Experiencing an earthquake with an intensity of 7.

Our guide welcomes us to the Western Chiba Prefectural Disaster Prevention Center.

I recently had a chance to visit the Western Chiba Prefectural Disaster Prevention Center (千葉県西部防災センター) in Matsudo.

Just as the name describes, it's a public facility designed to raise awareness about how to keep yourself and those around you safe in case of an emergency. It might not sound very interesting at first, but it's actually super interactive and really, really cool.

It's a bit difficult to describe, so I'll let the photos (albeit pretty blurry ones here and there) do the the explaining!

Earthquake car.

After watching a short video introducing the center, our guide led us upstairs to where are the awesome interactive stuff is. Right off the bat, we were going for what I wanted to try out the most - the earthquake car.

I've tried the portable version of this before - basically like a U-haul truck that has had it's wagon section cut open to resemble a plain, empty room. Here's an example (I rode an even older, plainer version though).

This took the earthquake simulation to a whole different level. They have recreated a living room (minus things that are actually in danger of falling down and seriously hurting someone) on a platform - think of those spaceship rides at the amusement park? Except that unlike this one is designed to realistically recreate the same kind of shaking you would experience in an actual earthquake.

Earthquake car/machine from the outside, as well as a description of the variety of strengths the machine can recreate.

This machine can simulate earthquakes with a intensity (震度) range of 0-7. Our guide had us try an intensity of upper 5 (震度5強) - the intensity experienced in many parts of Chiba on 3.11, followed up by an intensity of 7 (震度7) - which is the maximum, and was recorded intensity for hardest hit areas the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

In all seriousness, I was terrified enough during the intensity of 5 simulation - it reminded me way too much of 3.11, something I never want to experience again. But 7...was far too intense. Even though I knew it was a simulation, I am pretty sure I was screaming because it was so terrifying. I guess it might be good to experience as a simulation, and just hope that you - or anyone else - will ever have to experience for real??

Braving the typhoon simulation!

The numbers on the wall are the wind speed and rainfall - pictured here is the maximum, with a wind speed of 30m/sec and rainfall of 30mm/hour. Don't worry though - at least they have full rain gear for you to change into before challenging this simulation!

Practicing CPR.

If you take the extended 90 minute tour (compared to the 60 minute tour), you can also learn basic CPR techniques and how to operate an AED.

Staying calm while reporting a fire.

Next, there was this neat activity, which checks to make sure you can report a fire or call for an ambulance as quickly and calmly as possible. Follow the prompts and read the dialogue displayed on screen within the allotted time. Our "leader" passed with flying colors!

Also not pictured here because there was no way for me to get a decent photo, but our guide took us through a dark, smoke-filled hallway to have us learn how to protect ourselves from smoke during a fire and escape as quickly as possible.

Putting out that fire.

Our last hands-on activity, and perhaps the biggest stress reliever of the day...putting out a fire with a fire extinguisher! Mind you, the extinguishers actually only had water in them, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.

Final stop before the end of the tour.

But before we were done, the tour ends here - a room filled with these smaller closet rooms! It's actually a simulation to test how much information you've actually retained over the course of the tour. You watch a movie, and choose either red or blue during a timed prompt to guide the main character's course of action.

Not-so-random sign.

I took this photo because I wanted to note the 備蓄倉庫 - according to the introductory video they show you at the beginning of the tour, they store tons of emergency rations and supplies in the warehouse here. I wish we could have seen it, but I think it's off-limits to the public. D:

Presents to take home from the tour - multilingual pamphlets from the Center, as well as an emergency whistle and alarm from Kamogawa International Relations Association, the event organizer.

Presents to take home from the tour - multilingual pamphlets from the Center, as well as an emergency whistle and alarm from Kamogawa International Relations Association, the event organizer. Particularly, I'd never thought about needing a whistle in an emergency, but I learned that it's a pretty common thing to have ready here in Japan, in case you are trapped over fallen furniture, etc. in an earthquake and are calling for help. This is opposed to screaming, which 1) may use up limited oxygen and 2) cause you to inhale smoke/dust/rubble.


A few other notes about the Center - I am pretty sure you actually have to take the guided tour in order to look around, as most of the interactive stuff are like rides at an amusement park and need to be operated by staff. There are displays too, but why settle for that when you can do all the fun hands-on stuff?

