Sutamina Taro (All-You-Can-Eat) Restaurant

Sutamina Taro Restaurant

Yakiniku (Barbecue)

Yummy barbecue!

Make your own pancake or crepe (just follow the pictures)

Cotton Candy Machine

How to make a cotton candy

Pour the sugar into the hole

Get the paper stick and grab the cotton, simple!

My son, getting the cotton candy from the machine

Inside the restaurant

Desserts

Sushi

Tako yaki (octopus ball), shrimp tempura, chicken karaage

Orange, apple and lychees

The food section

Sutamina Taro Restaurant- Jan 2, 2010

Last week we're supposed to go to Oki Doki Recycle Shop but we found out that it was closed already, it's actually permanently closed maybe out of business or they moved to a different place (I don't know what's the actual reason, I'm just guessing hehehe). We thought that we missed the store so we even turned around and saw no sign of Oki doki, it's really closed. We saw the actual store with no signs and no displays inside and it's empty (I should have taken that picture too LOL).

Anyways, we were hungry that time so we ended up going to a yakiniku restaurant which is a few blocks away from that store. I just found out the real name, while I'm writing this post I asked my daughter if she can read the name of the restaurant. So there you are...it's Sutamina Taro! Thanks for having a daughter who's taking Japanese class ;-)

This restaurant is an All-You-Can-Eat, it offers a lot of varieties of dishes such as sushi (of course hehehe), ramen, udon, soba, tako yaki, chicken karaage (fried boneless chicken), salad, french fries, fruits, desserts such as cheese cake, mochi, strawberry cake and many more. You can make your own cotton candy and crepe which are the 2 favorite things that my son like to do here.

I think this was our 5th times eating in this buffet restaurant; some of the pictures above were taken last August and last week ( I combined them).

Price: (this is weekend and holiday price only)

Adults- 1980 yen (~$22)
Children- 1340 yen ($15)

The weekday's price is cheaper but forgot the price probably 1000 yen for adults

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Directions (for US military newcomers here in Misawa):

Using back road not the toll road : (We always use this route since we are far from the toll road entrance and to save from toll fees hehehe)

1. Go out from the Falcon or POL Gate
2. Go straight and make a left on Universe
3. Go straight (pass Eneos gas station and family mart), make a right when you see Lawson on the right and Esso gas station on the left
4. Go straight all the way to Hachinohe (approximately 30 minutes or more from this intersection), this is route 45
5. At the end of the road is the T-intersection ( so you won't worry of getting lost) where you will see the Sega World, make a right on this T-intersection (you may get confused but this is still route 45)
6. Go straight (pass Popeye Pachinko and you should pass the Yellow hat on your left side)
7. Make a left on Route 29 (going to Kabushima), the landmark intersection is the Cyber Pachinko & Slot
8. The restaurant is on your right (you would pass Uni Q Glo on the right hand side)
9. You will make a U-turn when you see the Pachinko Parlor on your left hand side (be careful the road is a bit narrow for a van to u-turn)

Using Toll Road:

(Note: You should know how to drive going to Hachinohe using toll road before you can follow this directions since I'm too lazy to type hehehe)

1. When you exit the Hachinohe toll road, turn right onto route 45
2. Go straight until you hit the T-intersection (You will see Sega World)
3. Follow steps 6 to 9 on above directions

ENJOY!!!

Hachinohe Sansha Tansai (Festival)- part2

This is the second part of my batch of photos from the Hachinohe Festival which was held last August 1, 2009.

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai (Festival)- part1

One of the floats, the little drummers and the blue devil (sorry but I don't know the name of the float hehehe)



A blue float :-)

BFF (best friends forever hehehe)


The Geisha Float


The old man and the horse with no name

Kids with their flutes


The cute drummers


The teenagers with their custom made flip flops


Another float


These kids are pulling the rope (pretending they can pull the big float).....I don't think I'll let my son wear this kind of hat but they're so cute with these kids :-)


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Hachinohe Sansha Taisai- is a wide and main festival of the town. It is also considered as "Japan's Biggest Float Festival." Sansha means "three shrines" and Taisai means "festival": It is held by three shrines (jinja): Ogami Jinja, Shinra Jinja, and Shinmeigu.

Floats ran through the main streets of the city of Hachinohe, accompanied by people with drums, flutes and loud calls. Twenty seven different floats were used, and they were proudly constructed and decorated by the members of various organizations. The floats were also accompanied by men in samurai costumes on horseback, and Tiger Dancers. Some kids and adults were pulling the ropes to guide the floats on where to go.

