stocks and seagulls

One of our favorite places to visit and revisit in Japan is about an hour from where we live. The Tanesashi (tanesashi meaning a variety of species) Coastline is reminiscent of the Oregon/Northern California coastal areas. Cliffs and white sandy beaches, with multiple islets, make this a place we visit when we are feeling homesick. It reminds us so much of home that we feel a little less further away. Plus, it's beautiful and a great area to explore. Lush and green, this coastline features more than 700 different species of plantlife.

One of the great spots in the Tanesashi area is Kabushima Shrine. The shrine at Kabushima (which literally means shares island or stocks island) was built to honor Benzaiten, who is known to be the goddess of monetary and financial success. Most people, though, refer to it as Seagull Island. During the fall and winter, the reason for this may not be obvious, but once March comes, so do the umineko: black-tailed seagulls.

At any given time, there will be thousands of seagulls resting on or flying around the small islands in the Kabushima area. In the spring and early summer, nanohana (rapeseed/canola) cover the hill in bright yellow, making it a beautiful place to visit. But also covering the hill are seagulls. More than 30,000 gulls gather here between February and June each year. For this reason, complementary umbrellas are kept at the bottom for guest usage. It's said to be good luck if your umbrella receives a...well, let's just call it a present...while you are visiting the shrine. We tend to visit this place any time except the spring, because neither of us like seagulls, especially when they flock like this (too much like a Hitchcock movie!!) but the weather was perfect this week so we stopped by on the way to the coastline.

Another great spot along the Tanesashi Coast is the Ashigezaki Overlook. The stone circle begins one of the Tanesahi walkways down to the beach, and has fabulous views of the ocean and all the rocks, cliffs, and islets near the coast. Down the pathways are beautiful, white beaches! In any season, this is a beautiful and serene place to visit.

To get to Kabushima from Misawa:

• Take the toll road to Hachinohe. 
• Turn right onto route 45
• At the traffic light at the bottom of the hill (at the overpass) turn left. You will see signs for the port/harbor
• Follow the road (in the left lane) and stay left at the fork
• Go straight through the tunnel and over the overpass, and then turn right at the stop light. Look for signs for Kabushima
• Follow this road for a few km, and then you will cross a bridge and come to a T intersection. Turn left at the intersection
• Turn right at the first light, and then follow this road to the right. Turn right on the last road and then left at the end of the block. You will see the port and the Torii Gate, along with a small parking lot.

day 1 (part 1)

Oh boy, I see a looooong blog post in my future (and yours, too). We packed so many amazing sites into our first day in Tokyo with Cliff and Naomi that it's tough to pick and choose which ones to write about.


We woke early in the morning, headed to Starbucks for breakfast, and then made our way to Asakusa to visit Sensō-ji, sometimes known to visitors as Asakusa Temple. Sensō-ji is the most popular temple to visit in Tokyo, known for its Kaminarimon or "Thunder Gate" and the hundreds of souvenir stalls lining the walkway leading to the temple.  Sensō-ji was built in AD 645 and is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. On the grounds, there is a beautiful five-story pagoda, as well as a shinto shrine.

As we strolled past the shops and closer to the actual temple, we noticed many of the traditional Buddhist rituals taking place. One such ritual is the lighting of incense. Near the center of the open area, there is a large incense burner. Visitors purchase osenko (incense), light it, and let it burn in the incense area. They can extinguish the flame by waving it in the air, or stick it in the ashy area until it burns out on its own. Then the visitor fans the smoke from the incense onto themselves, which is believed to have healing power and good luck.

Another ritual the Buddhists take part in is the cleansing of the body prior to entering the temple. Near the entrance is a fountain with running water and ladles. Visitors fill a ladle with water and use that water to clean their hands. Then, they will fill the ladle again and use that water to pour it into their hands like a bowl. This water is used to clean out their mouths. Then it is proper to fill the ladle a last time and turn it on itself, thus cleaning the ladle. 

After watching the rituals take place, we ventured into the temple itself. The inside was beautiful. The shrine area was full of detail, and the ceiling had murals painted on it. It was the most detailed of the temples we've visited during our time in Japan.

When we had finished seeing what there was to see at the temple, we made our way back toward the subway station. This time, we walked down the alley adjacent to the busy marketplace. There were several small shops and restaurants along the way and we took our time strolling and window shopping. We ate lunch at a restaurant along the way and then took the subway to Sky Tree. 

detours make for the best adventures!

One of the benefits to moving frequently is that it never gets boring. Usually, around the time we find that we've explored just about everything there is to explore in an area, it's time to move again.

We are loving finding so many new places to explore around Northern Japan. This weekend was our friend's birthday. She was really excited to try this restaurant we had been hearing about for months, so it was the perfect time to do it. Using directions we had gotten from another Misawa-ite, we navigated our way the hour or so to get there. We were hungry and excited. Then, we found out that there was a two hour wait.

While many might be deterred, we figured this was just an excuse to go explore. If you know me at all, you know the love I have for water, so I navigated us to the coastline. We found a great harbor with a nice view of the city and the ocean. In the distance we could see what looked like a giant, sloping rock with a shrine on top of it. We headed that direction and found what turned out to be my new favorite place in Japan!

What was found is the Kabushima Shrine. Kabushima is a Shinto shrine (most of what we have seen are Buddhist) that overlooks the water. Near the shrine is a small inlet and a beach! While we have seen the Pacific Ocean from Japan, we hadn't yet touched it, so this was our first stop. Ben then walked up to the shrine and I stayed on the beach, taking in the rocky beauty. It reminded me so much of the Central Californian coast.

I finally had to drag myself away, and was rewarded with some amazing architecture and unique views of the city and the water.

While the wind chill made for temperatures below freezing, it was a great day to visit the shrine. The snow was confined to the rocky areas and the sky was at its bluest. It was a great way to kill two hours, and we are looking forward to returning when it's warm enough to stay longer!