Another cool thing - admission to the Western Chiba Prefectural Disaster Prevention Center is totally free! Tours are only available in Japanese - but you have a decent handle on Japanese, you can get the gist of things and figure out the rest through the hands-on activities.

I drove to the Western Chiba Prefectural Disaster Prevention Center by car from Chiba, and it was a nice 1 hour drive. The center has free parking for visitors. If going by public transportation, you'll need to take the bus from either JR Matsudo Station (bus bound for Ichikawa Station) or from JR Ichikawa Station (bus bound for Matsudo Station or Matsudo Shako). Either way, get off the bus at Matsudo Nichu. You can also walk, but it's a 25 minute hike from JR Matsudo Station.

List of things to prepare and have on hand at home in case of an emergency.

Anyway, visiting the center was a great experience, and reminded me of a lot of things I needed to reconsider at home and other places I spend a lot of time at. Generally, you are the one most responsible for protecting yourself. Just taking a little time to make back-up plans and take precautions in case of an emergency could make all the difference, so why wait until tomorrow when you could have done it today?

Kozaki Sake Brewery Festival (こうざき酒蔵まつり)

Giant banner for the sake festival in front of Shimousa-Kozaki Station.

After a couple weeks off, today was time for more adventuring in Chiba! My destination: the town of Kozaki (神崎町...not read "Kanzaki," the more common reading for these characters, but I digress). Kozaki is a teeny tiny town sandwiched between Narita City, Katori City, and Ibaraki Prefecture. Honestly, I'd never heard of Kozaki until I started working at the Prefectural Offices, and I only came across it because I was going down a list of all the cities and towns in Chiba Prefecture.

But don't let the photo above fool you...this wasn't just any rural event. Despite Kozaki being Chiba's smallest municipality with a population of a mere 6,500 people, this one day festival commands a horde of visitors totaling up to 30,000 people...almost 5 times the town's population! Crazy!!

Event map (sorry it's all wrinkly!)

I've been to a pretty good number of rural town festivals, but the Kozaki Sakagura Matsuri is by far the most amazing yet! The content is just as hardcore as the number of visitors. You could stay here all day and not get bored at all!

As first time visitors, my accomplices and I hit worked on hitting up the two main highlights of the festival: the Nabedana (鍋店) and Terada Honke (寺田本家) breweries! Both situated in Kozaki, these breweries boast histories of over 300 years, and are the main organizers of this event.

Only 10:30am and the grounds of the Nabedana brewery were already packed...

First stop: Nabedana's Jinyu Kuramatsuri (仁勇蔵まつり) area!
After warming up with some free amazake, we made a beeline for the sake tasting area.

Before sampling though, don't forget to sign-in! You get your own free guinomi, or little sake cup, which you use to sample the different types of sake, and then take it home as a souvenir.

Sake tasting area at the Nabedana brewery.

And now you're ready to sample the sake! See each of the white sheets lining the walls? Nabedana had that many types of sake available here. I only tried a couple here, but there must have been a good amount of people who tried (to taste) all of them, because there were one too many people looking really red in the face on the way home.

Making use of my new guinomi.

I had some umeshu (plum wine)...and then this! It was a huge pain to get to this corner, because everyone was smashing each other to get a sip...but with good reason. One of the highest quality of sake Nabedana offers, this particular brew comes at a lovely price tag of 5,250 yen (about US$55?) per bottle. I am not familiar with sake at all, but this brew was reaaaaaally good.


Stop no. 2: Terada Honke!

Waiting for sake tasting at the Terada Honke brewery.

About a 10 minute walk away is the Terada Honke brewery (although thanks to the crowd and all the shops, I think it took us more like 20 minutes). Perhaps because it was almost noon and the festivities/crowds had almost reached their peak, we had to wait about an hour to get to the sake tasting area at Terada Honke.

Terada Honke's "MUSUBI (written as むすひ)" brew.

Terada Honke only had about 6 brews available for sampling, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless! Not only was this brew picture above really good, it's notable because it's made with hatsuga genmai (発芽玄米; unpolished brown rice), which is pretty popular in Japan as a health food product. The photo I took was super blurry, so I can't post it, but their brew Daigo no Shizuku (醍醐のしずく) was really spectacular!!! I am pretty set on buying a bottle the next time I come across Terada's stuff.