We witnessed this event last August 1, 2009, sorry for this late post I was a bit busy lately.....busy with my farm.....farmtown on facebook hehehe LOL.

By the way, Hachinohe is a 30 minute drive from Misawa Air Base.

I will post more pictures from this festival on my next post.

Randoseru or School Back Pack in Japan

I saw this bag and was shocked with the price, so I grabbed my cell cam and took this photo :-)
The actual price of this school bag is 40,000 yen or $400+ with 5000 yen discount, so it's around $350 now but still expensive


These 2 bags are a bit cheaper than the first bag above, 13, 860 yen or $140. I think the price varies depending on the material some would cost as high as $850





I always notice the school bags of students here are uniform....WHY???



The two boys have different colors of backpack but the same style....WHY???

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After my keen observation and curiosity about this unusual backpack of Japanese students, I have to do something that will answer my queries hehehe..... so I searched google and found out that this backpack is called randoseru, and is used by elementary students.

According to wikipedia:

Randoseru- randoseru (ランドセル^?) is a firm-sided backpack made of stitched firm leather or leather-like synthetic material, most commonly used in Japan by elementary schoolchildren. It measures roughly 30 cm high by 23 cm wide by 18 cm deep, and features a softer grade of leather or material on those surfaces which touch the body. When empty, the average randoseru weighs approximately 1.2 kilograms (about 2 1/2 pounds avoirdupois). The term randoseru is a borrowed word from the Dutch "ransel" meaning "backpack", a clue to its origins nearly 200 years ago as used in the Netherlands.

The randoseru is the most universal and recognizable feature of the Japanese school uniform and is considered symbolic of the virtues necessary to obtain a good education—unity, discipline, hard work and dedication. Traditionally, the randoseru is red in colour for girls, black for boys.^[2] While in more conservative schools the colour (and often the brand and design) is mandated and enforced, the backpack is available in a variety of colours, partly as a compromise for parents to retain some tradition within modernized schools which no longer require the use of traditional uniforms or of the randoseru.
Traditionally given to a child upon beginning their first year at school, the randoseru's materials and workmanship are designed to allow the backpack to endure the child's entire elementary education (six years). However, the care usually given to the randoseru throughout that time and afterwards can extend its life and preserve it in near-immaculate condition long after the child has reached adulthood, a testament to its utility as an accessory and the sentiment attached to it by many Japanese as symbolic of their relatively carefree childhood years.
The randoseru's durability and significance is reflected in its cost: a new randoseru made of genuine leather can carry a pricetag of over 30,000 yen, almost 300 US dollars, as May 2008 exchange rate. Clarino, a synthetic material frequently used as a substitute, reduces the cost somewhat. Often randoseru are available on auction sites, in new or used condition, at much lower prices, particularly after the start of the Japanese school year in April.
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Still expensive for me :-)

Hachinohe Children's Land

Ferris wheel and other rides :-)


Carousel



bike ride


Go Cart


Find the monkeys :-)


Here they are! There is also a small petting zoo aside from these monkeys but we were late already when we got here and didn't get the chance to see the other animals.



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I ran out of camera battery so these 2 shots below were taken from my cellphone and these were not that clear compared to the above photos....but still I like my cell cam for backups :-)




Ship


Statue of (???) I don't know the name hahaha


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This is my second time to feature Hachinohe Children's Land on my blog, last time was fall and it's a bit cloudy. Lucky it was a nice warm weather when we got here last week.

Hachinohe Children's Land is a 30 to 40 minute drive from Misawa.

Entrance is free

ticket price per ride:

kids- 100 yen or ~$1
adult- 200 yen or ~$2

parking: free

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Directions: I forgot hahaha

Car Seats

Car seats here are too expensive! I found these 2 from Jusco mall, with a price of 49,800 yen or ~$498.00 and 39,800 yen ~ $398.00 either one is still too much! I could have bought a gucci or prada or louis vuitton bag or purse from that price hehehe (I wish....).

Game Center in Pia Do Mall

Pia Do Mall in Hachinohe is a 30- 40 minute drive from Misawa



Game Center in Pia Do Mall


Drums


Video Game- Mario Kart


Video Games (Pokeball chips and I don't know the rest hehehe)

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The following are the different kinds of claw vending machines inside the game center

Claw Vending Machine- Frozen Food (Strawberries, ice cream, candies)














In Japan, video arcade is known as game center which is very popular here. You can find small game center even in supermarkets in Misawa such as Yokomachi and Super City Asahi.

The claw vending machine is popularly known to Japanese as the "UFO Catcher" because of its claws that look like UFO.

I bet you will browse back to above pictures to check the claws of each vending machine hehehe.