Kissaten (喫茶店: traditional Japanese coffee shop, for those playing along at home) called Cappucino. Nice one – exactly what we wanted.

Inside it’s proper old school with a massive gold Italian coffee machine just inside the door and shelves of stuff obviously collected over decades rather than bought in bulk to “theme” a place. Really friendly staff, lovely atmosphere and the iced coffee and toasties were just what the doctor ordered. A bit of giggling about the Hoodie (Tracey lost a little bit more of her soul) and so Uisuki and Daiou got to make new friends. Exchanged Meishi (business cards) with Hiroshi San and had a bit of a conversation. He’s been working there since the 80s and yes the gold coffee machine by the door is real and was used every day until it was replaced by a more modern one. Genuinely interesting chat. 

Soon had to say our goodbyes though so we didn’t miss the shuttle bus.

Back to the station and stood in the queue a bit nervously for the shuttle bus. We hadn’t actually booked it as there didn’t seem to be a way to do so when we booked the hotel. One of the reviews on Booking.com said they’d had to get a taxi which was really expensive. Gulp!

However, once the bus (actually coach) arrived there were no issues – the driver just checked which hotel we wanted, loaded our cases and ushered us on board.

And breathe!

Five minutes later though the nerves returned, to be followed shortly by decent into a fit of barely suppressed schoolboy/girl giggles. Despite not being in the first flush of youth ourselves (careful!) we were easily 25-30 years junior to everyone else on it! Had we (ok I) screwed up?

25 minutes later and we got the answer.

Nope. The hotel is awesome!

Politely and efficiently booked into our room and asked if we wanted to book an evening meal for later/tomorrow. Yes please! To be honest I should have booked the meals with room – can’t actually remember why I didn’t since the hotel is 8 miles outside Morioka and isn’t near another town*. Shown up to our room by a very polite young woman and reminded that there were free welcome drinks (coffee, juice etc) downstairs until about 6pm, that there were yukata in the room but that we could help ourselves to different sizes from the drawers down the hallway. And the room has a great view over the lake. All rather lovely.

Settled in a bit and then went for a bit of an explore (including availing ourselves of the welcome drinks). The hotel is massive and includes two separate onsen areas, one of which is directly fed from natural hot springs. Right then – that’s getting done.

Admittedly after a medium to fairly major divorce back in the room.

“Yes Tracey, naked”.

“Yes completely”.

“No you can’t wear a costume.”

“No I can’t go in with you - it’s not mixed”.

“No I’m not doing this deliberately to embarrass you.”

“Yes I know you hate me.”

“No you don’t HAVE to go, but it seems a shame.”

“No, really, no-one will care.”

Etc etc. For a really REALLY long time.

Eventually, dressed in our yukata we flip-flipped down to the first onsen we’d checked out and Tracey was almost immediately spirited away by a group of Japanese ladies who had decided to help her with her first onsen. I got left to get on with it on my own. Fair enough then.

And it was brilliant. Getting yourself clean beforehand by showering sitting on a small stool in a line of people doing the same thing is a bit of a culture shock but once you get over yourself it’s all good. And the onsen was amazing. Now I know how a cooked lobster feels - the water was hotter than Hades' kettle! Gave it as long as I could since, unlike a hot bath, it never got any colder so you never got used to it. Thought discretion was the better part of valour and got out before I fainted and had to be carried out butt-naked which wouldn’t have been fun for anyone involved.

Back to the room and no sign of Tracey. Maybe she’d hated the onsen so much she’d run away never to be seen again. Oh bugger!

Ten minutes later she turned up though; she’d been round the hotel shops in her yukata! The ladies had indeed looked after her and her onsen experience had been very positive thank you. Of course everyone else was much thinner/prettier/younger than her (yeah ok – blah blah) but would she do it again? Yep. Again – and breathe!

A bottle of sake before tea to celebrate seemed appropriate so I went to check out what was available. Actually, the hotel shop had quite a decent selection and wasn’t at all overpriced which was a pleasant surprise given it was in a virtual monopoly. (Later note: there is actually a Family Mart nearby but that would have meant getting changed and didn’t seem worth the effort). A few minutes, two very very happy, relaxed, and still slightly par-boiled pixies sat in the room looking out over the lake with a glass each and grinned.

Then it was time for the meal. Sorry, MEAL.

It was completely phenomenal! Started with Kaisekiryori (lots of individual dishes) and then you help yourself to the buffet ("Viking Menu" - thank God THAT one came up in lessons Yuka San!) Loads of different things to try including Wakame seaweed ice cream which is Tracey's new favourite. Shared a good laugh with a mum whose daughter was trying to eat her own weight in chocolate covered everything from the chocolate fountain. Anyway, I'll let the photos speak for themselves..

Staggered, totally stuffed, back to the room to find the futons already laid out for us. Which was just as well because that was as far as we could have moved for the rest of the evening. Netflix and a tad more sake and off to the land of nod.

Happy trails...

 *In retrospect I should have doubled checked the price of the evening meal since it did add about £250 to the bill overall (with drinks) to eat there both nights which was a bit of a shock when we came to pay. But this was entirely my fault as the cost we were quoted was per person and not for us both as I had wrongly assumed. Looking at the hotel online now they don’t seem to offer rooms without the meal though so that makes more sense. And I’d still whole-heartedly recommend it.