squid fishing in chiba port

Did you know that Chiba Port is one of Japan's busiest ports?

And did you know that you can catch squid there?

Because I was definitely not aware of the last fact, until I went fishing with my ultimate frisbee teammates and caught three of them myself!

Chiba Port is actually only about a ten-minute walk from my work, though I can't actually see it from my office (though if you go up to the top of city hall, you can) so I tend to forget about the ocean (I know I say this literally every time I talk about the ocean near Chiba City, but it's true), and the whole time we were fishing I kept thinking how weird it was to be so close to work but doing something so different from normal.

Anyway, we met up in the evening and set up camp in some random parking lot-esque area behind some company (a few of us kept wondering if it was really okay and a few of us were totally unconcerned), with a table and chairs and fishing poles. It turns out that for squid fishing, you can just use a normal fishing rod with a lure, in this case shaped like shrimp!

I didn't expect to actually catch anything, but in fact I caught my first squid while I was still being taught what to do (to my and everybody else's surprise). And then I caught another, and another! Altogether, the nine of us caught 19 little squid, which I think was a pretty good haul.

We also cooked and ate some right there, and though I was a little apprehensive about eating the entire squid whole, it was actually very tasty! I also ate mini-ramen out of a mug and it kind of felt like camping. :)

Anyway, it turns out that fishing for squid in Chiba Port is totally possible and that I am in fact capable of catching squid! Good times. :D

mass update

So evidently it's been quite a while since I last posted here, but it's not because I haven't been doing anything! Quite the opposite, in fact - if you follow my travel blog, you might have some idea what I've been up to (updating the other blog is partly why this one has fallen a bit to the wayside, unfortunately). But here's a quick rundown of some fun stuff I've been up to outside of travel/Chiba-kun Ambassador stuff:


-practicing for and performing in a dance flashmob in Tokyo! The flashmobs were organized as part of an art festival taking place in Tokyo this month and I've only participated once so far, but it was really fun and hopefully will do it a couple of more times. The dance is super silly, but we've had quite a few people jump in on the spot, too, which is awesome. :D
- swing dancing in a Pooh bear onesie for Halloween and going on an overnight swing dance trip to an onsen in Kanagawa
- interpreting for the people like the deputy mayor (whose name I only just learned, embarrassingly; also fun fact, Chiba City can have up to three deputy mayors but currently only has two), the Omani counselor, South African ambassador, and a tourism director from one of our sister cities
- meeting and reuniting with CIR friends from all over the country at our annual CIR mid-year conference, which was much more fun than last year now that I actually know people
- eating the appropriate amount of (read: too much) food at Chiba AJET's annual Thanksgiving dinner
- story time, a school visit, a frisbee tournament, and more

Exciting things coming up:
- giving a lunchtime lecture at Keiai University to try and encourage the students to study abroad
- spending a week in Shiga Prefecture at the training session for the translation & interpretation course I'm taking (and playing around the Kyoto/Osaka area the weekend after)
- going back to the USA for the first time since I came to Japan! I've been looking forward to this since long before I bought my tickets (which was several months ago) and can hardly wait to see my family and friends and home country again. Hopefully they're just as excited to see me! :)

tour three in otaki

This weekend was our third Chiba-kun Ambassadors tour, down to Otaki in the middle of Chiba! I've actually been to Otaki a couple of time before, but we managed to mostly go to places I either hadn't been to or hadn't been able to get into (read: Otaki Castle, both times), so it worked out perfectly.

Our first stop was Yourokeikoku, which is apparently Chiba's most famous site for seeing the autumn leaves (which, in case you didn't know, are a big deal in Japan. And rightly so, I think - there's a reason fall is my favorite season!). Unfortunately, we were a little bit too early to see it in its (presumed) full glory, but there were still some pretty amazing views. We started at one end and followed a little paved path along a river, until reaching a waterfall called Awamata at the end. Taking a scenic walk in the beautiful fall weather was pretty much all I could ask for, so I really enjoyed this part of our trip. :) I think we only walked a short portion of the "waterfall walk", so I'm sure there's much more to be seen than we saw.

