Saturday, June 30, 2012

2012 CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors in Choshi (Part 2).

Just need to post this because of my strange obsession with signs like this...:D
So, onto Part 2 of our tour in Choshi! (Here's Part 1.)

CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors in front of Choshi Station!
After lunch and a little souvenir shopping, we reconvened in front of Choshi Station to hop onto the Choshi Electric Railway ("Choshi Dentetsu," 銚子電鉄).


Random neat thing about the Choshi Dentetsu...it doesn't have its own station, so you actually have to walk through the JR platforms to it! The Choshi Dentetsu is actually located on an extention of the JR platform. (Also, note the lone Suica ticket gate...yay country living!)

Our guide, Ishigami-san telling us all sorts of fun facts about the Choshi Dentetsu!
Ishigami-san is one of the Choshi Tourist Attendants (銚子観光アテンダント). Apparently these "attendants," or guides, have a neat system of specifically showing visitors around by explaining stuffon shuttle buses running around the city and the Choshi Dentetsu.

Here are a few things I learned from Ishigami-san:

Hopping off the train really quickly to poke around. The Ambassadors were totally filmed and on the news later on that day!
Apparently the trains currently running are originally from other railways - for instance, the train we were riding (pictured above) originally ran on one of the Keio lines in Tokyo. (I think. I don't have much confidence in my memory.)

This red train is the Choshi Dentetsu's newest addition!
I can't remember which station exactly, but I think this is the only point on the railway where the trains can bypass each other! There's only one track for the rest of the line.

Ashikajima is the station located furthest east in the Kanto Region!

Hydrangea season!
Also forgot which station it was, but one of the station had TONS of hydrangea on both sides of the tracks, and it was super pretty!! The super dusty train windows added a really interested effect to this photo.

Learning about this fun sculpture at Inubo Station.
Finally, we got off the train at Inubo Station, where we said goodbye to Ishigami-san and met our new guides, three people from the Kanko Sendokai, an organization of Choshi's volunteer guides.

Parting knowledge from Ishigami-san: nure-sembei ice cream!
Nure-sembei is another famous food from Choshi. It's basically sembei (rice crackers) soaked in soy sauce. High school students from a local high school developed a new famous food for Choshi - ice cream with little bits of these crackers mixed in! Needless to say, it's reaaaaally interesting, and actually quite different from the soy sauce soft serve in my previous post. If you're looking for an adventure, there's definitely one here.

Inubosaki Lighthouse! And also, the only white mailbox in Japan!
Inubosaki Lighthouse is another one of Choshi's most popular destinations for tourists. Take a light hike up the 99 step corkscrew staircase within the tower, and you can enjoy some really spectacular views of Choshi (and perhaps beyond, if the weather is clear enough)!

Also, the mailbox is super cool too, because it is currently the only white mailbox in Japan! (Normally mailboxes in Japan are bright red.) It was installed just earlier this year in March, for White Day!

You'll spot lots of these signs climbing up the lighthouse. They are encouraging/torturing you!
Nearly half of the sign has faded away, but it marks the 99th step of the Inubosaki Lighthouse! Goal!!
Really lovely weather from atop the lighthouse! You can kinda see Choshi Port Tower jutting out of the horizon.
Our final destination: Chikyu no Maruku Mieru Oka!
After the lighthouse, we proceeded onto our next and final destination for the day, the Chikyu no Maruku Mieru Oka Ocean View Observatory (地球の丸く見える丘展望館). As the name says, the earth (err...horizon?) looks round viewed from here!

Listening the guide's explanation. I guess it's easiest to see the round-ish horizon from on top of here?
The earth may not look so round in this photo, but it's a gorgeous view nonetheless! Spot the windmills?
They have these plates showing what landmarks are in each direction. Not pictured here (nor could we see them that day), but apparently if you are a good kid you might be able to see as far as Mt. Fuji, or even Hawaii! Thank you lovely guides~.
Anyway, it was my second time in Choshi, and with the great weather - and more importantly, meeting so many warm personalities, I feel that it really is a lovely place! Choshi, I really love that you've got a sense of humor:

The note says "take it, you thief!" :D
Tiles here and there outside of the entrance to the observatory had Choshi's famous products inscribed on them, like this cabbage tile! I love hidden surprises like this :D
Anyway, Choshi is a lovely place, and it was even more fun with the great company of the CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors! Can't wait for our next tour!

