The Hotel we stayed in had very cute decorations, not only in the lobby but also in the rooms.

The breakfast sandwich set was a nice start into the day and I must say food in Japan just always looks so neat.

The lunch was very traditional japanese in a beautiful little restaurant with tatami rooms. We had the largest room (which potentially could have been also used for a karaoke session) and everyone enjoyed the lunch very much.

Matcha Gatô Cake and Grapefruit, surprisingly a good combination.

The chairs made it a lot easier to sit and I all the non-japanese members of the group were glad they didn’t have to sit cross-legged on the tatami itself (and so was I).

Despite the many disputes between Japan and China regarding political issues, chinese restaurants are popular as ever and we spent the evening (again) at a chinese restaurant in the sister complex of our hotel.

I really like sitting at round tables, though they are quite big, they make it so much easier to talk to everyone.

At the end of our visit each one of the group got a cute present (*^_^*)

It’s (obviously) a cute little owl, which in japanese is fukurô (梟) and it came with the following description:

Owl is “Fu Ku Ro U” in Japanese.

“Fu” is a negative expression, “Ku Ro U” means hardship and difficulty.

All parents wish their children “Fu Ku Ro U” (= no hardships)

Owls can crane their necks around 180 degrees and watch many things. For these reasons, we say that owls are fortunate birds that bring us good business fortune. Owls are good luck symbols as “Messengers of God”, “God of wisdom”, “Animal for longevity” etc.

We believe that owls “Fortunate bird” protect humans with their magical power from various invisible things in this nature world.

Please treat this owl kindly nearby you.

And I already found the perfect spot, so it can watch over me 😉