Matsushima Bay...one of Japan's Top 3 Views (Sendai - Part 3)

This is Part 3 of our Sendai adventure. Here's Part 1 & Part 2. 

I'm going to start adding GPS coordinates to help people that are interested in finding these locations. I'll go back and add them to past blogs as I have time.


Ok, so we started off today attempting to get to Matsushima Bay. It's northeast of Sendai (yellow & pink markers on the map). GPS coordinates of the nearest train station/parking: 38.368646,141.058957.

We had a little hiccup getting there. Word of advice...Matsushima Station along the Tohoku Main Line is not as close to Matsushima Bay and the tourist stuff as the Matsushimakaigan Station which is on the Senseki Line...oops. We had to do some walking and take another train or two (I can't remember exactly how we ended up getting there) but eventually we did get to Matsushima Bay. In reality I think we only lost about 45 minutes.

The bay has a grouping of around 260 islands covered with pine trees. It is listed as one of Japan's 3 Most Scenic Views. Unfortunately today was overcast so it wasn't very spectacular. The bay was affected by the March 11, 2011 Tohoku Tsunami but the damage was minimal (according to their tourist info).

Monument for Top 3 Scenic Spots of Japan.

Thanks for being specific Google...hallway?
What? We were on a street!

Pageant of Starlight (Sendai - Part 2)

This is Part 2 of our adventures in Sendai...here's Part 1

After our yakiniku dinner we walked to Jozenji-dori (street name) to see the Pageant of Starlight. It is Sendai's annual illumination where they use more than 600,000 lights on the trees to "warm the winter" and bring cheer, no relation to Christmas. The lights are on each December from around the 6th through the 31st. Although there are very few Christians in Japan (<1% of the population) Christmas is kind of an unofficial holiday here, but has no Christian backing. It is celebrated more like our Valentine's Day with couples going out together on Christmas Eve. Other popular traditions for Christmas day include exchanging gifts and eating Christmas cake and fried chicken. It's not a day to spend time with the whole family, that is their tradition for New Year's. Just their way of adopting a western tradition even though the meaning/reason for the holiday is lost. 

Anyway...Sendai's illumination is one of Japan's best. It brings lots of tourists to the city. They also have an ice rink, food stands and temporary bars. Unfortunately we were there on a Thursday night so that stuff was not open.

No gifts, but a trip to Sendai - Part 1

In celebrating the holidays we decided that instead of giving each other gifts we would take a trip to Sendai! Keenan has been there several times so it was an opportunity for him to show me a bit of the city, see some other sites and visit their Pageant of Starlight. 

As you may have noticed I've gotten a little more detailed with travel planning/pricing. I've got people reading that live here in Misawa and hope that the info I provide can help them enjoy adventuring as much as we do and realize that there's tons of places to explore!

We left the day after Christmas and had a couple busy days exploring! Sendai is about 210 miles south of Misawa, the drive takes about 4 hours, but since it's winter and the weather is unpredictable we decided to pay a little extra and take the Shinkansen (bullet train). Driving would have cost about ¥14,000 round trip in tolls plus gas and the cost for both train tickets was ¥36,000 ($360). The train only takes about 2 hours, including a 20 minute slow train from Misawa to Hachinohe's train station where the Shinkansen stops.

The Shinkansen is Japan's high speed rail system. The trains' maximum speeds range from 150-200mph. They have tested them at higher speeds and some of the newer lines they are still constructing will probably go at the higher speeds, I've read it could be somewhere around 300mph...crazy! The trains only stop for a couple minutes at each stop and they are almost always within seconds (not minutes) of their scheduled arrival/departure times.

I buy my eggs from a vending machine + lots of yummy foods + some random happenings

November 11th our first snow arrived, right on time according to the average first snow being between the 7th and 14th. Not really enough to measure, but that will come. Just a little reminder that Misawa is the snowiest US Military base in the world and averages 125 inches per year...so this is the beginning!

Keenan's home! I survived a month by myself in Japan. Did some adventuring on my own and with friends and spent a lot of time crocheting. Business has still been hopping! If you missed it the blog about my business is here and my business page is here. Went out for lunch one day to "Pink Sushi". It's similar to the place with a conveyor belt called Kappa Sushi, but I'd heard this place was better...here's the verdict. It was much better! Still cheap, but seemed better quality and fresher! The prices are based on the design on the plate, most are about ¥150-300 ($1.50-3.00).

Boiled shrimp, fried octopus and crab.

Hirosaki Castle Autumn Festival 2013

Spent today with a couple friends driving through the Hakkoda Mountains to Hirosaki to the Autumn Festival/Chrysanthemum Festival. Gorgeous views and saw the first snows up on the mountains. 