2012 CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors in Choshi (Part 1)

Last Sunday found me bright and early near my work, where I hopped on the bus for a day trip to Choshi with this year's CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors! We usually call them the チーバくん大使, which is an abbreviated version of their loooooong official project name. It gets even longer when translated into English.

The 2012 CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors! (or if they become a taiko group!)
CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors are exchange students and other foreign residents living in Chiba Prefecture who have been appointed to promote Chiba Prefecture!! Specifically, they do this by writing Chiba-related articles in their personal blogs/websites, facebook, Twitter, etc. We have 20 ambassadors this year, hailing from China, Korea, Taiwan, US, UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Italy!

English page about the CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors on the Chiba Prefecture website:
http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kokusai/english/information/residents/ambassadors.html


Our merry crew was officially appointed ambassadors a couple a weeks ago, and the trip to Choshi was our first outing together. These tours to various famous places/events throughout Chiba Prefecture are just one of the perks for the CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors.

Choshi's Hanryu-kai (阪流会), a member of the Choshi Hane-daiko Preservation Society (銚子はね太鼓保存会).
After a 2 hour or so bus ride from Chiba City, we arrived at Choshi City Hall, where this fantastic group awaited us! Yes - that's right, we had a special taiko performance arranged only for us!!! The sounds of the taiko really resound through the area, so before we knew it we had gathered a decent amount of curious onlookers.

The Ambassadors getting straight down to work!
Unfortunately, I'm not 100% confident about this, but if I remember correctly, I think this group, the Hanryu-kai, is just one Choshi Hane-daiko group amongst a handful of groups that make up the Choshi Hane-daiko Preservation Society.

If you'll remember, I actually saw a different group perform the Choshi Hane-daiko at the Narita Taiko Festival earlier this year! Of course, this time around we got to see this style of taiko drumming up close and personal, so let me share some photos and video so you can enjoy it too:




The Hanryu-kai was absolutely fantastic and they played us all sorts of pieces! All this taiko makes me itchy to join the matsuri in the fall.


See this older man with the hand drum? He seemed to be the pace keeper. He came up her and yelled at everyone for going too fast! So adorable~.


Aaaaand another super adorable scene. Apparently, there is a folk dance that anyone in Choshi knows how to do it, so the super cute old man demonstrated for us!




My favorite, the actual Choshi Hane-daiko! They weren't nearly as fierce as the performance I saw in Narita, but it was still awesome anyways. It must be extremely painful to play the drums in such an uncomfortable position!

"Hane" means to hop or skip...how fitting!
We also had a chance to try out the different instruments~!
Person from Choshi City Hall explaining our souvenirs...thank you!!
Choshi City Hall also prepared welcome packs for everyone! They had lots of awesome info pamphlets (my favorite is this really artsy photo collection of an area in Choshi called Togawa (外川). The packs also contained soy sauce, sardines, and noodles (with sardines in them!)...also Choshi-related stuff.

After lots of taiko excitement, it was time for lunch!


We had lunch here, a Japanese restaurant called Kamichi (かみち), located right in front of Choshi Station.

Sardine set meal that a couple of my coworkers got.
Choshi boasts some of the highest catches of fish in the country, so it's super famous for delicious, fresh fish! Right now it's the season for sardines, hence the let's-put-as-many-sardine-dishes-into-a-single-meal as we can. (Can you tell I am personally not a fan of sardines? But I think because I was force fed the gross canned kind as a kid...I got to taste some of this meal, and it was quite good!)

Sashimi set!
I got the sashimi set (sorry, it looks kinda lonely because it was before my rice and miso soup came along) - always forget exactly what fish there was. The dark red sashimi is maguro, and one other was supposedly kanpachi, so I think the remaining one is some type of tai.

Dried octopus (not squid!)
After lunch, we had some time to wander around the nearby souvenir shops. I wandered into one, and the super cute old lady working there latched onto my friend and I, constantly forcing samples on us. It was really sweet, but we were stuffed after lunch! 

