Jani Journey Journal

Mori No Yu Sanseikan

16 Karurusu-cho, Noboribetsu-shi

Hokkaido 059-0553

Phone: +81 143 842 856

Website: https://karurusu.com/en

We came to Noboribetsu to stay the night at the local onsen. We arrived at the Noboribetsu Station around 10 AM and since the bus that going to pick us up come at 4PM, we decided to look around. Right from the train station exit door, we spot this huge ferris wheel a far. We ask around and they said it was a marine park.

Noboribetsu Marine Park Nixe is a theme park focusing on marine life such as fish, sea lion, dolphin and even penguins. It was located really close to the Noboribetsu Station, around 10 (ten) minute walk if I’m not mistaken. The park itself has this Danish nuance from the surrounding buildings and a huge castle in the middle of the park.

A single adult ticket cost around 2500 yen and you can pay either in cash or card. The park has a few attractions inside such as the sea lion show, dolphin show, seals, penguin parade and many more.



But what I love the most is their sardines tank. It was a huge tank filled with thousands of sardine fish that swim circling the tank. At one moment, it felt like I was watching stars twinkling in front of my eyes.

I also love their vary collection of fishes that located inside their main castle. You can walk through the aquarium tunnel and see beautiful fishes in their gigantic tanks. Other than seeing fishes in tanks, you can also touch them as they have a few touch pool inside.

One of the best part of this castle is their sea creatures, jellyfish and goldfish area. Just look how mesmerizing it is!

They also have reptiles house in the park but since we are afraid of reptiles, we decided not to look at the reptile house. We decided to check out the ferris wheel that turns out surrounded by some arcade games area. They got merry go round, bumper car and even ghost house.

Overall I really like this park. Even though it was considered small and nothing much to see, it was a fun way to killing time. They offer so many unique experience including the sardine tanks and the penguin parade. Cause what’s cuter than a pack of penguin marching through in front of you?

1. Plan your time efficiently. Some of the show has a close show time. Once you arrived there, grab the park map and plan it all out. So you can see every show that they offer.
2. Bring an umbrella or wear a hat. Just like other theme park in the world, there were not many trees around. So the sun can feel really intense, especially when I was there during the summer.
3. Avoid the heat by spending your noon inside the castle. Again, the heat can be very intense especially in the middle of the day. I suggest you to check out the castle at noon so you can cool off a bit.
4. Pack up some snacks. Some of the restaurant inside the park is quite expensive for me. I think it’s better if you pack up some light meal so you won’t starve yourself before you get a proper meal later outside the park.

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Noboribetsu Marine Park

1 Chome-22 Noboribetsuhigashicho

Hokkaido 059-0464

Phone: +81 143 833 800

Opening hours: 9 AM – 6 PM (Everyday)

Website: https://en.nixe.co.jp/

As most of you guys know, I’m such a big fan of sweet things and Dominique Ansel Bakery (DAB) is famous by their delicious sweets. That is why visiting this bakery is definitely on top of my must try list when I was in Japan. Dominique Ansel is a genius pastry chef behind the insanely good DAB. He is famously known by his international hit creation cronut, which is a combination of croissant and doughnut. Ever since the cronut fever hit everywhere in this world back in 2015, Dominique Ansel has open a few more store around the globe so everyone can taste his delicious creation.

I went to their Omotesando’s store, which located just a few minutes walk from the Omotesando Station. We arrived early as some review said that the queue line for the cronut is quite crazy. Some people even already queuing before the shop open. Luckily, when I arrived there were no line at all. Probably it was because raining that morning. The store open at 10 AM sharp. When I get in there, I couldn’t contain my happy face. All of the cakes and pastries are looking so pretty and delicious and I want every single thing on the display.

They offer lots of cakes and pastries for me to choose. But since my friends and I still have another places to visit and foods to try, we decided just to order 4 (four) of their signature creation. The first one was their Froze S’more that cost around 770 yen.

The Frozen S’more is made with Tahitian vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate feuilletine flakes which later enrobed in a 100% honey marshmallow. Then the whole thing put on a smoked wooden branch and torched on each side. The vanilla taste in the ice cream was quite strong but it made me love the ice cream even more. The flakes add texture to the s’mores which made it more enjoyable to munch. While the marshmallow has this perfect chewiness even though it was too sweet for me.

 We also ordered the cute Cookie Shot (250 yen). It was a soft, moist and warm chocolate chip cookies in the shape of a shot glass and served with a cold milk. I like the chocolate chip cookie by itself. It was soft, chewy and rich in chocolate taste which I really fond of. However the cookie was a bit too dense and it made me feel too full after a few bites of the cookies. And also it was stated that the milk was infused with vanilla but I can’t really taste or smell the vanilla out of it.

The DKA (Dominique’s Kouign Amann) is a caramelized version of croissant with a crispy and flaky sugary crust with a tender and buttery interior. This was my favorite thing that day! I love how the buttery flavor of the pastry melt in your mouth. On the inside you can see this beautiful pastry very was soft and fluffy. The outside parts was very crispy and has this perfect sweet sugary glazed. Combined everything made a perfect harmony, like an orchestra in your mouth. Gosh! I want some more right now! Each of the DKA cost around 550 yen.

And last but definitely not least, the cronut. Many described cronut as a hybrid of croissant and doughnut. Sound simple yet so complicated. Stated on their official website, this most virally talked sweets in history took 2 months and more than 10 recipes to perfection. Made with a laminated dough which has been likened to a croissant then fried in a grapeseed oil at a specific temperature and then specially flavored in 3 (three) ways; rolled in sugar, filled with cream and topped with glaze. All the cronut pastries are made fresh daily and it took 3 (three) days to complete the entire process.

DAB offers different flavor of cronut every month and as per today they never made the same flavor twice in every stores. That day I got the Fig & Raspberry Cronut (600 yen). It was a big piece of cronut filled with fig jam, raspberry ganache and coated with lime zest sugar. Honestly I’m in love with this one. I love how crispy and buttery the cronut was. It has this beautiful hundreds layers of pastry inside that was so soft and flaky. The combination of sweet fig and sour raspberry was perfect without overpowering each other. The lime zest sugar somehow added a slight freshness to the desserts. Oh I’d definitely will be back for more!

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Dominique Ansel Bakery

5 Chome-7-14 Jingumae

Shibuya 150-0001

Tokyo, Japan

Phone: +81 334 861 329

Opening hours: 10AM – 7PM

Food: 5/5

Ambiance: 4/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 4/5