I got up about 5:45am in the morning, took a shower, and quietly got dressed and ready to go outside. The weather was partly cloudy, and the temperature was in the high 50s (°F) – not cold to be honest, but it was a decent drop from the low 70s (°F). I’m usually mindful about these changes in temperature because the way my nose (btw: I have a history of nasal allergies) reacts depends on how drastic and when these changes in temperature happen. If the drop is big (regardless if it’s an increase or decrease), my nose gets more sensitive, and more often than not, I start to sneeze a bit 😦 which is pretty lame.
My first main stop of today is the Toro Ruins! (a Historical, Archaeological Site -> a village that was built from almost 2,000 years ago) It was one of the places that I had bookmarked while doing research on places to hit up in Shizuoka (prior to this Japan trip); the only caveat about visiting the Ruins today was the fact that it technically opens to the public at 9:00am. Since it was 7:00am, I had two hours to figure out something to eat between then and 9:00am (when the Toro Ruins opens to the general public for the day).
From my Shizuoka AirBnB to Toro Ruins (via Google Maps), it is calculated to be a 43 minute walk (3.4 km), but while I was walking on the streets, I did a quick google search for any sort of breakfast place I could find (since I need fuel for the tank if you know what i’m sayin’), and the McDonalds (which was located inside the JR (Japan Rail) Shizuoka Station) showed up close to where I was! It was only a 15 minute walk (1.2 km) from my Shizuoka AirBnB, so why not! I couldn’t find any other breakfast place that was convenient and accessible during the time I was up, so I just headed over to the JR Shizuoka Station to hit up that McDonalds.
It was a two story McDonalds building, and there were a decent number of folks inside that were all different (from salary women / salarymen and school children with their parents, to older folks who were on their newspapers just catching up on what’s been going on in the world). I took a seat on my own upstairs on one of the counters they had situated against the windows, and just had my breakfast there.
~ Side Note #35: Normally, I wouldn’t think much about having McDonalds in the morning, but for some reason… this moment of eating this meal for breakfast reminds me of the times I’ve had having McDonalds with my parents once per weekend (while I still lived back in Southern California) as a morning tradition.
Either my dad or I would pick up breakfast at our local McDonalds, bring it back to our house, and have us eat breakfast together at our dining table. Both of my parents are huge fans of the Deluxe Breakfast + breakfast burritos + the coffee.
Yeah, you know. The Coffee.
Even though we have coffee that we can make at home, my dad loves to get McDonald’s “Senior Discounted” coffee every single time (I don’t quite remember the price, but it’s definitely more than $0.60 and less than a dollar – which obviously is a great deal on a small cup of coffee); I don’t know how long he’s been keeping up with this tradition of getting the “Senior Discounted” Coffee.
Our dog (Rusty) would want in on the McDonalds Breakfast action as well, but his McDonalds intake is severely limited to just having us feed him bits and pieces of the english muffin from the Deluxe Breakfast (since unfortunately, he’s allergic and/or doesn’t do well with a good number of foods). It’s always nice to see him nibble and eat on the English Muffin bits and pieces and giving us the look like he wants more, haha.
I bring this up as a thought because there’s something comforting and heartwarming about having McDonalds breakfast with your family – I still have vague memories of when I was 4 or 5 going to McDonalds with my parents and just thinking of these little trips as these treat experiences.
I’d usually have chicken nuggets, fries, and unboxing the surprise toy that came with my happy meals. I used to have this thing where I didn’t want to use any of the sauces that McDonalds provided (whether it be sweet & sour or barbecue – the two OGs. the classics.), and would either just have them plain, or at most with a dash of salt on top of each of them (even though I’m sure the nuggets themselves already had a decent amount of sodium).
McDonald’s slogan of “I’m Lovin’ It” typically refers to how the customers feel when they eat their Big Macs’ + Fries, but to me, “I’m Lovin’ It” means that I’m just lovin’ the times I’ve had with my parents having McDonalds together at the table – something fast and convenient that we can get if we ran out of ideas of places to eat, regardless of how our day has been (whether it be a good day, or a bad day where we just need that pick-me-up). I know that this could be said about any other food place, and for good, healthier reasons too I might add… but for some reason, this feeling of warmth is only synonymous with having McDonalds with my family. The fact that McDonalds has such an international presence and having the ability to give me the chance to remind myself of this little thing that I cherish makes it even more meaningful. McDonalds is more than just a fast food chain – it’s a consistent, family lifestyle tradition that is built on the presence of one of the things that I value the most – quality time.~
Anyway, I went ahead and finished both my Bacon Egg McSandwich + Hash brown + carried the rest of my coffee with me out the door.
