Cats and cafés

First morning in Onomichi. I have rented a small house for my stay. Cosy and stylish little home. It’s more expensive but it’s also a good treat. It’s nice to change accomodation type as you travel.

My home for two nights. I have used airbnb to find it.

Airbnb is a usefull ressource while travelling in Japan. Sometimes you wont find what you want using Booking.com so it’s a good alternative. You can also find some more “experimental” nightstay (farm , family home …). It often turn out to be a bit more expensive if you are alone but the money will be worth the experience.

Time to continue our exploration in the streets of Onomichi.

On the left you can see the playground of a school. I got lucky to assist the “morning warm up” which was fun to watch.

Cute kids warming up in the morning.

This make sense actually. If you use your brain for studies you also have to use your body. Exercice and studies goes well together.

The famous thing to do in Onomichi is the “temple walk”. During that walk you’ll wander around thoses picturesque streets and from time to time you’ll come across nice little temples.

Temple along the path.

On the way you’ll come across cafés , small museums and also many cats.

Kawai neko !

Onomichi really have a lot of them in the streets. There is apparenlty a street called “cat alley” where I will go tomorrow. Theses wandering cats really give a jazzy feel to Onomichi. There is something inspiring in every animals I think. To me cats represent freedom. Cats are very independant just like the people in Onomichi strangely enought.

Along the way my attention got caught up by a cute little house. Inside two womans where tuning small harps. I got invited to the room next door which seemed like a shop to me. But it wasn’t.

Painting room. Here you can paint a cat the way you want. It was a sweet suprise surrounded by Japanese mama. I ended up stopping here for almost two hours.

First you have to draw the patterns. I also got tea and biscuit. It was such a fun atmosphere. They couldn’t speak english but that’s okay. Creativity doesn’t have a language but has colors.

My lucky cat with colors.

This was not easy to paint I have to say. I have drawn very tiny patterns so It was tricky to paint inside of them. It was also cute to notice how every person will paint something completily different. Art is about expressing who you are deep inside.

It was time to get a lunch. I have found a stylish restaurant at the waterfront.

The Japanese name is こめどこ食堂 , it’s located at the first floor of the Yamenoko Mills café. In this restaurant you can experience some fine Asian fusion food.

I had the Veggie curry with brown rice. It cames with pickles , miso soup , soy pudding.

This was so far the best curry I had in Japan. Every ingredient tasted so good. I also enjoyed the pickles veggies. Pickles are basically  food with a strong taste (vinegar , salty , bitter …). They enhance the culinary experience by adding some contrasts to the main dish. One of them was a “lemon polenta” which was wonderful.
This was not to expensive regarding the quality of the meal. It was 1100 yen (around 8,5 euro).

Let’s continue our exploration in Onomichi. There is place I heard about which is located at the end of the waterfront.

The U2 Onomichi.

This is an old warehouse renovated into a huge complexe. Inside you’ll find a bicycle shop / rental , bakery , restaurant , ice cream and even an hotel. It’s an interesting place that really stand out from traditional Japan. It feels like more like a Tokyo or western place.

Inside the U2 you’ll find all that you need. But expect to pay higher prices too.

At that point I was very tired. The long bicycle journey of the last two days started to kick in. I needed a place to crash but I did’nt wanted to go back to the house. My airbnb host recommended me a good place to drink Chai. Let’s find out.

Located in a small street you’ll find the Yadocurly gueshouse and café. This place was wonderful. This was nothing like a normal café. The second I came in I became friend with everyone.

Yadocurly Café.

The Chai latte was fantastic but the people inside were even more. This café is an oasis of cosiness and human interactions. The main founder of this place , Hiro has good stories to tell. He used to live in Berlin long time ago , when he was back in Onomichi he started to create a small community space where people could meet up. As time went by many people got involved in that project till it becames what it’s today. A wonderful guesthouse and a café with a terrace. It tooked about 10 years to create this space.

The story behind Yadocurly café makes it a special place. This is a community zone where you can simply connect with others. Expect to meet more alternative people here. I had a wonderful time . I also participate to the evening meal where Hiro cooked. It was all on donation basis. We finished this great evening with a movie projection inside the café. It was a crazy movie from the 70’s called “Harold and Maude”. I highly recommend this film. I’m actually staying in the Yadocurly guesthouse for my last night in Onomichi. I just couldn’t leave this town already. Hiroshima will have to wait.

Onomichi is a big suprise. The more I stay here the more I dont want to leave. This place has is own way of living which i’m falling in love with. There is places on earth where your values and passions can be share with others. Theses places are always unique because you are unique. Once you find this place you can feel a mellow harmony in the air. A sweet mechanics that sound right inside. If I had to do a working holiday visa it will probably be in Onomichi.

I still have 24 hours to unwrapped this special town. See you for the next one people 🙂
Mata ne