January 2016 - The Wadas On Duty

Hello world. It’s Mr. Wada back on duty! This time I would like to share one of our favorite cafes, Kurashiki Coffee.

This cafe is a bit more like Kissaten (retro Japanese cafe). If you follow us on Twitter, you may have seen some pics of this place. Its specialty is siphon coffee which is….needless to explain? Anyways you will see how it is like in this post. OK, let’s get started!

Kurashiki Coffee: Siphon Coffee Specialty Cafe

Well, it is a franchise cafe restaurant run by Saint Marc Group (Saint Marc is also a popular cafe restaurant from Okayama!) I didn’t know it until I searched about this company. Its name is Kurashiki Coffee but since it uses different Kanji characters to Kurashiki City (next to Okayama City), I’m not sure if it is related.

Enter Kurashiki Coffee

As you enter the store, bunch of siphon dripper welcome you.

Whoah. Shiny as crystals!

Cool, isn’t it? Of course these aren’t just display. They do use these for brewing coffee. I suppose not many cafes serve siphon coffee, but this store got it as a regular menu. Plus pretty reasonable (about 340 yen).

Siphon Coffee

I ordered their Kurashiki Blend Coffee (basically all coffee is served by siphon) and here it comes.

It reminds me of science class anyhow. Hehe. Now what? Well, no trick. Grab the handle and pour to your cup like this.

It tastes pretty good. This coffee in the dripper is about for 1.5 cups. And it costs just 340 yen!

Tea Snack

We like their sweets as well. This is Azuki (red beans) hot sandwich. To be honest I’m not that into red beans stuff but I do love it. Dunno why, perhaps it works well with bread?

Some other Japanese or Western sweets are also available.

Fukubukuro

Do you know what Fukubukuro is? It literally means LUCKY BAG.

American-version Maneki-nek (Beckoning Cat) — American-version Maneki-neko

Today, it is just special sale on the New Year’s Day (or holidays) most probably a give-a-way for good luck for business. It normally comes in a bag with stuff which would be more valuable than its actual (regular) price. Clothing, toys and electronics! Some stores even show what’s in the bags (that seems to lose the point though).

I don’t think I have got one before, but this year I did! ….something very affordable though.

It was our visit at Kurashiki Coffee near the year end. We found this Fukubukuro available for pre-order. It was a bit unusual like I’d need to order and pick it up after the New Year’s day. Anyway it looked good, so I ordered one and got it after the holiday.

This is the one.

It comes with 5 coffee tickets and 200 grams of coffee beans for 1,500 yen in total. As they say it would be worth more than 3,000 yen. Coooool.

Now we gotta go back to Kurashiki Coffee with these tickets . Hehe.

Information

Find Kurashiki Coffee near you here.

Lastly

It feels the holiday is really over (well, it’s almost Feb already). What’s next? Dah, it’s getting cold. We will spend more indoor.

See you around!

Hello, it’s Mr. Wada back on duty. I will show you around Shirakawa-go in Gifu.

Traditional Gassho-Zukuri in Shirakawa-go

Ren and I sneaked out from the guest house early morning. It’s freezing… We walked down towards the central to pick the car we reserved for the day. This day we are going to Shirakawa-go.

Driving Down To Shirakawa-go

Shirakawa-go is a 60-minute ride from Takayama City, accessible by car and public bus. It snowed a little few days back so there was still some left in Shirakawa-go, which is good for this scenery.

Transportation Costs:

Car rental	6,500 yen
Highway Toll-fee	2,000 yen
Gas	800 yen
Parking in Shirakawa-go	500 yen
Total	9,800 yen

Exploring Shirakawa-go

Gasshou-zukuri

Shirakawa-go is known for its traditional houses called Gasshou-zukuri. It is also a sister city of Alberobello in Italy which is an amazing town as well.

Onsen in Shirakawa-go

It was still very early, so none of the stores were open yet and more importantly…freezing! We decided to stop by at Shirakawa-go no Yu, the only onsen place in the area. Hey, morning bath isn’t bad on a cold day like this!

Lunch Time at Gasshou-zukuri House

Alrighty. We got warmed up very well and damn, I’m already hungry. We went into this place to grab something.

Ochuudo Cafe (落人) in Shirakawa-go

Zenzai is all-you-can eat. Have yourself from the pot as much as you like.

The staff will ask you to pick youself a cup from their collections. Look around you, there are plenty of them down, up and even hanging!

Mrs. Wada taking her second cup of Zanzai.

The restaurant was a bit busy though. We had to wait a little bit to get the seat at the irori. We had a nice meal and rested long enough, now we are ready to explore more!

Welcome to the Wadas!

There are several houses of Gasshou-zukuri that accept visitors and we saw this sign.

It says….what? The Wadas? I am not certain if this is possibly related to my family though, felt we should go in. A 300 yen of entrance fee is required.

As can you see, it is well-maintained. Hard to believe it is like…200 years old? Upstairs was quite cold without heater but we can see more of how this house is like. Residents raise silkworms here.

Beautiful Scenery of Shirakawa-go

We walked up to the top to see the scenery of Shirakawa-go. Not much snow was left…

It would’ve been better with more snow but it still looks good, don’t you think?

It’s a small village after all but beautiful.

Note:
Some houses are available for accommodation here in Shirakawa-go. If you wish to stay over at one of them, you should book as soon as you plan on visiting (During this time all places were full already before a month).

Let’s call it a day.

See you around!

Booking.com