Kokeshi Dolls & Senjojiki Beach

I got a new camera! YES!!! I'm incredibly excited, don't really know that much about shooting with a DSLR but I'm reading and watching YouTube videos so hopefully I learn quickly! This lovely Saturday afternoon we decided to drive west toward Mt Iwaki. There's a switchback road that leads almost to the top of the mountain (much easier than hiking up the whole way). On the way there we stopped at the Jogakura Bridge and a kokeshi doll museum in Kuroishi. We didn't end up driving up Mt Iwaki, but we did visit Senjojiki Beach. More on that later...

The Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum is located in Kuroishi and is about 80 km from Misawa (the route we took today was a little longer). Kokeshi dolls are handmade wooden dolls exclusive to the northern region of Japan, the Tohoku Region. The dolls are thought to have first been produced in the early 1800's as souvenirs for visitors to the many hot springs. We opted not to wander through the museum today, rather just check out the dolls they had for sale.

I'm a kokeshi!

Oshima Island

Today I took Keenan back to a place that I had discovered in May. I knew that we would enjoy wandering around on the rocks and taking in the view. Little did I know that a tiny little glass object would make our day!

This Japanese boy had a shirt on that said:
NEBRASKA
1976
CORN HUSKER STATE

Totally random!

Look what Keenan found!!!
Woo hoo! He's been pretty jealous of my
recent float finds (even though he "doesn't care"
about them). Yay!

This is the first we have that's green!

Kuji Amber Museum & Ryusendo Cave

We went spelunking! Well...to be honest, we really just visited a cave open to tourists with well developed walkways and stairs...but that still counts, right?? Today we went to Ryusendo Cave with a stop at Kuji Amber Museum on the way there. (Map and travel details at the bottom of the post)

Kuji Amber Museum is located in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, which is the only area in Japan where amber is found. There are a couple different buildings to the museum and most of the exhibits had English explanations. I think they also have an area where you can mine for amber, but it was raining hard so we didn't explore outside much. We did venture into an old mine that was part of the museum. We learned a lot about amber, but unless you are already traveling to this area, it probably isn't worth a special trip. The store had quite a large variety of items, but nothing that I just had to have...plus traditional amber's not really my color and the fancy colored amber was expensive!

Revisiting one of our favorite places...Monomizaki

Today we wanted to stay close to home but still do a little exploring...the weather was amazing. Hot for this time of year (80's). I wanted to show Keenan a different beach and go back to a place we'd discovered last year shortly after getting to Japan...Monomizaki!

Monomizaki!

Azalea Festival & Gelato

Today I convinced Keenan to check out an Azalea Festival with me in Shichinohe. I know...a flower festival...how exciting! Needless to say he was less than thrilled, but a promise of some gelato sweetened the deal a little bit.

Tenno Shrine with Azalea Blossoms:
Gozu Tenno Shrine has received many worshipers since 1394. After World War II, a famous horse painter Kayo Kamiizumi asked for a donation of precious azalea trees from volunteers of the town. The trees were replaced on the temple grounds as a means of beautifying the area which had been badly neglected. Now, over 500 azalea trees with their pretty pink petals every May, which are more than 300 years old, cover the grounds of this shrine. The scene of the area, fantastically illuminated at night during the Tsutsuji Matsuri (Azalea Blossom Festival) in mid-May, are too beautiful to be described.

We were too late for the peak of the blooming, most of the petals had already fallen, but it was still really pretty. The azaleas cover the hill where the shrine is located. One hundred and six stairs lead the way up to the shine. Paper lanterns line the path. Other than viewing the flowers and the shrine there was not much else to see at this festival. There were a couple vendors selling donuts, but nothing else "festival-ly." Perhaps there was more to it when the blooming was at its peak?