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Maricel on the Move

Military Spouse + Mama of 4 | Homebody Who Loves Traveling with Her Family | Home is Where the Air Force Sends Us | Website Update in Progress

Okay, so I hate to admit it; but before moving to Japan, I did not know how to drink sake. All those college years of taking shots of sake and sake bombs (which, by the way, I learned yesterday that they don't drink sake bombs here—they are missing out on some fun ways to drink this beverage! Who doesn't like chanting, "Sake, sake, sake, BOMB!" while pounding their fist on the table to make the shot of sake that is sitting on chopsticks fall into a glass of beer with 20 of your closest friends?). Instead of drinking it like a sorority girl (I can say this since I was one), you're supposed to sip it like wine. Makes sense since it's rice wine.

Yesterday I had my first visit to a sake brewery, Ozawa Shuzo Brewery, which was founded in 1702 in the upper reaches of Tama River in Ome. My culture group and I had taken a sake tour, which is given in Japanese only. Thank goodness we had lots of Japanese ladies with us; otherwise, I would have just been completely lost.

This ball is made of cedar leaves and is called sakabayashi. Not only does it symbolize the god of sake making, but it also notifies when new sake is ready for sale (a new, green sakabayashi will be displayed in the fall when the first sake brewing is finished).

Some sake barrels.

Entrance to the sake brewery. The shimenawa, a rice straw rope, illustrates that this is a sacred place.

I think this is the neatest thing I've seen in a really, long time. Those blue barrels hold sake, and some of them have a little over 8,000 liters!

Skills on using ladders to stabilize yourself while working.

Fermenting rice.

The wooden ones are traditional sake barrels, and the sake from these barrels are more expensive.

Sake cellar.

Tunnel that leads to the spring water used in making the sake.

Blurry, but it's pretty cool to be able to see an underground spring.

After we finished our tour, we walked over to Kikizake Dokoro, which is a sake tasting bar. I only tasted daiginjo, which is described as a "sharpened taste and like an apple flavor." I don't think it could have been described any better. It definitely had a sharp, fruity flavor to it.

Afterwards, we walked across to Mameraku, a tofu house, for lunch. Perched above Tama River, we enjoyed great food and views.

I've never really been a tofu fan before, and I wasn't sure whether or not I would be full; but after eating this meal, my whole view changed. Not only was I full, but everything was delicious! Everything you see here was gone by the end of the meal. Eating at Japanese restaurants like here always makes me feel like a judge on Iron Chef. (I can hear the chairman saying, "Today's secret ingredient is...tofu!") Some of the dishes were deep-fried tofu with miso leeks and walnuts, mini bean curd served with sweet potato salad, boiled taro bean miso and seaweed, bean salad, pork, chicken broth, and meat sauce over the tofu.

While friends were doing some souvenir shopping, I took some pictures around the garden along the river.

Looks like there are a lot of train stations near by. The closest is Sawai Station (0.3 km), but we drove and there was plenty of free parking.

I feel like a peeping Tom, but this statue was just there. Completely random! I wonder about the story of its placement.

On this chilly day, I give these people lots of praise for kayaking down Tama River.

Ozawa Shuzo Brewery
Wine Cellar Tours (Japanese-Speaking Only)
Hours: 11:00am, 1:00pm, 2:00pm, 3:00pm; ~45 minutes
Closed: Mondays & Holidays
Fee: Free
Location: 2-770 Sawai, Ome, Tokyo, Japan
Access: Okutama Ome Line to JR Sawai Station, 5-minute walk from station; parking available
Phone: 042-878-8210
Website: http://www.sawanoi-sake.com

I have been wanting to write about our initial trip to Fujiten Snow Resort for over a year now, but, like all things, time just got away from me. We recently celebrated CJ's birthday at Fujiten, so I thought that this would be the perfect time to revisit.

Last year when we went to Fujiten, there was so much snow on the ground. Instead of walking to the entrance booth and paying the fee to enter Kids Love Land, we sledded right at the base of the mountain. There were quite a few families who were doing the same thing and the kids were so little, so we didn't see the need to enter what we imagined to be a huge snow park.

Seriously, I'm not sure why we didn't think about taking the few extra steps to enter Kids Love Land.

Getting ready to go sled down the hill.

They looked like they had a pretty good time to me! Well, at least TJ. CJ likes to close his eyes when he's sledding.

It became cloudy that afternoon, but it's a great day when you're sledding with Mt. Fuji in the background.

This year we decided to celebrate CJ's special day with a Slip-Sledding 2nd Birthday Party. With all of our guests, this definitely meant that we were going to enter the park this time around.

Fujiten Snow Resort has some colorful guests.

In hindsight, we had a great time last year whether or not we entered the park (plus, CJ was too small to sled down by himself on the longer slopes), but Kids Love Land is pretty cool! Not only is there this small playground, but there are tubing and ski slopes for the kids as well as a trampoline.

My kids could pretty much be found at the small, snow hill if they weren't sledding.

These kids created their own snow slide. Geniuses!

I think this is one of my favorite parts about this place. The conveyor belt that takes you to the top of the hill. Oh, you can walk along the other side of the slope? But why waste all that energy? Hop on and enjoy the scenery.

I've never been to a sledding park before, but I think it's pretty cool that they have animal canopies at the beginning of the course.

CJ had a lot of fun watching people sled down. He must've just seen someone eat it.

The happiness on the kids' faces makes the trip here all worth it.

CJ loves it when his dad tosses him in the air.

Goodbye, Mt. Fuji! It looks like a small ski park, but I think it would be a great place for beginners to practice. Plus, it's not too far from Tokyo if you're just making a day trip.