Hokoji Temple

Yay for a 4 day weekend! To start off the Labor Day weekend we ventured toward Nanbu town to pick some peaches. There are several farmers near Nanbu town that allow people to pick whatever fruit is in season (apples, peaches, grapes, cherries, strawberries, etc.) for an hourly all you can eat fee plus per kilogram for the fruit you want to take home. Unfortunately we didn't give ourselves enough time to get there and it was going to be too late for peach picking. We decided to see the Hokoji Temple and drive a little through the mountains.

Hokoji Temple was founded sometime between 1249-1256, the temple burned down sometime in the 1800's and was rebuilt. I believe the pagoda was built in 1949, but of course this is just information I find that may or may not be completely accurate/translated correctly.

Just when I think I can tell apart a Buddhist Temple and a Shinto Shrine
I visit a place where there's a combination of the two!
Shinto torii gates heading to shrines on the mountain
behind the Buddhist Temple and pagoda... 

Took a drive into the mountains, had it not been a hazy day the view would have been even better. There was also a hiking trail to the top of the mountain, something to definitely do next time!

We drove to Towada to have dinner at a restaurant I'd heard a lot about, Isshintei or "One Heart". It was a yakiniku restaurant. Unfortunately there was no English menu so we had to make-do with the pictures...

We got the Y4,180 meal. Came with a plate of meat, 2 choices from the
orange box (I chose the bibimbap, Keenan got the rice, soup and pickles),
2 choices from the green box (salad and more pickles?), and 2 desserts.

Our meat, we think it was 2 types of beef and 1 type of pork,
but who knows...

Bibimbap, a traditional Korean food. Rice topped with meat and
vegetables in a very hot stone bowl, just stir thoroughly and eat!
But of course I burned my tongue :(

Nice little holder for the cone!

My dessert was orange sherbet.

Outside of the restaurant.