Shochu from the Moon Light

One experience I forgot to mention in Sendai was my gift of Shochu from the Moon Light. After the tug-of-war ended, Tarah headed back to our hotel while I wandered around taking in the sights. I found a little bar near the JR station and decided to take a peek. I walked in and found the bar keep and one patron. They were pretty excited to have an "American" in their pub. The bartender's name was Lei'a and the drunk old guy introduced himself as "John." I ordered a Shochu and I was handed my drink along with a beer and a plate of tomatoes/cucumbers/mayonaisse. Within a minute, a microphone was thrust upon me and the karoke machine cranked out "Rocky Mountain High" by Olivia Newton John!?! I had to sing for the two friends I had just met, but I didn't have the heart to tell them that Oliva Newton John did not sing that song. After another round, "John" had a taxi pick him up and I was ready to head back. In typical Japanese form, Lei'a handed me bottle of house Shochu as a gift and wished me well. What a great way to end a visit to Sendai, Kyushu. BTW - that John Denver is full of shit.

Day 8 - Transition

Today was more of a day of transition and not really much to report. We packed up from Sendai and then hopped the train to Hiroshima. We had to switch in Hakata. It took a little over 2 hours.

Once at the hotel we just relaxed and then went down at 6:30pm for the curry rice the hotel was feeding us for dinner. I have never had a hotel give free breakfast AND dinner. We have stayed in the Toyoko-Inn in a few cities and it's really reasonable and always in great locations. Perfect for backpacking b/c then you don't have to haul your bags very far from the station. They are western style hotels but for the price you can't beat it. We saved over $3000 for the trip and haven't even made it half way through our money yet. Everyone told us how expensive Japan was and it definitely can be but we've managed to do really well on food and the rail pass has paid for itself as that is our only mode of transportation thus far. We haven't used any cabs, which are expensive, and staying close to the station has worked out well. We venture out on buses. trams or the trains to explore the areas we stay in.

Anyway, back to my post... Jeff LOVED the curry rice and has requested we make it at home as he now seems to love curry. He actually ate 2 big bowls of it b/c the kitchen lady made him take another bowl later in the evening. We took a walk to check out the small suburb of Hiroshima we are staying in... Now much here but a Pachinko parlor, which we checked out. When we returned she made him take more rice, which he gladly did of course!! Once in the room we watched a movie (War of the Worlds) and caught up on blogging and downloading pictures.

Day 7 - Kugoshima-Chuo

We slept in a bit which was nice and then headed down for our free breakfast at the Toyoko-Inn. There were tons of people down there but we still managed to get miso soup, rice, sausages, pickled green and orange something and a roll. they had some gooey okra stuff but I passed on that. Coffee took a bit but we eventually got some of that too. after eating we headed back to the room so Jeff could post his first blog... which you should have read by now.

We decided today to head to Kugoshima-Chuo. The station here is super nice and brand new and there are barely people there. It was nice not having to be so attentive to where I was walking and who may be behind me had I moved to the right or left slightly. One thing we consistently notice is that trash can are hard to find yet there is no trash on the ground anywhere... The trains are also always on time. The escalators are off until you walk up and then they start to move. There are so many little energy efficient things yet everything comes in it's own packaging and plastic bags for everything. Our room key actually turn on the power in our room, so when we are gone the room is off but when you get back you plug your key in and everything comes to life... It took us a few minutes to figure that out when we first got to the room. We were just flipping switches left and right.

So anyway we hopped on the train and headed out. It was only about a 15 min ride. Jeff wanted to go see the volcano there plus it's called the Naples of the Orient. Oh and it's really hot, I actually got a slight sun burn.

We headed down to the water so we could see the volcano and I was hoping to see the aquarium. It was 1500 yen a person so Jeff pooped that idea, he didn't want to go see it for about $30 for the 2 of us... urghh! After taking pictures and waving to people on boats we headed back to the main area of town where all the shopping is. At about this time I decided that I had to pee really bad. I searched of r a toilet and once inside realized it was a squatter style toilet - HELL NO! I refused to use it. I had the grand idea that the high end shops would have more western style toilets. Wrong! I finally caved and used it but it was miserable, can't say I would recommend that. Not that you need to know this but I wasn't about to do more than pee so my bathroom stop for the day was not yet over... After we finished buying gifts for people we headed out of the shops and found this really pretty temple. We headed inside and I noticed they too had bathrooms. I decided to check and I was so pleased to see a sign that said western style and japanese style. I went into the western style and was a much happier person for the rest of the day! (Jeff was a bit annoyed with me b/c he didn't see the big deal... Oh well I found my toilet and everyone was happy again.)

