Ishigakijima Okinawa

Misato and I took a long weekend trip to Ishigakijima a small island near Taiwan, part of Okinawa. Friday we took an all day snorkeling trip. First they took us to an Island that was all beach, really small, just to practice snorkeling in a shallow place.

Misato and I got a close up shot with the "photographer", the company that took us had 2 people taking pictures with waterproof digital cameras.

At lunch we had a chance to win a free day by rock, scissors, paper and Misato won so we got a 2 for 1 deal.

Some really beautiful coral and fishes all around Ishigaki, seems like most of the small islands around are connect by coral, so everywhere we went there was good views.

The last night our hotel got double booked so we got to move to a nice resort for the same price. Misato at the resort by one of the flower arches.

This nice boardwalk had a nice view.

We hung out on the beach and drank some local beer.

Then we headed to a yearly concert that happened to be that same weekend, probably the reason our original hotel was booked and we got to move to the nice resort. At the concert we ate a lot from the food stands and drank a few beers, but there were not cameras allowed. It was an outdoor concert at a park overlooking the ocean which was really nice. Concert was basically the same as the outdoor concerts in the US, just hanging out on the grass with a few people drinking. One of the best things about Japan is that there is no "beer garden" like the US where you are encaged if you want to drink beer. You can just drink out in the park with everyone else and kids are allowed to run around free as well.
After we returned to the resort we had some drinks at the outdoor bar and watched a little performance before sunset. Beautiful views。Fuseki resort village is the name of the place.

Hiking and Moto

Took a nice hike in northern tochigi/fukushima to Tashirosan and the nearby marsh, generally with the hiking club we dont just summit one mountain so we did a couple peaks, that you can see labeled on the post, Tashirosan and Taishakusan, the post is at Taishakusan.

The main purpose was this field in the clearing.

The next weekend Hiroi san and I went on another motorcycle ride in Tochigi up route 15 from Kanuma towards Ashio then back through route 58, both towards the top are not that great riding I suggest only riding route 58.

Misatos Birthday Enoshima, Yokohama, China Town and Kamakura

Went down to Yokohama for Misatos Birthday, there is a famous china town there, and Kamakura the home to the largest buddha, and Enoshima a popular beach town are near by. First we headed to Enoshima and had some local tiny fish on rice and Enoshima beer.

Below is a Enoshima original Takosenbei (octopus cracker), little octopus battered and then stuffed into a press to make a cracker, literally a flattened octopus cracker and you can hear it squealing as it dies, but pretty tasty.

Next we went to Kamakura to see the Big Buddha, I think this is one of the bigger ones in Japan, maybe the biggest sitting one?

We also happened to go by an old chateau type place that once belonged to some kind of weathly Japanese dude, but it had a beautiful rose garden so that was our main purpose since Misato loves roses and it was her birthday and all.

Below is local transportation carrying the surfboards on the sides of bikes. I dont think people in the US appreciate how convenient bikes are over cars sometimes and the multifunction that actually have opportunity for. Misato and I actually rented bikes for this day trip around Kamakura, great way to see the town and get exercise and not be trapped in a car stuck in traffic.

Next we went Hokokuji shrine that has a tea house and a really beautiful huge bamboo garden.

THe next morning we ate some breakfast buns filled with meat at the Yokohama China town.

Throughout Yokohama there were a bunch of other rose gardens so we mostly did that throughout the day and for some reason sketching seems to be a very popular hobby for elderly people here, we saw them everywhere. We then stumbled upon the cup noodle museum, which seems like a great place for kids. Kids running everywhere, and you can create your own unique cup noodle flavor and added ingredients, or you can even go through the whole manufacturing process and make the raw noodles. We just took the self guided tour. Kids are free, adults are cheap enough that we figured the price was worth it for a 30 min quick visit.

Then we were back to China Town. This is the main gate.

Misato did a some research before and found this restaurant with delicious chinese style yakisoba, and they had tsingtao beer, definitely easy to drink a couple of those after touristing all day.