Blog - Mito ume matsuri

Mito ume matsuri

Last weekend we were off to Mito, Ibaraki for two nights, and on Saturday we went to ume matsuri (plum festival) the city is famous for. We were there just at the right time, when plum trees' flowers are in full bloom, and we had great weather. Of course I took plenty of pictures, so here are a few of the best ones with the rest in this Flickr set.

We spent our first night at the nice Hotel Steno near the north exit of Mito station. They had a relaxation room with massage chairs next to the lobby, and also a small room with computers. After checking mail for a while, when coming out of the computer room, at the front desk checking in was Neko Hiroshi! We found out later that he had been appearing at bar Bubble, for the closing party of Bar-CODE.

Another highlight of our stay was a meal at Restaurant Iijima ran by the meat supplier of the same name that specializes in the famous Hitachi beef from Ibaraki. My Hitachi beef sirloin steak was probably the best beef I ever had! It was about the same price as buying it from the supermarket, except that it was cooked by a pro, and served with a variety of sauces, salt and wasabi, vegetables and rice. Absolutely delicious! We also had Hitachi beef sashimi and sushi!
Of course I sported my Niku T-shirt for the occation.

... and after ume comes sakura. As we returned to Tokyo, we saw many sakura trees in bloom! So expect photos in the days to come!

Posted on March 27, 2006 at 13:34 | Tweet |

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