Otsukaresama desuta...

And the winner is....

A show performed by one of the sake house employees.

Not only adults, children also took part performing a drama of sake making.

Sake brands from some region in Japan. From left top clockwise, Shikoku Kyushu region, Chugoku region ( Hiroshima area), Kinki region and Chubu region.

For your sake and green tea.

Sake barrels in front of a house.
The last post of sake houses, today I also uploaded some photos of sake festival in October 08.
I'm sorry I wasn't around for five days, have some trouble with Mozilla Firefox and Blogspot everytime I try to click links, it shut off.
Yuri San: Otsukaresama desuta (Finally, we're done)
Hiro San: Otsukaresama desuta. Ja ne (Finally. See you later)

Ma ma desu...

Another burnt out Sakura photo, sorry... I just love the bench with garbage can and the red signs.

Don't forget Onigiri, rice ball.....
Care to try your own rice ball? I'll show you how to make it one day.....


Usually there's no Hanami without Yakiniku or at least having lunch under the Sakura trees :). It is a bbq party a la Japanese people.

Hanami today took place on the hill. I'm sorry the house in the background is blurred.

It seemed that the plan to Sakura sightseeing was not going very well, raining all day. I had to struggle with camera in my right hand and umbrella in the other hand :). Just hope the camera is okey since it got quite wet because of rain. Well, that's my excuse for not getting some good photos, haha....I did post processing, of course. Why it is always burnt out? Oh, from what I read last night, it's called white clipped.....
Hiro San : Hanami wa doo desu ka? (how was the hanami?)
Yuri San : Ma ma desu (it's just okey)

Onegaisimasu...

Should you be in Japan in October and anywhere near or in Hiroshima, you'll surely want to get to the Saijo Sake Matsuri. As in every festival in Japan, food vendors will participate selling various kind of food at the stalls along the road. I was offered by this young boy to try his food, and with my tricky way pretending to be a tourist I offered him back to take a photo of him. He felt reluctant and shy as seen here, yet finally said yes.

A gate for happy drinkers

This is one of the photos in Sake Matsuri/Festival series. Last year, the festival was held on October 11-12 in Saijo, Hiroshima. The Saijo Sake Festival was more than just drinking rice wine, it was also an education, with brewery tours, sake-making displays, parades, music and a chance to taste Japan typical food. Just pay a small cup for 1500Yen (US$ 12.50)at this gate entrance and you can refill it as many times as you want, with tasty sake from all over Japan at sake stalls inside this gate.

For the Sake of Sake...

Does it look like a shameless promotion? Just a little weekend spirit, I decided to upload this photo, I guess. One of the photos I took during Sake Matsuri. These are some of sake brands produced in Saijo. Saijo is one of the most famous place in Japan for production of sake. Fine quality rice and pure delicious water from the town's natural sources are the essential ingredients for the best sake. Kampai!!!