After checking my watch + googling how long it would take to go from the McDonalds (that I was at via the JR Shizuoka Station) to the Toro Ruins (which was 33 minutes – 2.7 km), it dawned to me that I still had about 1.5 hours left before the Toro Ruins officially opened to the general public for today.
As I kept walking down one of the streets (in a Southeast direction), I was trying to figure out what I can do for the next 1.5 hours (while on the way to Toro Ruins)
~ Side Note #36 – After I finished my coffee (from McDonalds), I was trying to find a trash can for the longest time, but I couldn’t find one for the next 15-20 minutes of walking until I saw a local combini (convenience store) along the way and there happened to be both a recycling bin and a trash can next to each other. I think it’s a pretty interesting theme here in Japan (if I haven’t mentioned this already) that there aren’t as many garbage cans on the streets, and that might be somehow correlating to the minuscule amount of actual trash that are on the streets. Huh lol…go figure 😀 ~
~ The player’s strategy #10 – You should probably see if there’s a bakery or another breakfast place you can hit up along the way, your stomach still has a bit of appetite left, man. Don’t tell me that you’re already full from what you had a McDonalds 😀 ~
I listened to both my mind and my stomach – After searching on google maps on some breakfast places, a lot of them open either at 9am (at the same time Toro Ruins was opened for the day) or a bit later at 9:30/10am – right then and there… that just wasn’t a possibility given the time of day.
I started looking at bakeries around that could be opened both on the way to and around Toro Ruins – there were some that opened at 10am, and even at 12pm (which I thought it was strange since that’s already lunch time! How is that a thing?!), but while I was still walking + trying to find a bakery nearby, I found this one in particular called “ピーターパン するが工房” (pronounced as Pītāpan suruga kōbō) (btw, that’s the exact google maps link that I used to reference this bakery).
Obviously, I don’t know what that read since I can’t read Japanese to begin with, but from the website (http://www.peaterpan.jp/shop/) that was linked to the google map marker associated with this bakery, I deduced that this place is called “Peater Pan” (which is like Peter Pan in America by J. M. Barrie – first introduced in 1904, and later on in a Disney film in 1953).
Not only were the pictures (via that google maps link earlier) enticing, but also it was opened at 7:30am! OHHHH HELLLLLLL YEAHHHHH a bakery that is open in the morning!!! CHYEAH.
The icing on the cake was reading the google reviews about Peater Pan, including this particular one from somebody named Amanda L. (a local guide) – she said the following:
“My favorite bakery in Shizuoka. I could eat here everyday. They have the best Shiopan I have ever eaten. You also get a complimentary coffee with your order.”
Done. Let’s Get it.
Even though it was about half a km further than the Toro Ruins, this bakery was definitely worth walking to since it was already on the way anyway.
I got to the bakery around 8:10am, and initially looking through the windows, I can totally see all of the fresh pastries all organized and displayed so nicely as if it were too good to be true – as if it were literally a fairy tale. I was impressed and tried not to get too giddy with this bakery. How come I didn’t hear about this bakery earlier?! Man, what a hidden gem, and from reading the reviews (especially from Amanda L.’s), it did not disappoint.
As I entered the building, right to my left was the complimentary coffee that I heard about. Even though I already had coffee (from McDonalds) earlier, I was definitely down to get another cup of coffee! (albeit, I would’ve felt bad if I didn’t get any pastries from this bakery and get the coffee, but that didn’t happen because I obviously did get a couple pastries here 😀)
All of the pastries inside the bakery were laid out so nicely, and with labels that I couldn’t read lmao. I had to either take a guess, or use the google translate app’s camera scanning feature (where it has the ability to scan text and translate it from (in this case) Japanese to English).
And you know…YOU KNOW I GOT ONE OF THEM SHIOPANs’ YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?! CMON NOW. GOOGLE REVIEWER HYPE. gotta get one at least. CHYEAH.
