Strawberries and Wisteria!

 April 22, 2025 Tuesday 
Ashikaga Flower Park

Actually, what gave us the idea about going on this trip in the first place was a friend mentioning how beautiful wisteria was. And now here we were at last.

Our morning started off with our usual healthy breakfast.

Art had noticed some people taking advantage of a foot/hand onsen (hot spring bath) at our hotel. 

OK, so I didn't go to the regular onsen, but I'd never been to a foot/hand onsen so I was happy to try it. 

And you know what...it was lovely.

We then got on the bus which took us to another gift shop where we picked up rakkyo (pickled scallions) which Art loves. OK, I do too. 

We then arrived at a strawberry farm which was nothing like I'd ever seen in the U.S. There were dogwood trees there. I've seen the white varieties, but had never seen this pink type. They had something called Skyberries there. 

This is from the Specialty Produce website:

Skyberry strawberries, botanically classified as Fragaria ananassa, are a modern Japanese cultivar belonging to the Rosaceae family. The variety was developed in Japan in the late 20th to early 21st centuries and was released to commercial markets in 2014.

I'd forgotten we'd be going to a strawberry farm. There were rows upon rows of these greenhouses with something called Skyberries and Super Premium berries.

We got to try LOTS of berries called Tochi-Aika. It was developed by the Strawberry Research Institute, and 2020 was the first year of shipment.

We were given little cups to put our stems in and then allowed to go free and eat as many berries as we wanted.

Good gosh! We could NOT believe how sweet the Skyberries were. It was rather a shock. They were as sweet as candies and I'm not exaggerating.

We all ate so many berries that when we were taken to a restaurant to have ramen for lunch, I really, really couldn't eat much of it at all. I don't know if anybody was able to finish their meal.

The tour bus then took us to Ashikaga Flower Park. We were a little early for the full bloom, but it was truly still awe inspiring. The wisteria is over 150 years old and all these branches come from a single trunk! 

There were smaller wisteria trees that were absolutely stunning.

There was also gorgeous white wisteria trees.

But one of the flower varieties that really grabbed my attention were these azalea bushes.

I thought at first that they were growing from different plants and sort of stuck together or grafted. 

But no, that wasn't the case.

Absolutely incredible!

The satsuki azalea actually produces different colored or patterned varieties on one bush!

They also had wisteria soft serves. Soft serves are called soft creams in Japan and they are wonderful. There are different flavors everywhere you go in Japan. I remember going to a brewery once a long time ago and seeing beer flavored soft creams. Ummm.... we didn't much care for it.

That evening, Matt took us to an izakaya. 

According to AI: An izakaya is a traditional Japanese pub or tavern that is more than a mere dining establishment. Rooted in Japanese history, the term 'izakaya' is a fusion of 'i' (to stay) and 'sakaya' (sake shop), reflecting its historical origins as places where customers could enjoy sake and stay for a meal.

We sat with cousin Arnold, Nancy and several tour buddies from our trip. I discovered that one of those tour friends had been a teacher who once taught at an elementary school I attended... ummm many decades ago. 

Hawaii is such a small state that there's a joke you just have to start every conversation with a new person asking, "What school you grad?" 😃

I was a little melancholy thinking the trip was coming to a close, but like our meeting Phyllis on this trip, I'm hoping to see these tour members again on another trip.