Yorokeikoku
Website: http://www.youroukeikoku.com/ (Japanese only)


Next we had lunch, which is pretty much always a highlight of every tour, because it's always delicious. Today was no exception, as we went to a restaurant specializing in Otaki's famous takenoko, or bamboo shoots (which was aptly named Takenoko). We had pickled (I think?) bamboo shoots, bamboo shoot rice, bamboo shoots in miso, and more. I liked the bamboo shoots in the miso soup the best, so much that I asked for seconds (no regrets!). :D

Takenoko (Reservation required)
Hours: 11:00AM - 10:00PM
Address: 181-2 Kurohara, Otaki-machi, Isumi-gun, Chiba Prefecture 298-0255
TEL: 0470-84-0368
Website: http://otaki-takenoko.main.jp/index.html (Japanese only)

Our next destination was Otaki Castle (Museum), which as I mentioned before, I failed to enter during my last two visits to Otaki. Before we went inside, we stopped to listen to part of a Buddhist performance that happened to be taking place as we got there, which had some amazing harmonies. Then we went into the castle! The inside is currently featuring an exhibit of Buddhas from the Kazusa area (where I believe Otaki is located), as well as its normal collection of "the castle and the warrior". Although unlike most castles in Japan, Otaki Castle doesn't have an open observation deck at the top, you can see around the area through some large windows and there's also a very detailed miniature recreation of Otaki Castle and its surrounding area from the past, which I liked.

The biggest hit with the ambassadors, though, was probably the area where you could try on some traditional clothing and armor! I tried on both of the (giant) helmets and they were both really heavy (despite being mostly plastic recreations), so I can't imagine how it must have felt to have a real metal helmet and all the armor. O_O

Otaki Castle Museum
Admission: 200 yen for adults, 100 yen for college/high school students, free for students under high school and senior citizens
Hours: 9:00AM - 4:30PM, Tuesday - Saturday
Address: 281 Otaki, Otaki-machi, Isumi-gun, Chiba Prefecture 298-0216
TEL: 0470-82-3007
Website: http://www2.chiba-muse.or.jp/?page_id=362

Then we went to the Akinai Shiryokan, which had many old artifacts from everyday life on display, including traditional toys, money, storage containers, what I think were calendars (? or old records of some sort), an abacus, and a scale with a lot of weights. It felt oddly comforting (if that's the right word) to see all these everyday objects in a very homey atmosphere (the building felt very Japanese to me, though I couldn't say exactly what that means). Apparently there's also a little park in the back, which we didn't go see for whatever reason.

Akinai Shiryokan
Hours: 9:00 - 17:00, Wednesday - Sunday
Address: 153-1 Kubo, Otaki-machi, Isumi-gun, Chiba Prefecture
TEL: 0470-82-2111
Website: http://www.town.otaki.chiba.jp/kankou/spot/akinai.html (Japanese only)



Our last stop was to Dental Support Otaki Station (yes, that's its real and official name) to take a look at the Isumi Railway! I've ridden the Isumi Railway and written about it before, but this time some people from the company came and explained its history to us, which was pretty interesting. I learned that there are only 28 people in the company (not including railway attendants, etc) and that you can rent out a railcar for only about $500 yen for 2-3 hours, which is super cheap! I would love to have a party or something in an Isumi Railway Moomin-themed car...:)

Isumi Railway
Website: http://www.isumirail.co.jp/ (Japanese only)

And that was our third (aka second-to-last) tour! Pretty sights, good food, and good company made for a pretty good day. :)

nikko~

It occurs to me (almost a month later) that I never posted about my trip to Nikko! It was actually my sister who wanted to go visit Nikko while my family was visiting last year (almost exactly a year ago, now that I think about it), but we didn't have enough time. Having heard that the fall leaves there are gorgeous though, I decided to go this year! We actually went at a pretty awkward time when most of the leaves in the mountains had already fallen and the ones in the town were just beginning to change color, but I did get to see lots of waterfalls and enjoy the clear mountain air with some good company.