Soy sauce soft serve ice cream!!!
Choshi also is home to two major soy sauce makers, Yamasa and Higeta! (Kikkoman is in another city in Chiba, Noda.) So someone came up with the genius idea for soy sauce ice cream!

There's always room for dessert~.
There was a lot of good debate about what the ice cream tasted like. Yes, it did taste like soy sauce, but the salty + sweetness made a lot of people think of caramel...until someone mentioned cheese (somehow, yes cheese!) and I actually have to agree. It might sound crazy, but try it and you'll be a believer!

Anyway, for easier viewing purposes, the second half of our tour will continue in the next post!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Getting artsy.

Welcome to the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art!
The Kanto region has apparently entered rainy season...but we were still lucky to get (partially) beautiful, clear weather on Sunday!

Tickets to the current Flowerscapes exhibition.
I had previously visited the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art (DIC川村記念美術館) for work, and got tickets through that. Obviously with work, you can't quite enjoy things at your own pace, so I roped a friend into coming with me (thank you!).

Restaurant and gallery.
Tucked away in the woods of Sakura City in Chiba, this place is absolutely gorgeous! It was only about a 30 minute drive from Chiba City, but it's like the perfect hideaway. This particular building houses the museums restaurant (amazing!), one of the gift shops, and a couple of galleries where local organizations can run their own mini exhibitions.

Adorable sign boards at the restaurant!
Before actually heading into the museum, we popped into the museum restaurant, Belvedere, for lunch. It's a bit pricey, but it's lovely, has a gorgeous food, and the food is fantastic! I didn't actually get to try any of the items above (except for the dessert plate), but the drinks look particularly awesome. Someday...

Anyway, we got the lunch A set, which comes with salad, a main dish, dessert, and coffee/tea for 1,600 yen.

Italian ham and asparagus cream sauce spaghetti. Simple but genius.
Dessert plate: mango mousse, rare cheese thing, and some sort of cake with apple in it? All super delicious.

After lunch, we also took a short stroll down the nature trail:

Almost hydrangea season!
The nature trail has all sorts of seasonal flowers and plants, and it's also maintained to perfection, so it seems like a lot of people come here just to chill, even if they aren't going to the museum itself.


I really like this tiny stream so it's the only thing I actually took a photo of, but there's also a giant field where you can have picnics, tennis courts, baseball field, etc. connected to the nature trail! All open to the public. This place is gorgeous!!

From the nature trail - the museum peeking out behind the trees!
They've got all sorts of ducks and geese running around...so adorable! <3
So photogenic.
Giant sculpture of a mass of awesomeness.
Entrance to the museum building.
Finally, it was time to actually check out the museum itself! Kawamura has a reaaaaally impressive collection. I think we spent 2-3 hours looking around?? A couple of my favorites were "The Pop Garden" in the Flowerscapes exhibition, and Mark Rothko's Seagram Murals in the Museum Collection.

Info board next to the entrance.
The museum is generally open everyday from 9:30-17:00 (last admission at 16:30) except for Mondays (unless Monday is a holiday, in which the museum is then closed on the following day) and the Japanese New Year holidays. Cost of admission varies according to the current exhibit. This time around, admission for adults was 1,200 yen.

The Kawamura Museum is potentially a new favorite spot of mine - can't wait to go again!

There are so many parts that I couldn't actually get into within the museum itself, since I don't have photos (no photography allowed inside of course), so you will just have to see for yourself! In the meantime, their website is very well maintained so you can get a good overview of what the museum offers before actually going: http://kawamura-museum.dic.co.jp/en/index.html

Yay for artsiness!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Kicking off the summer in Kamogawa!

Eerie weather at Maebara Beach in Kamogawa.
Despite the ominous weather last weekend, June 2-3 found me at Sea Festa 2012 in Kamogawa! When I lived in Kamogawa, this was one of my favorite events - pure fun at the beach. On a random side note, Maebara Beach was also one of my favorite places to stroll in the evenings!

Sea Festa is an annual event (although it was cancelled last year because of all the earthquake stuff), always held on the first weekend of June.

