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!

Coast to coast: Day 2

Another day of beautiful weather today, which meant it was the perfect day to head out to the country side for a visit to the Koiwai Farm.

Koiwai is a big company specializing in dairy products sold all around the country...so for my Oregon friends, this is a little bit like a trip to Tillamook. In addition to the cows and shops selling icecream they also have sheep, several amusement activities (mainly for children) and expansive grounds featuring views of Mt. Iwate.

I started at the dog-and-sheep show, where we watched the two border collies herd sheep in figure-eights around small fences or into various sized enclosures.

Adjoining the sheep pasture is the Makiba Astronomical Observatory.  They only allow visitors to have a look at the telescope during one hour each afternoon, and I got there just in time to be treated to a glimpse of Venus. There were various displays set up on the first floor which looked interesting enough, but only had explanations written in Japanese...

Makiba Astronomical Observatory

From there, I explored the grounds and enjoyed the scenery.  For most Japanese people, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week were national holidays and everyone's gone back at work so the crowds weren't too bad.  I watched a few people try their hand with a bow and arrow at the archery range then walked through the (mostly quiet) amusement area before stopping for lunch.

After finishing my nanohana (rapeseed) genovese pasta and most of the over-sized omelette, I took another brief walk around the grounds to take photos and pick up a few souvenirs. (I'm now the proud owner of some cow-patterned chopsticks!)

It's tulip season in Iwate Prefecture

In order to see the cows, you have to actually leave the main grounds and walk a couple hundred meters to the pastures. There you can see the old barns and silos which may have been part of the original farm that was founded in 1891.

After that I took a walk down the two-lane highway that runs past the farm. I was hoping to see a celebrated cherry tree, but it turns out it was way to far to reach on foot, so I settled for some pretty nice views of the mountain instead:

Making my way back to the main entrance to wait for the bus, I made one last stop: it would be a terrible thing to spend a day at a dairy and not have any ice cream!

Coast to coast: Day 1

I'm back in Tohoku again!  My favorite part of the country.  This time, I'm doing a whirlwind 5 (or maybe 6) cities in 7 days, and checking off two more prefectures from the list of ones I haven't visited yet. Today's destination: the World Heritage sites of Hiraizumi.

Once again I took an overnight bus from Tokyo, arriving in Morioka just before 6am.  That gave me plenty of time to drop off my luggage at the hotel and hop on the train for the hour and a half journey south.  I was on my way to visit the first temple of the day by a little after 8am.

The Mōtsū-ji complex includes the main temple, ruins of several other temples and monasteries that were burned down in the 13th century, and a pond which has been preserved as it was 800 years ago. The grounds are incredibly beautiful and I've got a brand new camera to play with, so I was thrilled with the blue skies and lack of crowds:

Seventy photos later, I was on my way again. Rather than wait for a bus, I decided to walk to the next temple complex about 2km down the road.  It was a pleasant walk (shorter than the map would have me believe) through a mostly residential area.  It seems like every other house in this town has a garden filled with the most beautiful flowers.  I even found one of the most Western-looking houses I think I've seen in Japan:

At the top of a very steep slope was the Chūson-ji temple complex. I was a little disappointed to learn that photographs of the main attraction--Konjikidō, a structure covered almost entirely with gold-leaf--are not allowed, but I passed an otherwise pleasant hour walking around several other halls in the complex. (Take a look at the Golden Hall here.)

Returning to Morioka, I checked into my hotel and then went for a walk along the nearby Kitakami River, enjoying the view of Mt. Iwate in the distance.

For dinner I enjoyed a spicy version of a local specialty...Morioka Jaja-men, a noodle dish served with a meat-miso sauce, cucumber, and green onion.

Very full, I headed back to my hotel. Time to plan my day tomorrow and then get some rest!

Sakura season #9

This week was my ninth hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season since I moved here, a fact that I took me a bit by surprise as I was walking through a garden the other day. It doesn't feel like it's been that long.

Cherry blossom season is nearing its end in Tokyo. This week I took a little time to go out and take a few pictures. (Okay, okay...I went a little overboard and it ended up being more like 100 pictures.) I guess I'd better put some of those snapshots to good use by sharing them!

On Thursday, I left my apartment 10 minutes early so I could take a few shots of the cherry trees along the river outside my window. I've tried taking pictures from my window, but there are some power lines in the way; it's much better from the ground anyway, because it's easier to get blue sky in the frame.