Places we went/sights we saw: Shinkyo Bridge, Toshogu Shrine (part of the World Heritage Shrines & Temples of Nikko),  Yunoko Lake, Ryuzu Falls, Yutaki Falls, Kegon Falls

And for the rest I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves (because I am lazy):

 

monorail matsuri

So whenever people ask me what there is to see/do in Chiba City, I always mention that we have the world's longest suspended monorail. It's not really something to see or do (though obviously it is a stellar way to get around), but it's definitely one of my favorite things about Chiba, so when last weekend the monorail had their annual festival, I had to go check it out!

The festival took place at the monorail train depot, which I was never aware existed but is apparently where cars that aren't in use are kept (or something like that). It's also right next to the Zoological Park, which I've also never been to but will have to get to soon...

Anyway, I got there and promptly ran into my supervisor and his family, which was actually not at all surprising because he used to work in the section in charge of the monorail and probably loves it more than anybody else I know, haha. They were kind enough to invite me to have lunch with them, so we managed to procure some seats and have some of the famous monorail festival curry! Apparently it's something you can only get at the monorail festival and is very popular (there was quite a line, actually), and according to my supervisor the taste changes a little every year. And it was in fact very tasty! I had a good time eating and chatting while also listening to a (presumably local?) band play hits on a stage nearby.




After that I wandered off by myself to explore the rest of the festival, which included lots of food stalls, games and things like digging up sweet potatoes (not sure what it had to do the monorail, but...), a mini flea market, and more. One activity they had was actually the chance to clean a monorail car, which was so popular that only people who had registered in advance could do it! Personally I don't see the appeal, but I think it's a great idea - people get to try something they normally can't experience and the monorail cars get cleaned for free, haha.


What I thought the most interesting was an exhibit of the monorail cars inside their warehouse (?), where they explained various things about the parts of the monorail and how it worked, with the cars open to show the equipment inside. There was also a section where kids could try out the control panel and see what it's like to steer the monorail (if there hadn't been a huge line I'd totally have done it, too).




There was also an exhibit in another area that was some pretty impressive model railway tracks, one shaped like a city (complete with an AEON mall with an actual moving ad screen!) and the other with many different types of trains overlapping. I was also happy to see a copy (or maybe the original?) of the certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records certifying the Chiba Urban Monorail as the world's longest suspended monorail! I had actually looked it up in the Guinness Book of World Records before at the library (it's in there, I promise), but it was pretty cool to see the certificate.


All in all, I thought the festival was pretty cool! Most of the people there were families with small children (since there was lots for them to enjoy), but being a big fan of the monorail made even around wandering by myself interesting, haha. If you ever come to Chiba City, definitely try taking a ride on the monorail! Right now there's one car decorated in the theme of an anime whose setting is modeled after Chiba City (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, if you're curious), and the stop names are actually voiced by the voice actors from the show, which I only discovered when I got on it on my way back and thought was pretty cool! :)

korea~

Things I Did During My Trip to Korea

 - Saw my good friend Kellianne from Carleton for the first time since graduation! :D
- Ate yummy food like barbecue, bibimpab, chicken and beer (apparently it's a thing?), and more
- Went to places like Bukchon, Gangan, Gyeongbokgung Palace (which was enormous and gorgeous) /Sejon Square, Nangsam (Seoul) Tower
- Failed to get to just about as many places, like Changgyeonggung Palace and Lotte World...-.-'
- Saw an international fireworks show with displays from Canada, Japan, France, and South Korea (Japan was still the best though, not gonna lie)
- Lots and lots of people-watching! Seoul-ites (?) certainly are fashionable.
- Went salsa dancing! Luckily dance is a (practically) universal language so not speaking Korean was not at all an issue. :)
- Kept a lookout for couples wearing matching clothes and gave them points for the level of dedication (5 for accessories, 10 for shirts/shoes/etc, 50 for entire outfits). Also got to 290 points in just one day!
- Got my feet nibbled on by little Dr. Fish! It felt super weird and for some reason they liked my feet way better than anyone else's...? (I'm going with the explanation that I had been wearing socks and nobody else had.)
- Altogether, had a really awesome four days that made me want to go back sometime and also learn Korean! :D

tour number two, day two

(a continuation of this post!)