The sign reads "Enzyme Bath."

But even if you're not big on sake and/or drinking, there are tons of random other booths and activities to check out! Like this one, also located on the Terada Honke grounds - fermenting sawdust foot bath??? Yes - these people have their feet buried in fermenting sawdust. Japanese people really love their ofuro :D

And last but not least, there were tons of tasties to be had! So many that I was so busy looking around that I wasn't able to taste anywhere near as much as I wanted to. Food is a huge factor at these events...and I've never seen anywhere with such a fantastic selection.

AMAZING. I think I could live off of this.

Ok...certainly not a good shot - you can barely tell what it is. But it was so good I couldn't get any other shots before we ate it all up! It's maguro karaage (like fried chicken, except fried fish)...but what makes this so special is that it's coated with shio-koji (塩麹).


Here's an explanation of what koji is: http://www.clearspring.co.uk/japanese/miso/what_koji. So...shio-koji is koji that has been fermented salt. Once again, I'd never heard of this until today...but this was definitely the greatest discovery of today! Apparently they don't sell shio-koji in your neighborhood grocery stores, so I kinda regret not buying a bag to take home...I will have to hunt some down and experiment with it. It sounds like it goes well with everything, from fried foods to salad dressing, or even as a topping for rice. And best of all, it's really good for you!

This maguro karaage was so good I would be happy to eat it instead of chicken karaage for the rest of my life...must figure out how to make this!!!


Some other randomness from the day:

完売、完売、完売....totally sold out.

One of my companions really recommended this store, "Tsuki no Tofu," but by the time we got there, it was totally sold out. Completely. Even on regular days, the store owner recommends that you reserve in advance to make sure that you get your order. They even had tofu donuts, which sounded amazing!!! Argh...well add that to my list of things to do/buy next time I'm in Kozaki.

Space curry?! Jipangu curry?!!

More stuff I didn't get to try, but really wanted to...I think they are both vegetable curries. According to the sign, the Jipangu curry is a miso vegetable curry with brown rice?? Sounds fantastic. And I didn't get to read anything more specific than that the uchuu (space) curry is a veggie curry too, but it definitely got my attention. Almost all of the booths at the festival were selling natural/organic/healthy foods, which are all big themes of this event.

Last but not least, freshly steamed sake manju!!! Can't leave without omiyage.

I'm glad we were able to buy these before leaving! I think these were the last few...almost everywhere, like the place where we bought the maguro karaage. We got to Kozaki at 10am, but I am thinking next year it might be better to go even earlier...


Event information for the Kozaki Sake Brewery Festival 2012:
http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kokusai/english/information/residents/news/issues/february2012.html#event0205

An article about Kozaki Town on the Foreign Press Center Japan (FPCJ) website:
http://fpcj.jp/modules/news6/index.php?page=article&storyid=200&storytopic=3

If you didn't go this year, I definitely recommend going to next year's festival! I promise you won't regret it.

Dolls, dolls, and more dolls.

I lived right next door for three years, but had never actually managed to make it out to the Katsuura Big Hina Doll Festival. So this year, I was determined to go...and I did!

Hordes of people gathered to see the festival's highlight @ Tomisaki Shrine (遠見岬神社), Katsuura

This event celebrates Hinamatsuri (= Doll Festival) aka Girls' Day. Many families display hina dolls to pray for their daughters' health and happiness. Most common displays usually have 5 or 7 tiers of dolls, with the Emperor and Empress dolls on the top tier.

Can you guess how many dolls there are?

About 1,200 hina dolls line the 60 steps here at Tomisaki Shrine. Each morning of the festival, volunteers carefully set up this display, and in the evening they go back and put the dolls away again, just to set them up again the next morning. Do note that this display is not laid out in case of rain! We just missed the rain by a day, so we were really luck to be able to see this display. This event has become so famous that it is introduced in the national news around this time of the year.

Amazake!

