Don's Aomori Visit (Day 1) / ドン 青森紀行 （初日）

Recently, my friend Don came to visit me in Aomori. This was his second trip to Japan but his first to Aomori. Also, his first trip was back in 1997, over twenty years ago. Back then, all we did was go out eating and drinking and mildly went sightseeing. Now that we're much older, sightseeing would be the main thing including eating a lot of regional foods. I'm sure our friends back home would like to join us on our journey. It all started on a Friday evening, July 27th. A little earlier for Don as he had twenty plus hours of travel time. I was working until 9pm on that Friday, so my wife would be picking him up from the airport. My mother-in-law was a little nervous as well because I told her he speaks absolutely no Japanese! His flight was scheduled to touch down in Aomori at 7:45pm. My wife would pick him up and then come straight to my work place to pick me up. I told Don, there would be beer and yakitori waiting for us at the house. My wife and I were also working the following day, so I told Don that he would be on his own until 6pm. However, I handed him a map and recommended a few places that he should check out - The Hakkoda Maru Memoria Ship (where my mother-in-law works, so he could check it out for free), A-Factory - a shop that sells Aomori regional goods. Nebuta House "Warasse", ASPAM, Utou Shrine, a few other temples, and the Aomori Prefectural Museum (as I know how much he enjoys history). Don met me outside of my workplace at 6pm. We waited for my wife to come pick us up as she also gets off work at six. My mother-in-law was working that day as well and also got off around the same time. So, the first thing we did together was go to a conveyor belt sushi shop called Hamazushi. I also recommended a ramen shop called Nagao for Don's lunch as this ramen shop specializes in niboshi (broth made from sardines) ramen.

先月末アメリカから友達のドンが青森に遊びに来た。アメリカに居る共通の友達もドンの旅は気になってると思うので、今週はずーとドンの日本紀行のネタを書きます。これはドンの２度目の日本旅ですが、青森は初めて。それにしても、最初に日本訪れたのはは２０年前以上の１９９７年。当時私たちは朝まで飲んだり、あちこち食べに行ったり、観光はほとんどやってなかった覚えがある。私たちはもう年も取ってるし、今回の旅は観光がメインになる予定で、飲みは少なめ。ドンが青森到着したのは７月２７日のよる。僕は９時まで仕事のため、妻がドンを空港まで迎えに行ってくれた。空港から僕の職場に来て、そのままうちへ。ドンにうちに着いたら、ビールと焼き鳥が待ってると伝えた。土曜日も僕と妻が６時まで仕事のため、ドンに今日は一人行動になると伝えた。街の地図を渡して、いろんな観光名所をおすすめしてあげた、八甲田丸メモリアルシップ（義理の母の職場ですからただでご覧になると伝えた）。ほかにおすすめしたのはA-Factory、ねぶたハウス「ワ・ラッセ」、ASPAM、善知鳥神社、青森の寺町と青森郷土館等。６時になったら、ドンが僕の職場に来て、僕の妻を待っていた。妻も同じ時間帯に仕事が終わった。この日は義理の母も６時位まで仕事だった。ってことで、初の共同旅は夜の夕飯。うちの近くの回転寿司の店に行きました。ドンのランチは煮干ラーメンの「長尾」をおすすめしてあげた。

The start of our sushi adventure while Don talks about his adventurous first day wandering around the main area of Aomori City.

寿司を食べながら、ドンの一日の冒険を語ってくれた。

Don and I may not have ate the same sushi but perhaps we had enough of the same things. This was a roast beef sushi.

僕とドンは別々の寿司のネタを食べましたが、同じものもいっぱい食べた。これはロースビーフの寿司でした。

Albacore tuna with avocado and onions / びんちょうマグロのアボカド

Salmon / サーモン

Scallops / 帆立

Maguro trio / まぐろ三種盛り

The stack of plates was growing / 皿の山が段々増えてく

I believe Don was in sushi heaven at this point.

ドンはこの時点で寿司天国に行ったと思う。

Albacore tuna with mountain wasabi / とろびんちょう 山わさび

Roast beef with mountain wasabi / ロースビーフ 山わさび

Negitoro Maki / ねぎとろ巻

Sushi shops these days have more than raw fish on the menu. My wife praised this soba dish with duck (canard) that Don and I ordered it too.

現在の回転寿司屋は生魚のメニューだけじゃない。妻がこの鴨そばを凄い美味しいと言って、僕とドンも注文しました。

The Aftermath / 食べ終わりの頃

But wait, we still had room for dessert as I had this blueberry pie. 

待て待て、食べ終わってない。まだデザートがある。自分が食べたのはブルーベリータルトを食べた。

I think Don is one satisfied customer!

ドンの満足感が溢れ出てる！

Tomorrow, as my six day vacation has started and my wife having the day off, we would be taking Don on a road trip to Fukaura with a few side trips planned as well. So after dinner, it was off to home and bed. So tomorrow, will be the real start of our joint adventure. Stay tuned!

明日、自分が六連休に入るし、妻の週末も始まるので、深浦に行く予定してます。もちろんいろんな寄り道もするつもりです。明日から本当に二人の冒険が始まります！