 

 
On the way home from work that night I had to make a stop near the local shrine, so I once again took out my camera and got a few shots of sakura after dark.

The torii (gate) at the entrance to the shrine

Friday was my day off, and I had made plans to go to a garden recommended to me by one of my students. However, one glance out the window at the overcast skies and the suggestion of rain made me change my mind. I figured I'd save the one-hour trip for a day when I was more likely to have blue skies. I was even more glad that I'd taken the extra time for photos before work the day before, too.

Knowing that the season was nearing its end I still wanted to visit a garden, so I headed for my usual go-to sakura spot: Shinjuku-gyoen.

 

The NTT Docomo Yoyogi building

I'm convinced that one of the best parts about being a salaryman in Japan is that you can totally take naps in the grass--in your business suit--in the middle of a weekday afternoon (see foreground):

And cherry blossoms weren't the only thing to see there:

My favorite shot of the day turned out *not* to be of cherry blossoms

The rain held off, fortunately, so rather than taking the train back towards home I decided to get a cup of coffee and walk part of the way back. The route I took led me through the grounds of Meiji-jingu, a large Shinto shrine in the center of Tokyo, and the most popular place for New Year prayers at the beginning of the year.

Walking through the gaien (outer garden)

Shrine staff

One of the buildings in the shrine complex

Barrels of nihonshu (sake) donated to the shrine for consecration

What started out looking like a pretty dull day actually ended up being a great day for a walk.

A tiny ferris wheel, a godzilla made of tires, and owl poop

This post has been a long time coming.  The photos are all from a Sunday in December, but I wanted to wait until I got some photos from a friend to post along with mine.  It all started with a plan to go see some owls...

(Insert time-traveling harp music here.)

My friend Eli and I had heard about this owl cafe in our neighborhood.

"What's an owl cafe?" you ask. Well, an owl cafe is a variation on a cat cafe, which is popular in Japan.

"Ok, but what's a cat cafe?"

Pretty much it's a place where people go pay to play with cats and drink soft drinks. A lot of people can't have pets in their apartments here, but cats are just so cuuuuute, so some entrepreneurial people have decided on a way to make money while letting people get their cat fix. Or their owl fix, in this case.

Anyways, Eli and I had been pretty excited about this for a while. Because how often do you get to hang out with owls? So one sunny Sunday afternoon we walked on over. Upon discovering that we had just missed the lunch time opening and would have to wait until "cafe time", we decided to go ride the tiny little ferris wheel on top of the department store down the street.  Up until a year ago, I didn't even know there was roof access, but there's a fair share of amusement available (depending on your standards for "amusement").

Here it is:

It takes a "full three minutes" to go all the way around...

Not a bad view from the top

Proof that we enjoyed ourselves

After getting a level of enjoyment proportionate to the size of the ferris wheel, we made our way back to the owl cafe.  Only to discover that we had not come "on time", at a place where no appointments are necessary. (Japanese people...)

With more time to kill, we decided to turn ourselves into full-fledged local tourists and head over to a nearby children's playground, made entirely out of old tires.  Much more than a junk-yard, designers have been creative here:

First there was godzilla...

Then we saw some boys who *obviously* know how to enjoy themselves at a playground...

And eventually we made our way over to the robot.

I know it's meant for kids, but I liked it.

Finally, back to the owl cafe.  Where we learned we had arrived too late. Again...

This time they sent us downstairs to an oden restaurant where we ordered drinks and sat down for a 30-minute wait. But when 4pm finally rolled around, it was definitely worth the trouble. For 1,000 yen we got a tea or coffee and a full hour of owls galore.

Owls are nocturnal, so this guy humored us and let us wake him up from a nap

This one looks much more wide-awake in the photo than I remember him being...

There were four owls in the room and only two other customers.  We sat down for a brief (5 min.) explanation by the staff, and then we were essentially given the rest of the time to pet them, photograph them, and even let them sit on our heads.

Just chillin'...

In case you got tired of looking at real owls, there were owl decorations all over the room. (The one on the right is real.)

They're surprisingly light. They really liked my sweater, too. I held two of them and both just wanted to pick at it with their beaks, but I did my best to make friends:

This photo was taken moments before he jumped onto my head, pooped,
and then it all ran down the back of my hair and onto my sweater...

In spite of a setback or two (see above caption) it was a pleasant afternoon.