Nunobiki Highland Breakfast I brought along for a summer morning in the highlands

I arrived at the car park at Nunobiki Highland one August morning. Mist had swallowed the trees farther away; only the branches of the closest ones were clear. After parking, I stepped out, drew my cardigan a little closer around my shoulders, and breathed in the morning air.

My friend and I took a break in the gravel clearing. Breakfast was the Kōriyama cream box I’d brought along. When I unwrapped it, there was a thick slice of bread with a generous layer of white cream on top.

I held the wrapper with both hands and took a bite from one end. That first bite of bread and milky cream made me happy before the day had properly begun. “There’s so much cream,” I said, and my friend looked at my bread and laughed.

With my straw hat shading my eyes, I looked down the path. I followed the nearby trees with my eyes; farther back, their branches faded into the mist. With bread in my hand, even breakfast felt unhurried as I looked out at the trees.

Nunobiki Highland is about 1,000 m above sea level. The chance to eat Kōriyama bread up here became one of the pleasures of today’s drive, too. I checked the creamy top of the bread, then took another small bite.

I adjusted the wrapper while chatting with my friend. The red car was still parked nearby; we’d set off again after breakfast. I like knowing the misty trees and that white cream will bring this summer morning back to me.