Driving route, took the southern route through the mountains on the way there and the faster north route with tolls (~1600¥) on the way home. Each way was about 100km (62mi) but going through the mountains took about 2.5 hours, with the toll roads it took 1.5 hours.

Quick stop at Suriennuma Pond, no more leaves, but now there's snow!

A little solo Saturday drive

After working all week crocheting I was ready to get out of the house. I didn't really have a plan so I just headed west and ended up stopping a few places that we had just been to recently. Fall colors were beautiful (still)!

Tsuta River

Here's what I've been up to...Twisting Fate Designs

So Keenan left for a month of training so I'll be hanging out and keeping myself entertained until he returns. I haven't really mentioned it yet, but since a nursing job hasn't really been an option I have started my own "Home Based Business" crocheting. I taught myself how to crochet over Labor Day weekend and then applied for the business permit which got approved toward the end of September. I've actually been really busy taking orders and making custom hats (as in busy enough I'd be getting overtime pay if it was a real job). I'm pretty much booked solid through Christmas and will soon have to start pushing completion estimates to January. It's not a lot of money but at least it's a little extra spending money for us AND it keeps me entertained. My business is called Twisting Fate Designs and the link to my page is www.facebook.com/twistingfatedesigns I don't think you have to have Facebook to view the page, but I could be wrong on that. You can "like" the page if you want as well! 

Besides crocheting, I volunteer in the Education and Training department of the hospital on base and I've applied to be a substitute school nurse and para at the schools on base. That application process takes a while so hopefully sometime soon I will also have that as something to do as well. One thing is for sure, I don't have a problem being bored.

Here's a few examples of hats that I've made so far (yes, it's a little difficult to make some of them that represent "other" teams, haha)...you can see lots more of my work at the link above :)

We said "I DO" a year ago?!? Anniversary #1

Wow...where did the last year go? Oh, I know...we got married in October...Keenan left for a couple weeks of training...we went on a honeymoon to Costa Rica the end of November...there were a couple holidays...February 1st we found out we were moving to Misawa...begin whirlwind move preparation and moving...June we got to Japan and the rest has been quite the adventure (and is documented on this blog!). And that's how we got here to our 1st Anniversary.

Here's a quick look back and then on to our day of celebration!

We started off the day by exchanging a couple gifts...we decided that we could either do the "traditional" gift of paper or the "modern" gift of time...I got Keenan a watch, not that creative, I know, but his old one was old. He was very creative with my gift and even when I think about it now I'm still kinda surprised he was able to come up with it by himself (sorry honey, but you know that's true). I got an origami bouquet of flowers and framed Japanese calligraphy! Love it!

When you open the back of the frame this is inside.

Here's how we spent our day. We drove around Lake Towada, passing through the Oriase Gorge on the way there. It was a beautiful day and the leaves were really starting to change! Many of the places will look familiar if you've seen previous posts about Lake Towada or the Oriase Gorge, hopefully you'll enjoy seeing them again in autumn.

Shimokita Peninsula adventure (again)...this time with a logging road

Happy Columbus Day! We celebrated by exploring a couple new places and revisiting a couple places we'd been to previously. Not sure this was Keenan's idea of a great way to spend a day off, but we didn't really go anywhere over the weekend so I convinced him to do this.

About 260km (162miles) round trip.
I think we left a little before 10:00am
and were home by about 3:45pm

Had noticed this sign several times and was finally prepared to take a picture. Turn right to get to "1th Anchorage".

First stop was a scenic overlook of Lake Usori where Osorezan (Gates of Hell) are located.

Komaki Park and a few randoms...

This post covers a few random things and then a visit to Komaki Park here in Misawa. First up is a little lunch visit to Kaminarido or Thunder Ramen. I think I've mentioned this place before but this was another trip there and while Keenan stuck with one he knew he liked (hot and sour ramen + extra pork) I tried something new. I got the spicy sesame soup ramen...this was a good choice for me because the cold noodles come on the side and then you dip them in the hot soup before eating them...which means that I have a lower chance of burning my mouth...

In October Misawa hosted a Special Olympics for people with disabilities living in Northern Japan. We volunteered for the event and had a great time! These next 2 pictures make me laugh everytime I look at them. We happened to see a couple firetrucks drive by and the little one was probably smaller than a car! None of the pictures I took at the Special Olympics event turned out :(

Exploring the Hakkoda Mountains

Went for a drive today, if you hadn't noticed the pattern yet that's our usual weekend routine. Today's drive was through the Hakkoda Mountains, they are just a little way west of Misawa. I was hoping to see some great autumn colors, it was a little to early at the lower elevations, but what we found higher up was gorgeous! 

This drive was about 176km (109miles) round trip.
Got to the first stop about 10:30am and back to Misawa about 5:30pm

Stop 1 was a scenic little area along the Tsuta River.

