Mount Osore

Mount Osore is considered to be one of the three holiest places is Japan and is by far the most moving place I have seen.  The name literally means "Fear Mountain" and is known as the entrance to the afterlife.  The area was found by a Buddhist monk after he had a dream about it.  Many Japanese people come here hoping to communicate with their lost loved ones, especially children they have lost.

With a barren, rocky landscape surrounded by beautiful, lush forest and mountains, the surroundings were amazing yet strangely discomforting..  Spending time walking through all the shrines with stones piled up at their base as offerings to Jizo (a Bodhisattva who protects the souls from evil demons), seeing what people have left behind (car keys, bracelets, shoes) and the absolute silence that surrounds you, is definitely a sobering experience.

Entrance gate

Bodaiji's Temple

Inside the temple

shrine with pinwheels for children

Buddha

sulfur pool

The edge of Lake Usori

Prayer Huts

A pile of offerings at the base of a shrine

Shipwreck Beach

We have taken it pretty easy the last couple of days.  So, today we decided to head out to Shipwreck Beach.  That is pretty self explanatory, the remains of a Japanese fishing boat have washed on to shore.  I'm not sure how long they have been there, but it has been quite a while.  We had a great walk along the beach and found some pretty cool sea glass and a few sand dollars. 

Of course I have to end the post with the food.  We headed to a sushi place that had a conveyer belt that brought around sushi.  I couldn't get a good picture in the place (picture taking was not allowed), but I snapped a few under my arm.  I got a little adventurous this time and at some sea urchin and a white fish that I am still not sure what it was.  Not sure I am going to do that again though.

outside

My attempt at taking a picture of the conveyer belt

 Danielle had been hearing great things about a place called Pepper lunch, so we decided to try it.  It is in a food court in the mall and was completely amazing.  They give you a hot plate with the raw ingredients on it and when you stir it, it cooks the meat and mixes the sauce all together.

Beef Curry Rice

Lastly, we stopped at McDonald's today after our beach adventure.  I know it doesn't seem that exciting, but it totally was.

Yeah, that's a shrimp on there

shrimp sandwich...mmmmmm

 

Week one

Holy crap, I can't believe I've been here for a week.  We have had a couple of pretty lazy days, it's nice to be able to adjust to the time change.  Since I haven't blogged for 3 days (apparently some of you are keeping track (: ) this one is kind of going to be a long one.

Saturday we decided to go to the Misawa Aviation & Science Museum.  They had an amazing variety of planes, including a replica of Miss Veedol.  It was the first plane to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean and it is a BIG deal around here.

Miss Veedol

Fighter jets

Another great place we saw was Tonami Clan Park.  It shows what life was like in the 1800's in this area of Japan.  Danielle got some great pictures of inside the house that I was freaked out about going into.  I thought I kept seeing people inside and I didn't want to be rude and just go in, or as Danielle calls it "that American".  But, no worries all, they are just mannequins (totally thought they were real people, I kept thinking "man, that lady has been sitting like that for a long time").

Outside a traditional house

Lantern outside the house

Inside the house

Today we headed up north to Towada Lake and Oirase Gorge.  The drive was so beautiful and it was so peaceful.  There was a lot of great places, with great views.

Towada Lake

The Maiden Statue near the lake

Island in the lake

Lastly, we can't forget about the food.  The food here is amazing, even the ready made food at the grocery store.  Danielle thinks I am crazy, but I am all about trying everything I can while I am here.

Pork Dumpling Ramen, soooo good!

Yeah, that's an egg fried in with the chicken on a sandwich

Sprite!

First vending machine purchase

Some sort of meat, still not sure

Yummy drink, with a nice little surprise of chunks of a gummy type substance.  Pretty sure I almost died when I took a big swig of my drink and almost choked on chunks.

So it begins.....

45 hours, 3 airplanes through 5 airports, a train, a bus and a subway ride, 3 hours of sleep in a humid and hot tube, a "shower" from a hose and 6677 miles later I finally arrived in Misawa.  It felt like I hadn't slept in a week and I'm sure I looked like it too. 
When I first arrived in Tokyo, it was late and I just wanted to get to my hotel.  With the help of some really nice Japanese people, I found my way to my hotel in no time.  I had a little bit of time to "hose off" and head to bed. 

"Shower"

The Capsule

We have been pretty lazy the first couple of days, trying to get used to the time change and trying to get rid of my cankles.  Yesterday and today we decided to drive around Misawa and take a look at the city.  We stopped at Icho park (or the Statue of Liberty Park) and had lunch.  It has Japan's largest replica of the Statue of Liberty and sits on the same latitude as the original statue.  

 We also went to a cemetery in Misawa City.  There was an amazing shrine and all of the graves were beautifully taken care of and very elaborate. 

I don't think it has completely sunk in where I am, it feels a little like a time warp.  I don't ever know what time or day it is.  The more we head off base and visit local places, the more it sinks in.