Saturday, May 09, 2015

Coast to coast: Day 3

Well, it's going to be a short post tonight; I've caught a bug and need to get a couple extra hours' sleep because I'm off again in the morning, headed to Hirosaki.  But I promise the photos will be just as good as usual. ;)

Today was the day I actually went to the coast, marking the eastern-most point of my coast-to-coast trip.  The Pacific Ocean!  It was so beautiful.  I did the 7km (4.5mi) Tanesashi Seaside Coastal Promenade, which is something that hadn't even been mentioned in the guidebooks.  When I got off the train at my first destination, though, it was well marked and took me past so much of the coastline that I couldn't refuse.  Here's what I saw:

Tanesashi-kaigan: a huge grassy space perfect for picnicking before climbing out
on the rocks, or for camping at the nearby campground

Tide pools at Tanesashi-kaigan
 

The sand was clean and beautifully soft...and I got to put my feet in the
ocean! Although the water was too cold to go more than ankle-deep.






The trail makes it most of the way up the coastline to the second major sightseeing spot on the coast: Kabu-shima (literally Turnip Island...though I'm not sure what it has to do with turnips). The island is now connected to the mainland by reclaimed land, so it's not really an island anymore, either.  But it's famous for the thousands of seagulls that call it home.


Though I think the tourist office had umbrellas to lend out, I opted not to walk up the stairway to the shrine at the top in order to avoid wayward seagull droppings: the entire ground--including the parking lot--is completely covered.



In need of a break, I went back to the hotel for a rest before heading back into the downtown area to go to dinner at an izakaya (Japanese-style restaurant) run by the mother of one of my students. On the way, I chanced upon some sort of festival at the local shrine.  A crowd was gathered to watch dancing and traditional music.


Lanterns at the shrine



After a lovely dinner, made by a very gracious host, I headed back to my hotel for the night.  And now, I think my bed is calling me...fingers crossed I can kick the achy muscles and sore throat within the next day or two!

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