It was pretty chilly, so we warmed up with a good serving of amazake (甘酒), which they were selling right next to the shrine stairs. The amazake here is special because it was made with Koshigoi sake - Koshigoi (腰古井) is a popular sake brewery located in Katsuura! Their amazake wasn't too sweet - like how many other amazake tend to be, but still had a full, deep flavor.

Katsuo fish mikuji for guys and tai fish mikuji for girls!

Now that we were nice and toasty thanks to the amazake, it was time to explore more of the festivities! But wait...they had a lot of fun mikuji, or fortunes, at the shrine. These were absolutely adorable!!!

Hina doll display outside one of the local businesses.

Just outside the shrine, you'll find the Katsuura Central Shopping Arcade. Many, many shops throughout the shopping arcade have set up their own doll displays inside and outside their stores, and it is fun to see what kinds of displays they have.

Street performances of matsuri flute and taiko drums. Erghhh I can't wait for matsuri season again!!!

At the Isumi Railway booth!

Ryokan Matsunoya.

Also in the middle of the shopping arcade. I didn't actually get to see what's inside because it was so crowded, but I wanted to get a picture of this ryokan (Japanese-style inn), Matsunoya. I had heard of this place before because it was built back in the Edo Period, and is a National Tangible Cultural Asset (国登録有形文化財). Next time I'd like to see what it's like on the inside...!

In front of the gates of Kakuoji Temple.

Another fantastic hina doll display. About 600 dolls stand here...it's pretty amazing!!

In celebration of the Year of the Dragon!

Just past Kakuoji Temple is the Municipal Library! If you step onto the second floor, you will be greeted by this lovely works, created by children from the local day care!

I really love this work too, which depicts Katsuura's new famous specialty, Katsuura Tantanmen (lovingly known as Katsutan)! The dolls swimming in the spoons at the bottom of the photo are really cute too.

I want to live in one of these fancy house things...

Located right next to the children's works are various displays of rare hina dolls! This may have been my favorite display from the event.

Dolls inside glass bottles!

Out the glass bottle doll displays, I loved this one the best.

This photo is really dark, but it is supposed to be of the Katsuura's morning market (朝市), another famous feature of Katsuura. The morning market dates to over 400 years ago! It is pretty much farmer's market where vendors sell their wares - usually vegetables or fish, but it can also feature goods like accessories or processed goods. The morning market is normally only held everyday from 7:00-11:00am everyday but Wednesdays, but it looks like the morning market is especially being held all day for everyday of the festival.

Another surprise display, this time right next to the Morning Market! I really love these bamboo displays...

One of the last, but best displays we stumbled upon!

The above display was hiding next to a row of vending machines. I love the cows! It is pure genius.



The Katsuura Big Hina Doll Festival will be going on until March 4, so if you can, please visit! There are still a number of other events/displays I wasn't able to stop by.

A bit of advice though:

Shuttle bus on stand-by at the Katsuura main event site.

If you do want to see all of the exhibits, you need to go by car. The Moriya (守谷)parking lot is about a 10 minute shuttle bus ride to the main event site. On the way there, you can't miss it as long as you can read "ビッグひな祭り," which is written in large letters on the many signs all along the way.

Parking costs 500 yen, and also includes a 200 yen coupon which can used towards goods/services at many of the businesses participating in the festival. Also, if you are planning on going to see the Namegawa event site, make sure you keep this ticket safe! Once you pay for parking at one of the official parking lots, you can show this ticket and park at the other lot for free.

Intense lines for the shuttle bus!

My last piece of advice...go early! The festival starts at 9am everyday. We arrived at that time and had no trouble parking. I took the photo above around noon, when we were leaving the parking lot. The lot, which is huge, was practically overflowing...as were these poor people! If you want to avoid crowds (as much as possible with an event like this), I really recommend going early. I wonder how long these people were waiting for the shuttle bus...

I have never really "celebrated" the Hinamatsuri, so it was nice getting into the celebrations! But perhaps, it was most interesting to see such a small town pour all of their energy into this event, which really has become a great success and huge inspiration!

Satisfying your sweet tooth.

Sweets & Bar Amour.

I had been eyeing this place every time I passed it on my way home from work, but never had the guts to actually stop by.

Finally, I got my chance when some of my coworkers and I went for lunch!

Oozing delicious cheese and tomato sauce.

