One Week in Chiba: Part 6 ~Traditional Japan~

??!! What's going on here???

?! Okay let's backtrack a little.

The next day of our travels led us to the Boso-no-Mura Open Air Museum in Sakae Town, northern Chiba. I had visited the museum a couple weeks before for work with the CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors (now that I think about it, I haven't managed to post about that either *sigh*!). After my visit, I thought it might be a nice place to take my parents, and it seems like it was at the top of their list in terms of fun things to do!

On the way to becoming a samurai!

My main goal for coming here was this "workshop"...or specifically two of them, where one of the museum staff helps you wear a feudal lord's armor or a princess's outfit. I signed up my dad for the armor, and my mum for the princess outfit.

Pretty princess!!!

Admission to the museum is only 300 yen for adults, and there's a TON of stuff to see inside. And this workshop/experience is only 200 yen per person! Super cheap, and my parents had SO much fun. The description says it takes 20 minutes, but the museum staff let us walk around and take photos...and a lot of other museum guests randomly took photos too! You can make reservations by calling in advance, or you can come sign up then and there - but calling in advance guarantees you get the time slot you want.

Anyway, more fun for our photo shoot:

The lord and his wife.

The lord/bodyguard protecting the princess from the enemy!!! (The "enemy" is not some random guy...he is actually one of the friends who showed us around that day. He was really into his role though...)

Here my mom is making a monaka, which is either ice cream or red bean paste sandwiched in a crunchy shell. Mmm!

On a separate note, Boso-no-Mura offers TONS of hands-on experience things. There is so much to do I haven't managed to fully explore the museum yet!! Need to go back again sometime~.

We also had a very delicious bento lunch at Komorebi, a restaurant right across the entrance to Boso-no-Mura. This sparked a discussion over how balanced Japanese meals were, and how to possibly recreate such meals back home in the U.S. - my dad fell in love with the food here, and is gonna try to give up his fast food lunches!!

Another totally random photo, but I am really curious about this red plant, which we found as we strolled around the museum. Can someone help me identify it? It looks like it has the same texture as a broom...

Narita Shinshoji Temple!

We also spent some of the day wandering around Narita Shinshoji Temple and its approach (参道).  It might not be as big of an area, but here, you can still enjoy the same classic Japan that you would in say, Kyoto or Asakusa. I'm kinda sad that this place isn't more well known - I must confess I didn't know of it until I visited it for work recently.

Cyclists stopping in front of a ryokan, perhaps to rest up for the night.

Kinda off topic, but as we were walking around town we stumbled on these cyclists, who were participants in Tour de Chiba 2011. Tour de Chiba is an annual cycling event where participants bike across/around Chiba! Depending on how hardcore the cyclist is, s/he can choose from 6 different courses, varying from distance and taking 1-3 days.

Various flavors of marshmellows! They were super delicious.

Hmm...a not-so-better view of the townscape. You can see Shinshoji Temple in the distance though!!

The Shinshoji Temple area is really gorgeous if you are looking for a quiet, calm place to wander and stroll around. And so many delicious foods too!!! There is a cafe with a mochi waffle that I have been eyeing for ages...I'll have to go back to try that at some point. So much exploring to do, so little free time!