Exploring the Charms of Akita with an American Couple〜２

After we visited Akata big Buddhist statue in Hasedera Temple, which is one of the three biggest Chokuguju Temples, we headed to the next destination, the Chokai Toy Museum. On the way to the toy museum, we stopped at the new Honjyo station, which was recently rebuilt.

There is a cafe called “Kaoru “near the station.

This cafe is very popular in Akita Prefecture. People from Akita City take a forty-minute train ride to drink coffee here.

I asked the guests if they would like to get a coffee here and they agreed.  

I told them a distinctive feature of the coffee shop, that customers cannot use personal computers or smartphones inside. They were surprised to hear that. However, they still agreed to try it. While drinking coffee, we talked about our pet dogs and wanted to show pictures of them. However, we couldn’t use smartphones. “Oh no, we cannot use smartphones here.” The next topic was our grandchildren. We again instinctively reached for our pockets to compare photos. “Oh no, we cannot use smartphones here.”

It's a little inconvenient, but we had a different kind of amusing experience.

The guests liked the milk bottle which were placed beside their coffee cup. They asked the shop staff if they could take one home. However, the staff refused. The café owner then explained that some years ago, we could buy that kind of milk pot in Honjyo city. Unfortunately, the store which sold them has since disappeared, but the owner told us that we could buy them in the Kappabashi area in Tokyo. The guests felt very disappointed not to get that milk pot, but they were very happy to have a reason to visit Tokyo and obtain one.