The conversation did not go too far as we got stuck with an obvious answer of Bed &Breakfast... but it opened up a whole new way of looking at what other people are doing on the island. I found a business website about a mobile children's bookstore, a organic pizzeria, an amazing omelet place... and also encountered a park that lets you walk between trees "to enjoy a monkey's perspective", an western guy selling drift woods and found coral reefs at a tourist site (and he was there 3 years ago!)... all on the island.
Today we were off to our daily afternoon adventure. We had a late start since roo took a longer nap so we were just going to find a small coffee shop nearby to have a small cup of coffee... then our drive sort of took us to a surprising path.
We first stumbled upon a beautiful waterfall after making an wrong turn. Looking up at a nature that is so out of scale is pretty amazing. Even roo stopped moving for a while to stand still... and watch water drop in great distance. We also found a mini rock shrine at the bottom of the water fall. It represents the mountain god... and I love how group of round rocks with faded writings of mountain names is arranged to represent the island landscape.
On our way home, we came across a sign that says "homemade cream puffs"... in the middle of nowhere. So we drove around to find this place called "Homemade House Uehara". It was a blue shack "literally" in the middle of nowhere... with an amazing view of mountain and a small bench and a table to hang out. The owner relocated from Fukuoka Prefecture with his family a year ago to start this puff cream business.
It was really the cutest and the most unexpected spot. Roo loved playing with the owner's daughter, Sakura-chan... then we wondered how is he sustaining his business? Reading through his website, it says that he not only sells his sweets at the site but also delivers to people's houses... still pretty impressive to be able to make living making/selling cream puffs and few baked items.
It helps that his cream puffs tasted amazing! (rich but light and smooth)
Relocating to the island is not a very realistic idea for us... but the train of thoughts that was stirred by our simple question is opening up new ideas for our baum-kuchen shop in Los Angeles.
Yakushima island, please keep inspiring us!
