Eureka Matsushima Memorabilia

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Japan has a nifty list called the Three Views of Japan. It is (supposedly) the country's three most celebrated scenic sites. We happen to live really quite close to one of them - Matsushima - which means that visiting it at least once while we were in Sendai was almost a requirement. A few weekends ago we did just that; just hopped on a train and went to see a bay full of tiny pine-covered islands, our excitement running high. To be honest it has a nice reputation: a famous haiku about the area consists of the poet just saying "matsushima" followed by "ah", apparently indicating a loss of words at the beauty. Or lazy poetry. Follow us after the jump to learn more!

The Road Less Travelled

The claim that Japan is a beautiful place is hard to argue with, and the snapshot we got of the country last week only makes it more convincing. Sendai is located in the Tohoku (North-East) region of Japan, which is typically considered the backwater area of the nation due to its low urbanisation in comparison with some of the other regions. While it has its share of large cities like Sendai and Koriyama, most of the space here is taken up by rice paddies, forests, rivers and mountains. This usually becomes quite apparent when travelling between cities; but on October 1st we were persuaded to get off the train in that middle section and explore.

Our lovely train emerges from a tunnel that must have taken 5 minutes to get through.

Welcome to Omoshiroyama!

Omoshiroyama is, of course, known for its massive moths...

Our destination was Omoshiroyamakogen Station, a mouthful of a location that can be justly called off the beaten track. It's a tiny station without even employees, and a population which seemed to double with the coming of us and a couple others. It is located in the large mountain range between Miyagi Prefecture (where we live) and Yamagata Prefecture, our neighbours to the West. It looked a bit like it was - at least in busier months - a skiing area for those who find the idea of hotels and restaurants and street lights to be far too posh.  But our road (at least for now) was not up the mountains - instead we went hiking in the valleys.

Pretty...

Liam ruins a perfectly good photo.

A hikin' we will go.

There's a couple of steep drops; we were lucky to have stairs for this one!

Railings? We don't need no railings!

The path led through a river valley, complete with bridges (ranging from sturdily-made to falling apart), ledges, twisted pathways, steps built into the rocks and more. We might have gone a little crazy with our camera due to the sheer amount of beauty that surrounded us. There were rock formations, waterfalls, a huge amount of vegetation...well maybe I'll just show a bunch of photos?

Aforementioned beauty.

Nico tries to find a shortcut.

Moments before he was washed away...

Liam develops a deep connection with the Mossy Rock.

One of the better bridges!

The path had its fair share of slight dangers. That isn't to say that the path is strewn with the bodies of inexperienced hikers - we are still here afterall - but only that this isn't your typical walk in the park. In places the path narrows considerably, often accompanied by a slight downward flow of water that makes the ground nice and slippery for you. And of course there are the bridges, which have either seen better days or were really never up for the whole "bridge" thing in the first place. Our habit of jumping on top of these bridges didn't help either.

Water-slick narrow pathways? Why not?

Liam demonstrates how not to not cause the bridge to collapse.

Kelsey, not to be out-risk-taker-ered, follows suit.

Emma is having none of that nonsense.

One of the many "one person at a time" bridges.

It's not a short hike, and our tendency to stop after every turn and take fifty photos did not help things in the least. The weather that day was perfect - not too hot, not too cold - but as we progressed it did get a bit more chilly, causing the sweaters to come out of their bags. Luckily for us the hike was a straight line, and one of our party had done it before, allowing us to simply follow the leader and focus entirely on our camera.

Almost-group photo!

Kelsey takes a break.

Liam leads the way.

Pretty...

Just a big rock, chillin'.

As the path continued and picturesque, breathtaking natural beauty became the norm, we ended up getting a bit silly with the camera.

One of the indigenous valley-people.

Kelsey shows off her glamour muscles.

Just posin'

Nico refills our vital water stocks at a stream.

It was around this time that the rain started coming down; not the greatest thing to happen when your rain-gear consists of leaves held over your head in a makeshift umbrella. Lucky for us, this was also around the time that we had reached the end of the valley and started heading back up the mountainside. Not so lucky for us, we were a few kilometres away from Omoshiroyama station...

Frog! 

Our upward path led through here: basically a long dark sewage tunnel.

Eek! SASQUATCH! 

Emma shows off her innovative rain gear.

Kelsey eats her lunch well before lunchtime. 

Nico follows suit.

Full group photo at last! 

Almost...there...

After a bit of a walk back to our start point we decided to go in the opposite direction and up the mountain a little ways. On our upward climb we passed a few abandoned (or at least severely neglected) ski lodges, a few other sight see-ers, and dodged a couple cars before coming up to a large field of flowers. They were apparently called "cosmos" flowers, which sounded more than a little odd at first. There was a gazebo in the field with a little bell in it where we ended up taking our lunch stop (for those of us who had not already gobbled up their lunches) and ending our escapade.

The hills are aliiiiiive....

Warning, adorable squirrels?

Kelsey stops and smells the flowers.

Nico wrestles with the flowers.

Our lunch gazebo!

After that it was just one (much shorter) trip down the side of the mountain and off to the semi-abandoned train station which would take us home. Overall, definitely worth the 700 yen ticket it cost to get there (which was never claimed, as the Omoshiroyama station seemed completely un-staffed).

For posterity.

View the whole album here! There are a lot of pictures.

P.S. Happy birthday Ellie!

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!