Woke up early to hit the ground running (walking). We first stopped by Cafe Ramon, a Showa era cafe with toast and coffee, classic porcelain, and a great vibe. The quick breakfast powered us up the hill to nearby Senkoji temple and park. One of many templates along the famous Temple Walk (a continuous stone path through Onomichi), Senkoji gets the prime spot with 360 degree views, along side a park and even an art museum. Along the way, we also got to check out Cat Alley (Neko no Hosomichi). Unfortunately, because it was raining, cats were few and far between. We did manage to spot one inside a weird retro car display looking absolutely miserable.

While we had some PTSD about stairs from Mt Oyama, this was a much easier trek. We also walked through the art museum at the top. For only 800 yen, we had a very interesting exploration into the Japanese artist Reiji Hiramatsu. Perhaps even more unique, some of the aforementioned cats had historically tried to sneak into this museum, creating a loving rivalry with the security guard. This resulted in a viral sensation, lots of souvenirs, and making the two cats Ken and Go infamous. Needless to say, some cat merch was bought.

It was nearing lunch after all the good fun, so after a quick detour to see the more old style neighborhood Sangenyacho (which included a very dicy but beautiful path down the hill through the forest), we made our way to Yasuhiro for lunch. This is a very old feeling spot, with a classic obaachan and ojiisan behind the counter. They were still very accomodating of us westerners, and we managed to order our anagodon (not unagi don mind you), and a sushi set for Lu. Both were known as Onomichi specialities, with Lu’s set featuring all the local fish specifically. Anago is the salt water version of its’ cousin unagi, and was much lighter, feeling healthy and lean.

Lunch was delicious but a bit small, so we immediately made our way to Sabo Common, a cafe with massive waffle cream sandwiches. Their cappucino was also a highlight of the trip so far.

Onomichi brewery – tried their IPA (very smooth but still good hop flavor), Real Ginger Ale (not too sweet, great infusion of ginger, would crush in SD), and their Gose. The vibe was very relaxed and actually didn’t feel far from a nano brewery in San Diego. Conversation was friendly if a bit stunted due to language gap, but we had a good time perusing the Japanese brewing magazine.

After a post beer nap, it started raining again and we realized we made the same mistake of assuming places would be open on a Sunday night. Everything we tried was closed, till finally, a shining beacon lit up in the form of the still open okonimiyaki place Poppoya. Apart from being a life saver, we had a delicious and hot meal with some very taste sake, and even managed to see one of the alley cats on our way home.

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