After some more walking… in Akita

Oh my gosh, you guys! It happened! The duck and I have decided to finally resurface after our prolonged absence that was a fun mix of extreme laziness and working on this last (at least in a while) Japan video that has taken us so much longer to edit than all the other ones, partly because our wonderful microphone decided to be even more dramatic and rebellious than usual by recording so irregularly that we couldn’t even fix it in post (or maybe I’m just incompetent, or maybe it’s a mixture of the both) which meant re-recording the voice-over over and over for it to be at least somewhat consistent. My hereditary inability to properly enunciate at times did not make this any easier, neither did the duck’s conviction that “one should only reveal one’s voice once a certain degree of fame is reached” (yeah, whatever).
Anyway, after giving up on having perfect sound (I hope it’s not too intrusive), we actually did finish editing this video and can now finally add some movement to our Akita photo sessions and that wonderful oshiruko that we had a while back. So, sit back and enjoy another installment of Sometimes My Camera Work Is Particularly Shaky.

That’s the video. I hope you enjoyed our little Japan adventure video diaries and can’t wait to go back to the duck and my days of complete laziness.
Actually, we’ll do that right now.
Buh-bye!

❀Oshiruko❀ #Japanesedesserttime #sakuraseason #sweetbeanssweetlife #muchomochi #TBT

As you might remember, a bit over a month ago, the duck and I went north to catch the cherry blossoms in Akita. During our happy strolls around Kakunodate, literally chasing cherry blossoms, we could also score a snap of our awesome lunch (we’re adults – at least on paper – so we can eat whatever we want for lunch, hahahahahaha!):

During our cherry blossom chase (✿) in Kakunodate back in April we decided to go for a sweet lunch to recharge – and what is better than lots of sugar in a traditional ambience? Well, we couldn’t think of anything and that’s why we went to this wonderful traditional shop that advertised oshiruko in big azuki-colored letters with a cute illustration of the dessert on a sakura-pink banner. Since we like to try all kinds of traditional Japanese desserts, the duck and I were pretty excited to taste this bean porridge with little mochi boats that, fittingly, was served with a cute sakura drink and pickled vegetables to counteract the sweetness of the azuki beans. It looked too pretty to eat and turned out to be extremely sweet but a perfect pink energy booster for our sakura samurai town exploration tour. 4/5 Ducks because even though we were afraid of collapsing from a sugary overdose, we could have spent hours looking at this dessert and the beautiful garden outside ♥ (also, it’s not the shiruko‘s fault that we’re so weak) 〜

Maybe, if the duck and I ever defeat our laziness, we might share with you our Akita adventure in video form. Maybe.

Very late spring

After having missed the peak of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, the duck and I just had to attempt catching them a bit further up north. So, just before Golden Week (an accumulation of public holidays making this week in late April/early May a popular travel season), we went on a little trip to Akita’s lake Tazawa and Kakunodate, planned by our lovely Kyoto travel pal!
So, here is a selection of the photos that I took while walking around the lake that turned out to be much larger than we had expected:

Lake Tazawa has such a beautiful color!

No matter what side of the lake you’re on – there’s so much to see (and, trust me, the duck and I have seen the lake from almost all angles there are)!