Taking my best guess, these looks like Melon Croissants. (mainly because of the pastries’ shape + the color of the label lol haha). Truth be told, I did not get one of these 😦 … which I kind of regretted.
When I saw that one of the customers took one of these pastries (the one on the left side of the above picture), the first thought in my mind was like… “this might be a good 2nd pastry to try! If that customer got it, then I gotta try it too. HELL YEAH. JUST DO IT.” (lol, brilliant thinking, no?) From the looks of the pastries (along with the colored leaves on the tray), I would deduce that the left side pastries had both powdered sugar (which was obviously very conspicuous), and some sort of maple filling in it.
I limited myself to just two pastries, because otherwise, I would get more and more pastries to the point where I’d have way too much to eat before lunch time (which you’ll find out what I had in the next travel blog post… oh man y’all are in for a treat for that one 😀)
The total (for both the Shiopan + the Maple, layered + cylindrical pastries) came out to be ¥310 (which comes out to about $2.89 USD). Adding the complimentary coffee, this was a pretty decent deal for my second breakfast of the day! Also, when I talked to the lady taking care of my pastries transaction, I didn’t need to use much Japanese and just said “ありがとうございます!” (translated to arigatou gozaimasu – also known as thank you very much!). As usual, both she and I did the whole courteous bowing thing that you usually do when purchasing/buying stuff.
It was nice to find that there were these decent wooden picnic benches for customers to sit, relax, and enjoy their pastries! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a closeup picture of the Shiopan I had – it was very delicious btw…such a savory pastry that was both light and delightful. It had the light buttery filling I was expecting, and the salt just had the right amount of savory flavor that tempted me to dip pieces of the Shiopan into the coffee (which I did, and it was a nice combination 😀) man… I was honestly tempted to get another shiopan…BUT!
Earlier, I mentioned that I was thinking that this had a maple filling of some sort – I was half right – it was honestly like this maple + chocolate combination that actually goes pretty well together! AND! you dip parts of this into the coffee.
BAH BAM! CHYEAHHHHHHHHH.
OHHHHH YOOOOOOO CMON NOW YOU KNOW THAT’S HOW Y’ALL SHOULD EAT PASTRIES. THE RIGHT WAY. THE WAY IT’S MEANT TO BE DONE, in a fashion that beholds the pastry consumer to have the best bakery experience ever!
hahaha in all seriousness, this particular pastry was very delicious, and not too sweet (which is what I would prefer for any sweet pastry, honestly).
After enjoying my second breakfast, and a restroom trip on one of the backdoor side (whatever you call that) rooms of the bakery, I took a good 9 minute walk (0.75 km) northwest of the Peater Pan Bakery to reach the Toro Ruins!
I got there 5 minutes early (at 8:55am) before they opened to the general public…and honestly (besides seeing a few people around the Toro Ruins walking – definitely not going to the ruins since I ended up being the ONLY person there at this time lol), it felt really eerie and weird to be here at this time.
It literally felt like a ghost town (along with some crows from afar who were just chillin’ like villains), and I was just all alone taking some pictures (like the first two above).
I was waiting for a bit to see if there would be some sort of tour guide coming over to do a tour of these ruins; however, that didn’t happen. I guess since this is on a random weekday (which it was – a Wednesday morning), maybe there’s usually more people visiting on the weekends? I don’t know…all I know was that these ruins were completely deserted when I came to visit.
After a few minutes of walking/looking around, I decided to just say “fuck it” and entered a pit-dwelling to see more of what these 2000 year old constructions were all about.
Inside this particular pit-dwelling, the ground that I was walking on was definitely made out of some sort of clay/dirt combo. It was a soft ground that wasn’t too soft to where your feet would sink like quicksand.
It was cool to see that there are audio guides for people who want to do self-guided tours here; the problem about this is the fact that this is only useful if I had the right information (aka maybe a tour guide can help out with this) to help me how to use my device to obtain that audio guide to get more information about these pit-dwellings.
Overall, it was honestly uninspiring to be here unfortunately 😦 I am aware of the legacy and cultural history behind these Toro pit-dwellings – no doubt that this public archaeological park holds a special place to Shizuoka in it’s long history. I guess I would’ve both greatly benefited and appreciate if there were a tour guide available on-site, but then again, I came on a random weekday and 5 minutes before it opened for the day…I shouldn’t have expected much than just my own self-guided tour (without the use of audio guides that the pit-dwellings have inside).
