You're Inawashirooo, What's Your Name?

September is rapidly reaching its close and the weather here in Sendai is wonderful. Nothing beats forgetting you even had an air conditioner since you never have to use it anymore. Although that also means the nights are getting a bit chillier, but thus far it's nothing a thicker blanket can't solve!

Today's post is concerned with a time, not too long ago, when the weather was less great and more...sweltering. Kelsey and I took a trip down to Lake Inawashiro on September 17 to go sightseeing, a little crazy with our camera, and visit an animal shelter. It was very subdued as far as adventures go, but I suppose it technically qualifies as our first intra-Japan trip!

Carb-ing up before our train leaves.

Some more zealously than others...

Inawashiro isn't exacly in Sendai's backyard, so biking there wasn't really a feasable option for us. After a brief interest in renting a car and turning it into a road trip (too complicated), we ended up choosing to ride the bullet train, which is always fun. Picking up our tickets and navigating the train station was a tad difficult, not helped at all by the fact that our culminative Japanese vocabulary amounts to that of a two year old. But we managed (somehow) and before long were boarded our train bound for Koriyama station!

Kelsey is unaware that she just budded everyone in line.

We're going to need maximum yamabiko for this ride! Inform the engineers.

The ride was a little uneventful, despite the fact that we were barrelling across Japan at extraordinary speeds. It's difficult to take a step back and think that you are actually sitting on a chair in a rectangular box travelling 300 kilometers an hour across Japan. A lot of things are like that, I guess. Don't get me started on elevators.

Our faces contorted by the high speeds.

Trains here are so adorable!

The trip took us South from Sendai which meant that, in addition to seeing a great deal of rural Japan (which is remarkably blurry in contrast to the rest of Japan) we also went through the radioactive wasteland known as Fukushima, even making a few stops for passengers along the way.

Inaka - a term in Japanese for the countryside, aka this.

Eventually we arrived in Koriyama and, with the help of a random Japanese stranger who overheard us speaking and offered to help us out in English, boarded the local train towards Inawashiro without incident. This train and the ride itself was a brief shock to us, since our very tiny experience with Japan has been limited to urban infrastruction and all that jazz. Out here in the country things are a bit different. The train is loud, rickety, stops abruptly with squeals, and could easily become the set for a television game show where contestents compete to stay standing upright for the longest. It was also packed, which in a sense was a blessing in disguise. The random Japanese stranger was also heading to Inawashiro with a group of friends from Tokyo, so we chummed up with them on the ride over and had some good talks.

Tourist buddies!

The entirety of Inawashiro station.

Inawashiro tourism centre - a map.

Almost had it!

Inawashiro is a small town with just over 17,000 people, so their station is quaint. The ticket processing system is just an old guy who checks your ticket, in stark contrast to elsewhere where machines automatically analyse your ticket and mark it for you. What it lacks in modern conveniences it more than makes up for in natural beauty, which will be the sole focus of the next batch of photos. I hope you like mountains!

We also visited an animal shelter while we were there, and they were more than happy to receive us in return for playing with their animals for a bit. Not a bad price to pay, especially if they throw in sleeping accomodations and all the food we can eat! We originally intended on travelling up one of the bigger mountains around Inawashiro - and maybe, I dunno, seeing the lake - while we were there, but logistical constraints (it's a long walk and it was really hot, okay?) prevented us. That just meant we had more time to eat and play with puppies!

The shelter doubles as a "pet-friendly" restaurant. I don't know why it's called Club Lohas.

Puppies!!

Doing the dirty work.

A small part of our delicious pay.

After spending the night and a fair part of the next day in Inawashiro, it was time to go home! The people at the shelter were nice enough to give us a lift back to Koriyama (where the bullet train is), meaning we didn't have to ride the crazy train again. We were also allowed to take back all the doritos we wanted, so naturally we emptied our bags of anything not immediately necessary to accomodate all the bags possible! They lasted a few days.

View the whole album here!