For lunch we wanted sushi so we found a place and walked in. After sitting down I looked up in the book how to say "an assortment of sashimi". They guy looked really confused so I showed it to him. He said something, we stared with confused looks, he said something else, then we realized he said "Soba". Ohhhh it's a noodle shop, not sushi. A guy sitting there said the sushi place was next door - whoops! We felt so stupid but they were super nice to us. They bowed profusely and he walked us out to show us where it was. We bowed and said "Domo arigato!" Whoops!!! The sushi next door was really good. We ordered a roll and an assortment of nigiri. Delicious! We were still hungry so we ordered another roll and I figured out how to tell the guy that was our last order as he looked like he was waiting to see what else we would want. We said a few things to us and he helped with a few pronunciations. at the end of our meal we had some egg concoction to eat that I have never had. I asked him if it was "masago" he said "Hai, egg" - it was pretty good. Kind of like custard with veggies in it.

After lunch we headed out to the Ferris wheel at the station. It is the best view of the city! We weren't sure how to buy our tickets so we kind of watched people and then did what they did. We think we did it right and noone said we didn't so it was a success. Plus it seems we paid less than what the guide book said. The view was amazing, you could see everything!

After the ride we headed to a cafe to fill out our postcards. One thing that has worked here is just pointing and gesturing, it works every time. I ordered a slice of strawberry pie and 2 coffees. There was a tiny bit of confusion about the 2nd coffee b/c I pointed to the door where Jeff was supposed to be standing but he was gone so I think she thought I wanted to take the cup outside or something. I said "for my husband" and she seemed to understand and shook her head yes... but then again maybe she was just saying yes to say yes. :) The pie was so good, I was sad to have to actually share it with Jeff. HAHA!

After that we just headed back to Sendai by train and that is when we stumbled upon the tug of war event (read Jeff's post on that). Another great day!!

Sendai Oh-Tsunahiki (Great Tug-of-War)

Luck would have it that we are in Sendai for their annual "Great Tug-of-War." This happens every year on September 22nd in this small city of approximately 100,000 residents. We think the entire city turned out in the downtown streets to witness, cheer, and even participate in this grand ritual. The street vendors were everywhere selling everything. We saw chicken, pork, fish, octopus, squid, sake, beer, shochu, candy, veggies, hot dogs, glow sticks, glow-in-the-dark swords, anime masks, and on and on and on. At one point we were almost crushed by the guys pulling the massive rope (about 24+ inches in diameter). Needless to say, the medical crews and cleaning crews were out in full force. After it was all over I was able to get a strand of the actual rope - apparently if you hang it on the front door of your house it will bring you good luck. Bonzai!

Here is a video we took:

Day 6 - Sendai

We checked out of our hotel at 10am (the standard time around here) and headed to Seattle's Best coffee to grab a drink and use their free wifi. We walked around the downtown area of Fukuoka (Tenjin) for awhile before we had to catch our train to Sendai at 2:30pm.

Jeff really wanted ramen for lunch but we couldn't find any to save our life... if there was one it was closed. We settled for just a standard place where we had rice, chicken, miso and some picked items. I put this black sesame/salt stuff on my rice and OMG it's my new favorite thing to eat!! Will have to try and find some to take home.


Once on the train we had a few hours to nap a bit and then we had to switch trains in Shin-Yatsushio. Our tickets were given to us in Japanese, which was a first, so we had to look up the symbols to figure out where to switch.

Sendai is a smaller, quieter town. It is more of what I pictured Japan to look like. We checked into our hotel, did some laundry (clothes are starting to smell!) and just chilled for a bit.

Around dinner time we ventured out into town and just tried to see what was available... and open. We wandered into a place that smelled good and had quite a few people in it. They spoke no english and had no menu with pictures... So when they sat us in a tatami room with 3 other girls I just looked at what they had, looked up the word same and motioned to our server we just wanted what they were having. It worked out pretty well. Oh and we ordered ni Berru (2 beers), we've got that one down! So, what arrived at our table was: some sort of mac salad appetiazer that everyone gets, friend chicken with tater tots and cabbage salad (including ketchup and mayo), tuna salad with cucumbers and tomatoes, mixed selection of skewers (spicy chicken, pork belly, liver, peppers, quail egg and bacon, pork skin and grilled chicken). Random yes, but also tasty. The tater tot dish was funny... What we didn't get was edemame and beef skewers that they also had but that is ok b/c we were full. The whole meal came to about 4010 yen. Since we were so full it was the long way back to the hotel to walk some of it off.

Pictures (not in order).