Selling stuff while talking up people passing by!
As in previous years, I donned my Hawaiian shirt along with the others to help sell stuff at the Kamogawa International Relations Association (KIRA)'s booth. This year, we were selling Johnsonville sausages and Miller/Budweiser beer (Wisconsin stuff because of Kamogawa's sister city is Manitowoc in Wisconsin).

I always loved coming here because I could meet so many friends as they pass by, but even more so this year because I was able to see/talk with a lot of people that I haven't really been able to talk to since moving away from Kamogawa. Thanks for letting me help out, KIRA!

Lots of booths stretching all along the shore.
Our booth was located somewhere along this path. This area is called the Seaside Shopping Mall (渚のショッピングモール), which is mostly booths from organizations around the city, like Kamogawa Sea World, the Kamogawa branch of the Chiba Lotte Marines fan club, etc.!

Homemade and organic...Kamogawa moo moo gelato! Cute.
Wandering around during a break, I came across this place! Apparently their ice creams and gelatos are available at the local michi-no-eki and what not. They had all sorts of flavors...vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, etc...

Hijiki ice cream!
But of course, I can't settle for a normal flavor! Yes, you read correctly. I got hijiki ice cream, that brown-ish black seaweed-like thing. The ice cream looks like a browner version of kurogoma (black sesame seed) ice cream. I love hijiki, and...while doubtful, I was hoping for a salt + sweet magic combination, and I figured it would be a good conversation topic! Despite this place constantly being packed with customers, apparently I was the first person to buy the hijiki ice cream haha!

It certainly has made for fun conversations, but...sadly, it wasn't for me (it reminded me of that seaweed chocolate I once got from Korea...). It did make for really good conversation, and when I forced it on other people they actually kinda liked it (seriously)!! So if you're feeling curious, you gotta try it for yourself!

Everyone enjoying good food, drink, entertainment, and best of all, good company!
Wander up a little ways to the area called Fisharina Kamogawa (nearby are the docks where yachts and fishing boats are anchored), and you'll find the main venue of Sea Festa!

This area is surrounded by booths mainly run by major organizations like the local board of commerce, tourism association, etc. or are Hawaiian-themed (a major part of Sea Festa, since Kamogawa is supposed to be Japan's Hawaii...)

Koooffee Truck!
 Totally random, but the coffee here is AMAZING. I'd always seen this truck parked along the main road that leads into Kamogawa, but never actually seen them in business. We'd had an early start that day, and with no breakfast, I was desperate for something to wake me up. I don't pretend to know coffee, but the coffee here was mindblowing. I must hunt them down again...

Local girls performing the satomai, or traditional folk dance!
Kamogawa Hula Festival!
The main stage can also be found in this area! Both days, there was non-stop entertainment here! Particularly, one of Sea Festa's highlights is the Kamogawa Hula Festival. Basically, hula groups from all over the country come to Kamogawa to perform here - it might not be Hawaii, but it is a pretty gorgeous beach <3. In recent years, it's estimated that 1,000 hula dancers perform each year. The Kamogawa Hula Festival is so popular that they get more applications than there are slots to perform, so participants are selected by lottery!

Fan + cookies.
On my way home, a friend working at the Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne (輪廻のラグランジェ) booth stopped me and gave me some goods as omiyage! Often referred to as "Ragurin," this is an anime that takes place in Kamogawa. (I've mentioned it in a previous post here.) They were selling Sea Festa limited edition goods to promote the show, which is entering it's second season in July.

For kicks, what the cookies look like. They have the main characters printed on them...and are actually quite tasty!
I have watched the first episode, but nothing more. Honestly, there is a lot of fan service, which makes it just a little awkward to watch. Still, like I've said before, it's really cool to see places I used to actually chill out in an anime!

Ragurin poster.
I also got some of the posters. You can kinda tell the scenery here is the same as the scenery in the first photo of a past post (taken from the Uomizuka Viewing Point in Kamogawa).

Anyway, I've gotten really off topic, but after being away for almost a full year now, I still love Kamogawa - or more importantly, my friends there! I love Kamogawa all year around, but as a resort city, summer is definitely it's best season. Can't wait to go play again soon!