Blogs from Iwate, Japan, Asia - page 4

Iwate lays claim to a variety of sightseeing spots - historical sites, reflecting the prefecture's history and tradition.... read more

One of the greatest things about Japan is their abundance of National holidays. And when three of them fall in the same week, you can't help but say, "Road Trip"! We gathered the troops and headed 4 hours North into the mountainous prefecture of Iwate for three days of camping next to the Pacific ocean, some serious tip-freezbie and campfires. Nehama beach wasn't exactly Thailand, but we weren't expecting it to be. Especially since Japanese beaches vary in their beauty and concrete usage. Because of all the tsunami threats here in Jland, most beaches are littered with concrete jacks, barriers, huge rows of steps (without railings...yah, real safe), and while this all keeps people more safe from tidal waves, one wonders if destroying the natural beauty of so many places is really worth it. Guess it ... read more

Hey Everybody, As you all know, Maddy just finished a (very) long trip around Japan, then to San Fran and finally Canada, leaving me in frigid Morioka... : ( But she came back and we decided to head somewhere nice for the weekend, we chose Nyuto Onsen (an onsen is a hot spring). It's actually a little cluster of 6 hotels all having their own onsens, the one we stayed at is called Kaniba onsen. It's about an hour drive from our place, further inland and up in the mountains. On the way there, the drive takes you by Tazawa-ko (Lake Tazawa), the deepest lake in Japan. The water was a beautiful blue and it was fun to get out and walk around. We found a shrine right on the shore of the lake, and many ... read more

Hi! Well, I haven't gotten lost so far, but I've only driven to the internet and I followed Yuriko in her car! We are renting a car for the month! It is a super cute, white, two-door, 4 wheel-drive, manual Daihatsu, Mira. Today was my first time driving in Japan and I love it! (Colin's company wouldn't let me drive any of the cars they lent us...) Even though I've only used it to go to a place that I go all the time, it is great knowing that I have the freedom to go anywhere! Driving on the left side of the street is fine, changing gears with my left hand is a little strange but the hardest thing to get used to is having the controls for the turn signal on the opposite side. ... read more

Merry Christmas everybody! A little late, I know... I hope everyone is warm and toasty. Here in Morioka it's been snowing like mad for the past few days, probably about 3 and 1/2 feet in the past 3 days, and it's snowing just as hard today. I borrowed a car from a co-worker while he's on vacation back to Canada so getting around hasn't been too bad, although driving is slow (I'm a Vancouver Island kid). We went out for dinner and a movie the other night and returned to find a foot and a half of snow covering our car! We started digging it out and 10 minutes later we could leave the parkade. We pulled up to the pay machine and found it was going to cost us about $25 for parking (we thought ... read more