Not gonna lie, I only spent a total of about 8 minutes at these ruins lol… (not just because I ran out of things to look at given the situation I was in, but mainly because it just felt very eerie and uncomfortable being here all by myself).
I walked out of the Toro Ruins, and I proceeded to figure out my next stop. Since Yuko (my awesome AirBnb host) gave me that awesome dinner recommendation the night before, I went ahead and asked her (via the AirBnb Messaging Feature) the following:
“morning! thank you for the yakitori recommendation. it was quite nice. sorry to bother you again, but i wanted to ask you for another recommendation – where can I go to eat sakura shrimp around the area? Thanks :D”
~ Side Note #37: You know what I’m going for right? I mentioned this in one of my previous Day 3 blog posts – Sakura Shrimp is one of the things that Shizuoka is well known for. I had to eat this sometime and somehow! ~
She responded shortly after:
“おはようございます！サクラエビを食べたいのなら電車で由比駅まで行くことを勧めます。オススメのお店は「井筒屋」です。” (Ohayōgozaimasu! Sakuraebi o tabetai nonara densha de Yui-eki made iku koto o susumemasu. Osusume no o-ten wa `Idzutsuya’desu.)
(translation: Good morning! If you want to eat sakura shrimp, I recommend taking a train to Yui Station. The recommended store is Izutsuya.)
https://s.tabelog.com/shizuoka/A2201/A220102/22002585/top_amp/
“近場がよければ清水港の河岸の市で食べることができるかもしれません。” (Chikaba ga yokereba Shimizukō no gashinoichi de taberu koto ga dekiru kamo shiremasen.)
(translation: If you’re near, you may be able to eat at a market on the river bank of Shimizu Port.)
Danggggggg Yuko’s got the info! CHYEAH. Well I definitely want to stop by the Kashinoichi Shimizu Fish Market (as I quickly googled this up via Tripadvisor only to find out that they have a multiplicative of a variety of fresh fish and other types of seafood!) that she mentioned just now after lunch, and Izutsuya seems like a pretty good choice too! Just looking at that tabelog site’s pictures, I could tell that this would be a good place to eat Sakura Shrimp at.
The one caveat that I was hesitant about Izutsuya was the fact that when I inputted their address on google maps (going from where I was right outside the Toro Ruins to Izutsuya), I had search results that didn’t give me any search results as shown:
Sorry, we could not calculate transit directions from “Toro Remains, 5 Chome-10-5 Toro, Suruga Ward, Shizuoka, 422-8033, Japan” to “井筒屋, 314 Yui, Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka, 421-3103, Japan“
Granted, I had an idea on how to get to Yui station (that’s the not so hard part) could’ve spent some time to see if I could ask locals to help me get to Izutsuya… at the time, I just didn’t think it was worth the risk (and I felt bad since Yuko highly recommended it too 😦 …sigh), especially since I don’t know my way around Yui Station and walking up there.
With that being said, I was already researching on another place where I could have Sakura Shrimp – ‘lo and behold, I found this place called Kurasawaya! (along with looking up this site via Tsunagu Japan after some googling) The pictures looked really appetizing, especially both the sakura shrimp tempura, and the claypot sakura shrimp!
Also, when I inputted the address (going from where I was right outside the Toro Ruins to Kurasawaya), I was able to view an easy enough way to get there via Google Maps!
Bingo – I have clear directions (shoutout to Google Maps!) to get to my lunch spot. I calculated it so that I would get there 25 minutes early (since they open at 11:00 am), and I honestly don’t mind being the early bird anyway.
I’m going to put a stop right here. Another late night of me writing and it’s 1:13 am right now. 😅
In the next blog post (Day 4: Part 2), I’ll cover my mini trek to Shimizu to hit up Kurasawaya + having lunch there + the seaside views, and more – Stay tuned!
As I’ve mentioned before in previous blog posts, take care y’all, stay proactive and stay safe during these tough times with the whole COVID-19 outbreak.
Have a fantastic start of the week, and I’ll see y’all in the next post!
Cheers / wave
Listen to what you see. 
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