This place has a pretty awesome lunch menu - even though it is mainly a cake shop! I chose the pizza pie lunch. Mmm cheese melting in your mouth! Lunch also comes with a drink and salad.

So many different kinds of delicious cake!

We went to celebrate one of my coworkers' birthday, so of course...birthday cake!
I got the pumpkin cheese at the front of the photo, and it was heavenly~. It even has an entire chunk of kabocha pumpkin and a whole pumpkin macaron on it! Next time I want to try the rare cheese cake pictured at the upper left of the photo.

I also went again on another day. This time, I got the quiche set! It doesn't look like much here, but it's pretty filling! The tomato thing in the black dish was fantastic too...I don't remember what it's called though.

We also added on the dessert set, which that day included cheese cake and pear jelly (I think?).

I will be stopping at Sweets & Bar Amour again sometime to satisfy my cravings for sweets!

Anyway, I've been slacking a bit in my adventuring lately, so it's time to go hunting for some more delicious eats in Chiba! : D

Eco Hotel Hanaya (エコホテル華屋)

I love Kamogawa. Even after spending three wonderful years there, I still go back an average 1-2 times per month. Often enough, it is because I am blessed to have wonderful friends who call me out for dinner (and some drinks!).

But, Kamogawa is a close but far 1 hour, 40 minute drive from Chiba City. Not to mention that Japan has really really strict laws against drunk driving (not that I would want to anyway!), I spend the night almost every time I go down to Kamogawa.

It's always fun to stay with friends, but I also like to take advantage of the fact that I am no longer a local resident, and explore the city from a more "tourist" point of view - including trying to stay at the different hotels, ryokan, etc. all over the place.

Awhile back, I had dinner scheduled two nights in a row in central Kamogawa. As much as I was tempted to stay at my beloved Hidamari Inn, I knew it would be a waste because I would be out about the entire day and night, and only return to the hotel late at night to sleep. So I decided to look for something simple and cheap!

Entrance to the hotel.

After a bit of research, I was pleased to find the Eco Hotel Hanaya!

It is located just 5 minutes by foot from JR Awa-Kamogawa Station, and in the heart of central Kamogawa. Many of Kamogawa's eateries and izakaya are also located in this area, so it was just what I was looking for - somewhere I could easily go in and out of by foot.

Single Western-style room.

The Hanaya was renovated in August 2011, so it's really clean! Before then, I think it was a ryokan or minshuku (Japanese B&B) with a pretty long history. It may not be the fanciest place, but I stayed in this single for just 4000 yen per night...a total steal when it comes to Kamogawa! The cheapest rates for single guests in Kamogawa are probably around 8000 yen on average - and you'll be hard pressed to find somewhere with a better location at this price.

The single room has a Western style bed, toilet, sink, fridge, and TV - perfect! There is no separate bath for this room, but the Hanaya has two large baths for the women alone - obviously, I don't know what the men's side was like, but I would assume it's the same. During my two night stay, I didn't run into any other guests (though there were definitely other women staying there at the same time). Some of the other rooms do have private baths though.

Recycling, laundry, and other amenities.

As an "eco hotel," the Hanaya is not only nice on your wallet, it's environmentally friendly too! Every floor had recycling bins, and bags to put used sheets/towels in. Electric pots, tea sets, etc. are also set here instead of inside of rooms, so guests can use them if needed.

I don't smoke, so it is a huge merit to be able to stay at a hotel and not come out smelling like smoke. More than often, I've stayed at business hotels that reek of smoke even when the room is supposedly "non-smoking." So this was a lovely surprise for me!

The entrance to the road the Eco Hotel Hanaya is on can be pretty difficult to find though, especially if you're going by car. In this photo, the road is going towards Awa-Kamogawa Station...but the two signs with the arrows are where the alleyway entrance is!

Coming from Awa-Kamogawa Station, if you pass this place, Curry House Satsuki, you've gone too far! The road is located between Satsuki and Yakult.

Anyway, if you are headed to Kamogawa and looking for a place to stay - but want to stay somewhere cheap, clean, and accessible, this is the place for you! The more people you have, I think you can get even better rates. I'm not sure what the details are, but the Hanaya was featured on a TV show because of its special 980 yen rate plan! It might definitely be worth looking into...