So the next we dragged ourselves out of bed bright and early to help haul in a fish net on the beach! Although it was like 8 in the morning, the sun was already out and blazing - but the beach did look gorgeous. We weren't the only ones there to try pulling in the net - it takes a lot of people, evidently - so there were lots of families and children running about. After a brief explanation, we started pulling! At first it was easy, but the closer the net got, the heavier the rope became. And then we got to see our catch - at first it didn't seem like much, but since it ended up being breakfast for all the people there, it was actually plenty. We listened to an explanation about what kind of fish we had brought in (which I promptly forgot) and then watched them prepare them right there into tempura and sashimi before digging in! I will say, sashimi from fish you caught literally less than an hour ago is pretty fabulous. :)

After packing up all our stuff, we were off to our next destination, the Biwa Club, a roadside station famous for loquats (props to you if you know what those are without looking them up) to try our hand at making traditional fans! Round fans, or uchiwa, are pretty common in Japan (a lot of companies give them out in the summer as advertisements), but apparently Chiba is one of the places that is famous for making these traditional ones. Our teachers were an elderly couple who had clearly done this many times, and who commented on how we were much more careful about it than the elementary schoolers they usually teach, haha. We made the fans using what I think was glue made from rice and designs that they let us pick (which was the hardest part), and I think they turned out well! After that we wandered around looking at loquat souvenirs and trying loquat ice cream (which was tasty), before heading to lunch.

Lunch was at a little restaurant called Hyakushou Yashiki Restaurant Jiroemu, which is also apparently entirely reservation-only. It was a very quaint farmhouse-like place, and I think all the food was made from local stuff (or possibly stuff grown there?) - and was delicious, naturally. It really had a cozy, old-fashioned atmosphere, including a set of really old Japanese encyclopedias! A cool experience.

After lunch we headed to our final destination for the tour, Nokogiri-yama! I've been there before so I probably won't go on about it too much here, but it was just as cool to ride the cablecar, see the Buddhist statues and giant Buddha, and go to 'Hell's overlook' again the second time! We also had another guide there to explain things to us, which was cool. It did rain while we were up there for a bit, but we managed to take shelter and climb back down the mountain without any problems.

And then it was just a four-hour trip back that was only supposed to have taken about two (due to lots of unexpected traffic on the Sunday of a three-day weekend), and that was the end of day two of tour two! Like I said, this was definitely the most fun trip we've had so far, and I'm also really glad to know of some more places down in southern Chiba that I can recommend to people. It's a little bit inconvenient to get down there without a car, but I'd say the beautiful views of the ocean are definitely worth it. :)

Also, if you want to get a better sense of what the tour was like, you can see the hard work of the local TV crew that followed us around all weekend here! It is all in Japanese, but if you look closely you can see me in the background quite a few times in the second clip. :)

- Biwa Club: (http://www.biwakurabu.jp/)
- Nokogiri-yama: (http://www.mt-nokogiri.co.jp/pc/p130000.php)

tour number two, day one

Last month was our second Chiba-kun Ambassador tour, which also happened to be the first one ever with an overnight stay! Spending the night made it seem much more like a trip and I felt like I got to know the other ambassadors much better, so this has definitely been the most fun thing we've done together so far. Plus we were lucky to have wonderful weather (almost) the whole time. The destination for this tour: Minamiboso and Tateyama in southern Chiba, aka the very tip of the peninsula!

Our first stop was Okinoshima, an uninhabited island in Tateyama. After a roughly two-hour bus ride, we stepped off onto sand and gorgeous blue skies! The island is uninhabited, but apparently a popular tourist destination for exploring and collecting shells. We were taken around the island by a pair of very knowledgeable guides, who told us all about the island and the creatures living on and around it. It was really fun to explore the island, which had lots of rocky areas to explore and even a little tunnel, not to mention breathtaking views almost everywhere. I collected lots of miniature shells and tried (unsuccessfully) to make a whistle out of leaves like our guide showed us.

