Yoshino Baigo Plum Festival with Kids

We drove to Ome last weekend to see the plum festival at Yoshino Baigo Koen. I had read online that the area has 25,000 plum trees, but it was still hard to get my hopes up. The pictures we had seen online showed people walking on dirt paths through the hills. I LIKE walking on dirt paths through hills -- you can't find enough of those here -- but not necessarily with a stroller and three kids. I was also concerned about what the pictures didn't show (and what the websites didn't say). Yoshino Baigo might be a hidden paradise or just a patch of trees in a crumbling town desperate to sell yakisoba to a few tourists. But we weren't exactly going into unfamiliar territory on our own. My friend, who I met at an Udon making class a year ago, came with us and brought his son. He often goes to Ome with his family and seemed very positive about the place. Then again, we got a late start, and it looked like rain... (can you sense I was a bit stressed?).

We drove a little over an hour and then passed by Hinatawada station on the Ome Line. A flood of people were coming out and crossing the road, heading for a bridge across the Tama River. I leaned forward to see where they were going. But first we drove another 100 meters and parked outside a "famous" restaurant where my friend wanted to eat. Everyone who has lived in Japan has been to "famous" restaurants. Places featured on a TV program or in a magazine. Some famous places deserve the title, others need to be retired; you never know until you sit down and eat the food. This place specializes in kamameshi (rice and stuff baked in a clay pot). All the ingredients are natural, etc., and the place has a view of a truly beautiful stretch of the Tama River below (and I don't say "beautiful" lightly). It was all very good. It tasted very natural, as it was, and eating there was a cultural experience. Kind of expensive though. I'm the type that gets all excited about loading up on 100 yen ($1) sushi at a cheap kaiten place (where you grab your sushi off a conveyor belt, hoping it hasn't been circulating around the room for too long). Our whole family can eat raw fish and nato (for the kids) for about the same price as one of these trays.

After eating we drove across the river (we didn't pause long enough to look though) and came into the town. It was decked out for the plum festival, and every home or business with a bit of empty space was selling parking spaces for 800 yen a car. We took one of them up on the offer. Then we walked about 10 minutes to the park itself. On the way we weaved through narrow streets past vendors selling takoyaki (fried octopus balls), plastic masks, omiage and a variety of crafts. Some local restaurants (and a couple of houses) had placed low chairs and tables outside (under plum trees if they had any) to entice passersby to stop for a meal. It all had the feeling of a quaint local fair. It never rained, by the way, and by this point we were relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

We paid $2 at the entrance to the park, which spreads out into the hills with a dirt path meandering up and around. We quickly abandoned the strollers -- too many steps -- but it wasn't a problem. It's a spacious area but small enough for a family to enjoy. The biggest challenge was keeping the twins (2 years old) from running away.

I tried not to spend the whole time taking pictures. Some things you just can't capture in a still image. But it was a great place to be with a camera!

We spent over an hour slowly working our way around. Just before we descended the last hillside, I looked up at the surrounding mountains and noticed the misty haze. I thought about taking a picture the hills disappearing in the haze, but it didn't look THAT promising. Then my wife gasped out that the "mist" was actually a cloud of pollen descending down from the cedars up slope. It seemed harmless enough at the moment, but by the time we reached the bottom of the park my eyes were watery, and I could hear loud sneezing erupting nearby. We rushed to the car and escaped, with a plate of takoyaki for the road. Very big takoyaki, by the way. When I bit into mine I was very surprised to find an egg inside, alongside the customary piece of octopus tentacle. Not a full size chicken egg, but one of those miniature eggs I've always eroneously attributed to pigeons. My wife corrected me, saying they're grouse eggs, or something like that -- NOT pigeon eggs. At any rate, I don't want them inside of my takoyaki again. But I ate it anyway. I never pass up anything dipped in batter and fried in oil. All in all, it was a great day!

Posted by jw at March 18, 2005 04:59 PM