Kabushima Shrine & Shirahama Beach in Hachinohe

This was Keenan's first "real" weekend back in Japan (can't count the first jetlagged blurry days) so we didn't do anything too exciting or venture very far from home. We went to Hachinohe and visited Kabushima Shrine (Seagull Island) and Shirahama Beach (Sandy Beach). A pretty calm weekend...

Kabushima Shrine is designated as a natural monument as the breeding place of the black-tailed seagull. Estimates are that nearly 40,000 seagulls migrate here in March and stay until fall. Toward the end of May-early June the baby seagulls hatch. (We were a little early to catch that event...) We didn't miss the thousands of seagulls though! Keenan refused to get out of the car, I braved it, but only for a couple of minutes. They say it's good luck if you get pooped on, but I feel like that's just a saying to make you feel better if it does happen! The yellow flowers are rapeseed blossoms (canola plants).

Every white dot in these pictures is a seagull...

Thousands of them!

Shirahama Beach is a nice sandy stretch of beach about 800m long. The coastline directly north of the beach is rocky and very beautiful. There is a walking path that leads from a parking lot down along the beach and all the way to Tanesashi Beach (Grassy Beach). It's always nice to see a beach that is not covered with trash, but that also means no potential treasure finding...

To our mothers, thinking of you and love you!

First vending machine of this kind we encountered!
Flavors include vanilla, soda float, green tea, macadamia nut,
tangerine sherbet, muscat & sour vanilla, Belgian
chocolate, strawberry, cookies & cream, chocolate mint,
chocolate nuts & crunch, chocolate nuts & vanilla in Monaka,
apple & yogurt and raspberry cheesecake!

We took highway 338 and then 1 to get to our destinations. It's about 30km (19 miles) from Misawa and takes about 45 minutes (taking non-toll roads).

Up next: Random Happenings of May