Camping and a caldera: Outings in Aso

Earlier this month Olivia invited me on a little overnight camping excursion along with some teachers from her high school and their families. We both really had no idea what exactly it was that we were getting into, but there was something quite nostalgic about feeling like a kid again and not having to do anything. That was definitely confirmed when we were sat on the kids table for dinner.

 

The entire weekend was a fully scheduled affair, and once we arrived at the campsite in Takamori, we started doing a variety of activities prepared by the science teacher. In true camping fashion, the first call of order was to make a fire, and we all got to have a go. He’d even built a little contraption himself to get the first sparks going, but even with just a flint I didn’t make much progress, so I left it to the professionals. By that, I mean the 5 year old who was really giving it his all.

Next up was making incense sticks, a super messy process that involved some powder, water, lots of rolling and a little bit of patience. I’m shocked mine turned out as well as they did, since they did burn pretty well too. Finally we practiced some knot tying, with the help of an adorable little guide the teacher created for us to practice with our ropes.

It was a totally different food experience to what I expected camping. Never before have I eaten rice and miso soup cooked on a BBQ, followed later in the evening by a pizza cooked the same way that looked more like a 10cm high bread dome. 

It was super chilled in the evening though, after Olivia and I took a rather long soak in the nearby onsen, and returned to drink a few bevs under the shelter. The mood was somewhat ruined though whilst being harassed by too many large bugs that had seemingly been on steroids.

After our morning hike the next day, the schedule went somewhat out of the window, so Olivia and I decided to do our own thing. First we visited the Takamori Yusui Tunnel to give ourselves a little respite from the heat. Inside there was a variety of lanterns created by various schools in the area, and also an interesting water display. 

The tunnel was originally built for the local train, but once a water source was found, they changed to project to become an attraction in the area. A variety of strobe lighting and radio waves are used to manipulate the water into orbs and allow it to flow in different directions.

On our way back to the city we decided to give seeing the Mt. Aso caldera a go since we were already in the area. It’s only recently reopened to the public, but the gas emissions dictate almost by the minute if people are allowed to enter. 

Despite the warnings changing almost instantaneously, we made a break for it and managed to have all but a few seconds at the crater before we were evacuated. 

It’s taken me two years to get there, but at least now I can officially say I took a photo at the closest volcano to my house, even if I was coughing up a lung because of it.

Fleeting visit to Tokyo.

Ironically one of my top bucket list locations in Japan, was somewhere I`ve been so close to before but never managed to visit. Kamakura is on the southern edge of Kanagawa prefecture and only a short couple of train rides from Haruka`s house. I visited a little while ago now, on what was definitely the hottest weekend we`d had in a while, and seemingly the start of summer.

We started by wandering the small but bustling street of Komachi-dori which leads straight from the station. We managed to escape from the glaring lunchtime sun into a relatively unoccupied mom and pop soba shop, which to anyone in the know is the perfect summer dish. Afterwards we headed to a super fancy kakigori (shaved ice) shop that even had a limited edition version that looked exactly like hydrangeas, a symbol of the Japanese rainy season. True to form I spilt about half of mine on the table, but what’s new there.

We headed to the Great Buddha in the late afternoon, spoke to a really lovely old man, and relaxed in the shade of the forest for a little while. This is probably one of the most iconic Buddha’s in Japan, but despite that it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I expected, and you only had to walk two minutes away to find some serenity. 

We came across a tiny little senbei (rice cracker) shop and treated ourselves to a huge cracker to share. That I never took a picture of, we were too occupied with eating it. I did buy the most adorable Buddha shaped crackers for Kohei’s family though, and I’d definitely recommend stopping there if you’re in the area. They have an abundance of decorated senbei for birthdays, graduations or even just to commemorate your trip to Kamakura. Imagine those large cookies you can have decorated with icing, but rather it’s a savoury cracker.

 

During my weekend away we also visited some locations in and around the Shibuya/Harajuku area. I finally visited a hedgehog café after wanting to visit one since I first came to Japan. Our hedgehog, Kiki, was super sassy and not having any of it, but we at least got a few cute pictures of him in knitted berets. We just let him chill out and enjoyed our time with them all, despite melting to death because they like a hot living environment. 

We also visited our favourite tea shop (this time in Aoyama) for our fix of fancy flavoured tapioca, and took a trip to Good Town for some doughnuts. Photo credit goes to Haruka for that one. It's the hippest cafe I've been to in a while, with lots of old school American vibes. Strawberry lemonade and lemon poppy seed were to die for, but next time, it’s all about the maple bacon.

Soba with a volcano view

I’ve never spent much time in the Aso region, mainly due to many failed attempts to see Mt. Aso during my first year. The road closures and difficulty in finding routes not affected by the earthquake a few months prior, meant I’d given up trying. That was until Olivia suggested a day out to Minami Aso; only an hour away from my house and surprisingly easy to get to, since you avoid a lot of the roads that were damaged.

We visited Kugino Soba Dojo, where we learnt how to make our own soba noodles from scratch. The experience was pretty easy to follow, with little obaachans (old ladies) first placing the ingredients in front of us and giving us time to take in the instructions they’d provided. Interesting fact: they strictly use buckwheat and Japanese yam produced right there in Minami Aso.

After a quick demo for each stage of the process, we were allowed to have a go, before the old lady did a cheeky check to make sure our noodles would actually turn into something edible. I was surprised by how dry the dough was and how quickly it all came together. There’s also a specific way to roll out the dough to maintain a consistent thickness, something which I’ll definitely be applying to my baking from now on. Once the dough was folded, it was time to get onto cutting, something Olivia and I weren’t too bad at.

At the centre you can choose to take your noodles home with you, or have them prepared there. I’d highly recommend that option, as we had more than enough left over to take home too. We got both a hot and cold set to try, which included onigiri and pickles.

It only costs ¥2,300 for one person for the materials, which makes four servings of soba! At only ¥2,800 for the two of us, we got to make soba, fill ourselves silly at lunch time, and I even had lunch for the next two days sorted.

If language barrier is a concern for you, I wouldn’t worry at all. All of the staff we spoke to at Kugino Soba Dojo were super friendly and seemed thrilled to have some foreigners there. The day was relaxed and fun filled, with us going to three great locations.

Afterwards we headed to the source of the Shirakawa River, where you can see it bubbling out of the ground. After taking a sip and having a paddle (of course I almost fell in), we headed to a soft cream stall where I had the most delicious kiwi soft cream. Take note if you every want a romantic date near Aso.