Iwate

On the 31st of July I visited a few places in Iwate Prefecture. Here are the pictures.

This is the campsite we stayed at. It had very good facilities, perhaps too good. It was supposed to be a seaside campground but I couldn't see any sea at all.

Then we drove to an area where we would be able to ride a tourist boat. These are pictures of the area where we waited for the boat.

Taken from the boat.

The purpose of the boat ride was to go out and look at these rocks. Apparently every now and then the sea hits these rocks in such a way that it makes a huge splash.

This is in Ryusendo, one of the largest limestone cave systems in Japan.

This water is 93 metres deep.

From higher up.

The first thing we saw when we came out of the caves.

A decoration on a bridge.

The same water that was in the caves.

The hills that I went tramping around the inside of.

Matsushima

Before I left Japan I did a little bit of sightseeing. I have already written about those trips but I never got around to posting the pictures. Here are some pictures from Matsushima, where I went on the 30th of July. Here is some information on Matsushima from Wikitravel.

On the tourist boat.

I think this might be an oyster farm, but I'm not sure.

A statue at, I think, Zuiganji. The following photos are from the same place.

A hideously garish tourist boat. This is not the boat I rode.

This is another temple, but I don't know what it was called.

Just to prove they really do eat them . . .

Back in New Zealand

After a couple of days in Tokyo and an international flight I find myself back in New Zealand. I also find myself cold and easily exhausted, without the energy to do more than read books and watch DVDs. Therefore I will keep this brief.

In Tokyo I rode the Himiko ferry and visited the National Museum. The flight back to NZ was nice and had such a great range of movies available that I hardly got any sleep.

I'm staying at my parents' house now. All I've done since I got home is dig winter clothes out of my boxes in the garage, watch movies (The Revenge of the Sith and The Importance of Being Ernest) and re-read one of my books (So You Want To Be A Wizard). Oh, and I went to the supermarket and found that the price of conditioner has gone up an awful lot, and I went to the electronics store and found that the price of international adapter plugs has also gone up considerably.

Oh, I'm so lethargic. I think I'll go watch a DVD. What should I watch? Enterprise, or Pride and Prejudice? Or maybe I will watch The Life of Brian. . . .

Tazawako

Yesterday I went to Tazawako with Sumiko, Nagoya Yukie who used to teach Japanese as a second language at Konoura Jr. High, and Yukie's friend from Tokyo. It rained pretty much the whole day. We went to see the Tatsuko Hime statue on the lake shore. Apparently Tatsuko Hime is a character from a folk tale popular in the area. Then we went to eat smorgasbord lunch at a herb centre. After that we went shopping at a honey shop. It was seriously a shop that sold mostly honey. Then we went to an onsen. It was rather nice to sit outside in a milky sulphur-smelling pool of water with rain falling on my head and shoulders. On the way back to Nikaho City we stopped at a huge shop that sold mostly expensive soy sauce, miso and a few pickles. I stayed at Sumiko's house again last night. It is much easier to sleep in her guest room than in Atsuko's living room.

I'm Homeless

I haven't blogged for a while because I'm, well, homeless.

Last week I went to an ALT farewell okonomiyaki party in Honjo on Monday, went to the post office on Wednesday, the doctor on Thursday morning (I have a bad knee), Akita City on Thursday afternoon to pick up my new visa and to my farewell party with the Kamagadai teachers on Friday evening. Other than that I spent the whole week packing and cleaning. I left my apartment for the last time on Sunday evening and went to Atsuko's house.

The next day I went with Atsuko, Taisuke and Chinatsu to go sightseeing in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures. First we went to Matsushima, one of the official three most beautiful spots in Japan. We rode a tourist ferry and had a closer look at the islands. We also went to a temple and had lunch at a hotel restaurant. Then we drove to Iwate and found our camp ground. It was a very nice camp ground and had good facilities. Unfortunately it rained. Taisuke brought a tarpaulin as well as a tent so we didn't get too wet. The next day we rode a ferry on the Pacific to look at some rocks. At least that's what I think I was supposed to be looking at. Then we went into the mountains and went tramping about in this big cave system. There were deep pools everywhere, the deepest being 90m deep, and the water was so clear that even in the gloom I could see the bottom of most of them. There were also lots of stallagtites and stallagmites, and it was all very exciting. But exhausting. There was a lot of stair climbing involved.

I will post pictures from that holiday after I get back to New Zealand.

Since then I have been staying at Atsuko's house. On Thursday we went to Akita City to send my books by M bag (30,000 yen for 70kg of books - very cheap!).

Yesterday I somehow ended up in Nikaho with some new ALTs, an old ALT and the section chief of the BOE, watching the welcoming ceremony for the Shawnee City (American sister city of Nikaho) Jr. High delegation. We did not need to translate or anything. There was no reason for us to be there. We just watched and then went to lunch. After that some other BOE people took us to the Children's Ferrite and Science Museum in Nikaho. We made slime, played with magnets and then rode one of those rides with the seats and the seatbelts and the big screens and the being shaken about all over the place that always make one feel sick. Then because everyone felt sick we went back to the BOE.

Today and tomorrow Atsuko is working and Sumiko is on holiday so I am at Sumiko's house. Tomorrow it seems that we are going to Tazawako, a famous lake on the other side of Akita Prefecture. I'm looking forward to it.