Hirosaki Owl Cafe - Japan Travel

Hi thar! Long time no post! I started off by having a couple of rough days, and then I just completely fell off the wagon and couldn't get back on track. My bad, guys.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year too! Mine was filled with a LOT of sleeping...so much that I fell asleep at midday 2015 and woke up in 2016 ._.

So! To start off the year, this post will be a travel-related one. (Completely different from schedule, but eh. More overthinking and such resulted in more questioning of this blog, and blah blah blah...anyway, travel!)

In early December, the mister and I went on a road trip to the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. I'd received a Facebook post from my Mum about an owl cafe (!!!), so naturally I sussed it out and discovered that it wasn't in Tokyo, but in Aomori (which is a lot closer to me), and that pretty much prompted for us to go on a trip...not to mention we do enjoy our random adventures here and there.

 

It had snowed a bit, but as we approached the border to Aomori, snow increased, and soon we were driving through magical white tree tunnels. As beautiful the scenery was, the frozen roads were a tad scary...slipping and sliding while driving a van isn't my favourite thing. (We may have passed a few cars that had slid off the road and tipped over...)

 

 

 

Soon after we arrived in Hirosaki, we took a quick trip to a private onsen (hella good in the cold weather), had a short sleep, then ventured off to the owl cafe. We arrived and parked at a supermarket across the road (as there wasn't really sufficient parking elsewhere for cafe patrons). The cafe was on the corner of an intersection, with large owl pictures on the side of the building.

 

 

 

Upon entry, there was a large white owl on a perch, sitting quietly. The mood of the cafe was quite calm and light, with owl-themed pictures and merchandise  for purchase. We were seated and waited upon by one waitress, purchasing a drink each and the option to touch and hold some owls (the cost being 1000yen, or around 12AUD, each). We were then left to walk around the room and look at the owls, giving them all a pat (so much softness, uugghhh).

 

 

 

There were 14 owls of different species, sizes and colours inside the cafe, all perched with a small leash on one of their legs so they don't fly around everywhere. They were all so nice to look at, with beautifully patterned feathers and gorgeous eyes. One owl, named Conan, reacted rather strangely to my bear hat...maybe I looked like food.

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes of looking, patting and photographing owls, we asked to hold some. I had a go at holding the first white owl we saw (which also happened to be the biggest), but he seemed a little cranky so I felt bad for him. The mister held two smaller owls, and I tried one small owl. They weren't super timid, probably because of the constant exposure to people and daily human contact.

 

 

 

As we were the last customers for the day, we took some last photos, then paid our bill and left. Following our owl cafe adventure, we went to chow down some cheap bento dinners and began to make our way back home.

 

Overall, the owl cafe was an interesting and pleasant experience. I guess it was a little pricey though, since we only had a regular tea drink each and no food. But the environment was pleasant and the service was great.

 

If there's anything I'd point out is the welfare of the birds. I'm sure they're well taken care of, but I can't help but worry about nocturnal animals having their sleep patterns changed to stay awake during daytime hours. Also I don't know if they have the freedom to fly around during the cafe's closed hours. The image of a cute and innocent cafe where customers can handle beautiful owls seems to be more of a priority than the welfare of the animals...but that's just my personal opinion. Who knows, I could be completely wrong and they could be hand-raised orphaned owls. I thought I'd give it a go once for the experience, but I might not choose to go again.

 

And that concludes our little trip to Hirosaki Owl Cafe. Hope you enjoyed this post! I'm thinking about writing more about travel in Japan and such, since it seems to be more interesting than other things I write about. Maybe I'll throw in some mental health related things since I'm all about that mental health support and such. So yeah, let's see how this goes!

 

Until next post!

Snapshots Roundup! #1

Heya beautiful peeps!

So I've decided to make Saturdays a little more laid back, and just show some of the photos I've taken via my smartphone. These won't be professional or anything (since my phone is probably considered rather ancient now...but it's still a smartphone, so yahhh), just some snaps of random things I see that are interesting or strange.

So to kick it off, today will be quirky foods found in the shops! That would include veggies of different sizes, shapes, etc. and food items that are just a bit more interesting than what I've seen before.

Different Shaped Watermelon

I first saw cube-shaped watermelons via the internet, but never in person...until I arrived in Japan, that is. But seeing heart and pyramid shaped melons was rather interesting. (They'd better be good too for around $50 a pop!) To my understanding, to get watermelons to form into certain shapes, they need to be grown inside a shaped box or mould...not sure what that does to the nutritional value, probably nothing, haha. But nonetheless, an interesting find!

Tamago Eggplants

If you follow my Instagram (@ichigonyankochan) you would have seen these tiny white eggplants. Their name 'tamago nasu' literally translates to 'egg eggplants' which was rather amusing to my simple mind. We didn't buy any, but I do wonder if they actually taste like regular eggplants...would be fun to trick some people and stick these into egg cups for breakfast, bahaha~

Green Cauliflower

This is a variety of cauliflower that is not only green but looks badass! I love the way it's grown with spiny little mountains, very fun and unusual! I've also come across purple, orange, and green non-spiny varieties of cauliflower. Much more fun than the regular white!

Long Carrots

You would've also seen these if you follow my Iggers. These suuuuuper long carrots were very amusing to see! And once I'd come across them they appeared in many other places...at such a great length, I think these would make great light sabers or poking tools...or you could, y'know, make a big carrot cake, just to be more practical.

Seasonal Flavoured Treats

As you can see, these were from Halloween, and during this time of year you can see pumpkin flavoured EVERYTHING. In the autumn season you can also see a lot of chestnut flavoured items, but the pumpkin theme was rather interesting. This photos is just of a bunch of sweets (KitKats, hard candies, jellies, etc.), but there were drinks, savoury snacks, cakes, and I even came across pumpkin instant noodles. So yeah, they like to go overboard with their seasonal themes!

Cartoon Themed Fishcakes

While I don't support the consumption of fish, these were still an interesting find. These fish cakes are for slicing (except the round Doraemon ones) and putting into bento (Japanese style lunch boxes), and as depicted by the cute cartoon character's faces, these are catered for children...or anyone who likes anime (Honestly, if these were veganized, I'd go for Pikachu~).

White Pepsi

 

Has anyone else seen these? Because I haven't! Looks rather intriguing, and I wonder about whether they add less or more chemicals to make it white...probably more, something like a bleach...Anyway, I've never seen it, but if you have then drop a comment and tell us!

 

With Christmas and New Years coming up, I'm sure there'll be an abundance of pretty, cute, and interesting food items, so I'll make sure to snap some pics of them to share in future 'Snapshots' posts. Did you like anything from this one? Let us know in the comments! Or if there's something you've heard of and want to see, let me know and I'll try to do some scouring around!

 

Until next post, later everybodeh!