Having wandered all around the island, our next destination was lunch at a local hotel! The restaurant was called Ikoi no Mura Tateyama and apparently they come up with new dishes made from local ingredients depending on the season, and the two choices that we had were relatively new. I picked the hasshoku donburi, or 8-color mini rice bowls, and I am definitely happy with that choice! As you can maybe tell from the name, it was made up of 8 little donburi (rice bowls with toppings), each with a different topping and also a different salt to sprinkle on it! There was an order to eat them in and everything, which was a little complicated but delicious. :)

Then we were off even further south to the Shirahama Marine Art Museum and the Nojimazaki Lighthouse, which are located at the southernmost tip of Chiba Prefecture! The Shirahama Marine Art Museum has displays of (you guessed it) marine art, mostly of some intricately designed traditional coats that were worn, but also some old fishing tools and sculptures. The top of the lighthouse offered a fantastic view of the ocean, and there was also a little museum at the bottom explaining its history. My favorite part though, was actually the seashore in the park area nearby! There they had a marker proclaiming it as the southernmost tip of the prefecture, as well as a bench way up on some rocks that was apparently the best place to watch the sunset. But what I liked was climbing around the rocks to get a little closer to the ocean! A few of us clambered down and out and it was super fun (and beautiful and windy). Apparently most of the ambassadors didn't even make it out to the park, which I think was a real shame. The next time somebody wants to see a beautiful place in Chiba, I would definitely take them there!

 

Though I could have spent a lot more time around the shore, after what felt like just a few minutes we were off again to our final destination for the day: our minshuku (kind of like a Japanese bed-and-breakfast), Omeidosou. But the activities didn't end there! After a brief break for us to settle in and rest a little, we gathered in a room to see a performance of (o)hayashi, or traditional festival music. This wasn't my first experience with the music, but it was the first time hearing it indoors and up close! One of the members was a little boy who must have been about six or seven, who was super adorable. After the performance, they let us come up and try the drums and flutes for ourselves! I could do the drums all right, but couldn't manage to make a proper sound out of the flute (I was so bad one of the performers laughed at me, even, haha).

And then it was time for dinner, which I'm pretty sure was prepared by the minshuku owners. There was a lot of food and it was delicious, though I think a few people were a little uncomfortable because the menu included live abalone, which were then cooked in front of us. I have to admit I didn't really like seeing my dinner move right before I ate it and felt bad that we were basically cooking them alive, but then I figured if I didn't eat it, it would all have been for nothing, so I did (and it was tasty).


After that we were free to do as we pleased, so after (very slowly) finishing (all of) my dinner, I took a soak in the (hot spring?) bath in the minshuku and then showed up for the social event we had planned, which turned out to be a quiz about Chiba Prefecture! Despite doing abysmally for most of the questions (things like which countries have direct flights out of Narita Airport, which vegetables Chiba produces the most of in Japan, etc.), my partner and I managed a comeback victory with our knowledge of Chiba's sister cities! Admittedly, since we both work for the city it might have been a little unfair, but with a prize of free biwa (loquat) ice cream the next day on the line, what could we do? :)

The rest of the night was spent happily chatting and having semi-serious discussions with some other ambassadors, which was probably one of the best parts of the trip. Like I said earlier, I felt like I really got to know some of them better and it's always nice to be able to have discussions with people that at least feel meaningful, so I went to bed late but pretty happy (despite having to get up very early the next day).

And that was day one of the tour! This post is already pretty long so I'll cut it short here, but stay tuned for day two shortly. :D

Major stops (Tateyama/Minami-boso):
- Okinoshima (http://www.city.tateyama.chiba.jp/en/page003585.html）
- Shirahama Marine Art Museum (http://homepage2.nifty.com/kaibi/)
- Omeidosou Minshuku (http://www.omeidoso.com/)