Our destination this time was Choshi, the town where my parents actually stayed for a couple of weeks when I was in high school! My dad had a business trip there and my mom went with him, to my intense jealousy, haha. Anyway, it was my first time there, so it was pretty cool to finally go to the place whose sushi my mom still raves about. :)
After a brief rest stop amidst some falling snow (!!), we arrived at our first destination, Hayashi Strawberry Garden (?) for some all-you-can-eat strawberry picking! I've always thought of strawberries as a summer food, but here in Japan they grow them in greenhouses and so the time to go strawberry-picking is January to early May. This particular destination in Tohnosho was famous for a type of strawberry called 'ai-berry', which is apparently not often sold in stores, but whose berries are sweet and tasty whether they're big or small. Basically you just go to the garden and you get half an hour to pick and eat as many strawberries as you want, then and there! They also give you a little tray with some condensed milk to dip them in, which is amazing. We all got fuller faster than we expected and had lots of fun both eating strawberries and taking pictures of ourselves doing it, haha. :)
Hayashi Strawberry Garden
Address: 1120 Sasagawaro, Tohnosho, Katori-gun, Chiba Prefecture
TEL: 0478-86-1614
Hours: 10:00AM - 4:00PM
Fee: 800-1700yen, depending on the month
Website (Japanese only): http://w01.tp1.jp/~a273350079/index.html
Next we tried our hand at Choshi chijimi indigo dyeing! Choshi is apparently famous for this type of fabric, which is only made here and is an intangible cultural asset of Chiba Prefecture. We got to make tie-dye-style handkerchiefs, by first wrapping a handkerchief around a chopstick and strategically tying rubber bands around it. Then we trekked outside to where there were three big vats of indigo dye, steaming and giving off a distinctive smell. Our instructions were to dip our handkerchiefs inside, slowly count to 50, and then vigorously wring and rub the fabric until it changed color. The fabric starts out yellow once you take it out of the water, but as it touches the air, some sort of chemical reaction happens (oxidization? Not sure) and slowly it turns blue! But you have to work the fabric pretty well to make sure that the color is uniform and dark, so apparently you can tell who is slacking by the color of their handkerchief...unfortunately mine didn't turn out very dark, but I swear I didn't slack! Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the end result. Definitely a fun and unique experience. :)
Choshi Chijimi Traditional Craft Center
Address: 3-228 Matsugishimachi, Choshi, Chiba Prefecture
Access: 5-minute walk from JR Matsugishi Station, 15-minute drive from JR Choshi Station
Hours: 10:00AM - 3:30PM
Fee: 1575 yen
Website (Japanese only): http://www.choshikanko.com/ccd/try/013.html
Ichiyama Ikesu
Address: 7387-5 Kurohai-cho, Choshi, Chiba Prefecture
TEL: 0479-22-7622
Access: 20-minute bus ride from JR Choshi Station
Hours: 11:00AM - 3:30PM (lunch), 4:30PM - 8:00PM (dinner)
Website (Japanese only): http://www.ichiyamaikesu.co.jp/index.html
Fourth and finally, our very last stop was the Inubousaki Kankou Hotel, for a dip in the onsen (hot springs) there! Apparently if you stay at the hotel you can get into the hot springs in the morning to see the sun rise from the bath, and since Choshi is where the sun rises first in Japan, it's probably worth it! The hotel has open-air baths that overlook the sea, and frankly, it's heavenly. In Japan people go into onsen without bathing suits, which can take some getting used to, but once you do, the feeling of being in essentially a warm bath while gazing out at the ocean and the nearby lighthouse is pretty sublime. From what I can tell, the hotel itself is very nice, too! They had ice cream and an assortment of exercise equipment available right outside the bath (including some sort of machine that is supposed to be like riding in a rodeo? Not sure but it was weirdly fun), so you can either try to gain weight or lose it right away, haha. Still, the exercise machines were all in front of some giant glass windows facing the ocean too, so I could see myself spending some time getting fit and enjoying the view at the same time.
Inubousaki Kankou Hotel
Address: 10293 Inubousaki, Choshi, Chiba Prefecture
TEL: 0479-23-5111
Website (Japanese only): http://www.inubou.co.jp/index.html
And so, we ended our last tour on a very relaxing note. It's not the end of our time together as Chiba-kun Ambassadors (we still have a presentation coming up next month too), but it was still kind of sad to think that it was our last tour, because they've all been really fun and I've enjoyed getting to know everybody else better. Still, I suppose all good things must come to an end, if only to make room for new ones!
