Back to getting up early today and so down to breakfast by 8am so we’d be in plenty of time for the shuttle bus at 9:30ish. And breakfast did not disappoint, although the photo doesn’t do it justice. Again there was a Viking Menu (Buffet) to choose from with just about every option under the sun. Unfortunately including natto which got roundly ignored. 

Some people were literally piling up platefuls but at 8am we were markedly more restrained. Although not as retrained as it appears from the photo - we did have several round of this!

More than enough room on the shuttle bus so in fairly short order we were wombling round Morioka town centre again for a proper tour around this time. Having downloaded the Morioka tourist app there was a suggested walking route around the town so we headed back across the Kauin Bridge through Odori Shopping Street (lots of Karaoke bars and restaurants too) in the direction of the park and castle gardens. May have stopped off in Daisou at one point to buy more plastic wallets to store the small mountain of leaflets, tickets, guides, small coins etc. we’d been accumulating.

Ok.

I’d been accumulating.

Made it to the park by around quarter to 11 and had a poke around the Sakurayama Shine next door first. Very interesting and given all the flags there was obviously something going on around the 7-5-3 year old celebrations for children but I’m not sure what. I thought the 七五三 was on November 15. We did see a family all dressed up though with the little girl in a kimono but what exactly was happening I’m still not sure. Answers on a postcard…?

Watched a load of workmen taking trees apart. This was happening quite a bit in the area, I think as a result of storm damage. But I might have misinterpreted that.

Round the corner and along a really pretty river walk into the main Morioka Castle Park (Iwate Park). Couldn't get much more typically Japanese than these views...

Definitely worth the trip as the grounds were just starting to come into autumn colour (ooh get me!) and you do get a good view over Morioka. Particularly enjoyed the plinth with no statue although you can see where it used to be in the information boards. No clue what was going on with that though.

More random wandering around the park and then followed the map’s route to the river, where there were signs saying that it’s part of a salmon run. And it is, because they were! Pity I didn’t have a polarising lens as we’d have got better pictures but you can see them if you look closely.  

After this we continued on the route which took us down through some back streets and eventually back to the centre again. All in all a very good constitutional and a thoroughly enjoyable day of ambling about. Sorry there's not much more detail but honestly it was just a good old fashioned mooch around. 

Overall, Morioka has a really laid back, relaxed "vibe" during the day which was genuinely a nice experience. However I reckon that the Shopping Street (Odori) especially really comes alive in the evening. We'd have loved to see it all lit up but it would have been impractical to stay after 4pm since that was the last shuttle bus (see note in the "Hotel Review" later). A bit like Osaka last year, we did get the feeling that perhaps we'd missed out a little on what the place has to offer by staying so far out. Still, easy with 20/20 hindsight eh?

Light lunch in the same coffee shop as yesterday where Hiroshi San welcomed us back and actually showed my meishi to his customers. Much "appreciation" and not a bit of giggling. And they liked the hoodie too. Not much of Tracey’s soul left by this point and we were only on Day 6. 

一期一会 (Yes I know that means "A once in a lifetime meeting" and this was the second meeting but still...)

Back to hotel via the shuttle bus for more sake and the other, open air, natural spring, onsen. If anything, even better than the last one. And no divorce, however minor, to get Tracey on board this time. Result!

Both spent as much time as was humanly possible getting lightly broiled and in my case this included a conversation with a guy who was learning English so he can be a guide at the Olympics. 頑張ってください. Honestly ashamed to admit that I can’t remember his name because, due to the circumstances, I didn’t have anything to write it on!

Tea was a repeat of yesterday’s amazingness (it’s a word – deal with it) with a different kaisekiryori menu. And Uisuki and Daiou made a new friend which is always good. Once more, I'll let the photos of the meal speak for themselves. Just look at it!

Stuffed again, it's was Netflix and sake once more until Morpheus rocked up and we were out for the count.

Love this place – thoroughly recommended!

A Proper Hotel Review

Later note after return to the UK: The above comment stands, but as no place is perfect I thought I'd do a quick pros and cons list. Don't normally bother with in depth reviews of the hotels since a lot we used are business hotels designed to be relatively cheap, functional and efficient rather than exciting. But in this case the experience was much more about the hotel itself so here goes. Cons first as I want to finish on a high since the place is great overall.

Oh, and I'm not commenting on stuff that I'd consider basic now like Free Wi-fi, towels etc. The Booking.com listing includes toilet paper as a feature. Seriously? 

Cons

The hotel is firmly geared to native tourists and if you don't speak or read any Japanese there are a few things you might struggle with. The shuttle bus information, quite a few hotel signs, onsen information, the menus and most of the buffet item descriptions for example are all in Japanese with no or very few translations. The information pack in the room does help and the ever-present staff are incredibly helpful so of course it's not a total dealbreaker. And it's a Japanese hotel - what language do you expect? But if you go, just be prepared for a lot less linguistic handholding than most places in which we stayed. I loved it - your mileage may vary.

The room doesn't actually have air conditioning despite what is advertised in the current room description. It has ventilation and heating but no way we could find to chill the air. If the room gets hot you can easily slide the windows open and there are screens so the insects can't get in but you do then get a bit of road noise. It's not intrusive and the road isn't that busy, especially in the evening. But if it's hot you'll have to put up with it. We slept with the windows open both evenings and it was fine. If you are on a lower floor though it might be a bit noisier. 

The meals (at least when we went) are all or nothing so if you don't like kaisekiryori or want a cheaper option there isn't/wasn't one. There's a Family Mart nearby you could buy food from though if you really wanted. The meals now appear to built into the price so at least the charging is clear up front but that does make the hotel quite expensive if you really just want Bed and Breakfast.   

The last shuttle bus leaves Morioka Eki at 4pm and to get back after this you'd be paying for a taxi which would not be cheap at it's several miles out. This does force your hand in where you eat dinner and also it would have been nice to see Morioka in the evening. Given the demographic of the vast majority of the guests (average age and popular with package tours) I can see why it's not catered for but a prebooked and chargeable mini-bus would be a great option. The hotel has a few mini-buses already so I'm sure it could be made economic to do even just one after dinner drop and later pick up. 

(This is picky) The views across the lake from the hotel shown on Booking.com are quite "judiciously" shot/cropped to make it look like the hotel is on the lake shore. And, as you can see from our photos, it's actually set back from the lake, across a car park and the main road. Perhaps you can go and take evening walks round the lake but it's not obvious how to do it. There's also another hotel next door so you can't have a completely unobstructed view of the lake.

Pros

The room was immaculate, with lots of space with a good (if not perect) view of the lake and mountains. Great to chill out in.

Staff were really friendly, efficient and incredibly patient with my awful Japanese. Despite the above comment about the language issue, if you don't speak Japanese everyone would undoubtedly help.

Can't fault the food either in quality or quantity. It was superb.

Choice of really excellent onsens. Also apparently there are private baths you can book but we didn't use these so I can't really comment. 

There's a games room if you like that sort of thing or have kids to entertain.

The hotel shops weren't overpriced.

Free shuttle bus to/from Morioka

Overall

Again, the recommendation still absolutely stands - we'd go back again tomorrow. Just thought it was worth a more rounded picture...