D-Wall Drink Bar

Here's a post about a night out in Misawa. Lots of bars in Japan are "all you can drink for x minutes" for a set price. This is an example of one of those bars. At D-Wall there is a bar set up and you are able to mix your own drinks. There was liquor with all sorts of mixers, beer, wine, sake, sochu (Japanese/Korean liquor), etc. D-Wall is a few blocks walk from the Main Gate of base.

Price menu:
60 minutes 2,000 yen ($20) for men 1,500 yen for women
90 minutes 2.500 yen for men 2.000 yen for women
120 minutes 2,700 yen for men 2,200 yen for women

It's a very chill place with couches and relaxing music.
Got a few snacks with our drinks.

Tokyo Trip Part 4

Day 3 continued...
(If all the pictures don't load right away you may need to refresh...)
I forgot to add that the tour we're on was set up through the concierge desk at the New Sanno. I set it up ahead of time because I heard that on weekends they are usually full in advance. They picked us up at the hotel in the morning and would have taken us back if we hadn't skipped out of the tour early...
After stopping at the Meiji Shrine our tour continued with driving past Akasaka Guest House and the National Diet (government) building. Both of those were on the wrong side of the bus for me to get pictures. The next place we stopped was the Imperial Palace East Gardens. 

Tokyo Trip Part 3

After our afternoon of Sumo we took the bus back to the hotel and then headed out to see some more of Tokyo! The New Sanno Hotel is a little less than 1/2 mile from the nearest train station, so pretty convenient to walk. It's also in a great central location so it's only a few stops to some of the most popular areas. We decided to check out Shibuya, an area "popular with young people with lots of restaurants and like Times Square" according to the hotel concierge. I think it was 2 stops away on the train. I don't really know if it's like Times Square because I've never been to NYC, but I have to think it's similar. Shibuya has an intersection that is famous because all the traffic stops to allow pedestrians to cross in all directions at once. It's a very busy intersection. This brings me to mention something that I DON'T LIKE about Japan (there aren't that many)...there is no consistency with what side of the sidewalk/stairs to walk on! Ugh, every time I meet someone on the sidewalk I never know which side they're going to pick, and if I try to always go right I think sometimes I would just get run off the sidewalk. In the train stations, one will have signs saying the right side of the stairs is up, but then the next station up will be on the left. Same with escalators. Sigh, it's not that big of a deal, and it's probably like that some in the USA I just never noticed it. Haha, ok off my tangent...

This is the major intersection in Shibuya.

We found a yakiniku restaurant to have dinner. It was called Anrakutei. I think we had a couple types of beef and some pork. 

The light above our table was a little low...
it was hard to see each other if we sat up straight.

Tokyo Trip Part 2 (Sumo)

After our lunch it was time to meet up with the group and head to the Sumo Tournament! Here's a couple shots from the bus...

Front of ticket.

Back of ticket...No entry is allowed for gangsters! Haha!

Tokyo Trip Part 1

Tokyo! So exciting! I really didn't know much about the city before we went other than it is the largest city in the world. I felt like if I read about things to see and do I'd end up disappointed if I didn't see EVERYTHING. Better to try going with the flow? Well, after trying that I felt like we wasted some time deciding what to do...maybe better to at least do a little research before going somewhere like this. Lesson learned!

We signed up with the ITT office (Information, Tours & Tickets, I think) to go on this 4 day trip to Tokyo for a Sumo Tournament. 

Day 1 was traveling to Tokyo by bus, evening of free time.

Day 2 was morning of free time, afternoon Sumo, evening free time.

Day 3 was a free day.

Day 4 was traveling back to Misawa.

So day 1...

The bus ride took somewhere around 9 1/2 hours to get to the hotel. We stayed at the New Sanno which is a hotel for U.S. Military members at a very good location in Tokyo. 

Beautiful scenery during the drive.

This was on a vending machine. Kinda creepy...

Love that you can buy a pre-filled ice cream cone!

Cape Shiriya and Wild Horses

We had a beautiful Saturday and decided to try to complete our tour of "the hatchet" (Shimokita Peninsula) coastline. On a previous trip we'd made it around the south, west and part of the north coastline, this trip we went up the east coast to the northeast point, Shiriyazaki (Cape Shiriya). There are some horses that live at Shiriyazaki, whether or not they are actually "wild" or not is up for debate. They are in a very large fenced preserve area and willingly follow caretakers. Lots of people go right up to them and pet and feed them...we kept a "safe" distance. They are not little horses and with mamas close by we didn't get too close to the babies either. The coast of Shiriyazaki is covered in trash just like any typical northern Japan beach, but other than that it was very pretty!

Love that so many of the roads are lined with flowers!