My friend’s parents wanted to take a small day trip to Chiba and they invited me along! Exciting!
First stop: 海ほたる/Umihotaru.
Umihotaru means sea-firefly.
What Umihotaru actually is, is a rest area with really pretty scenery of the sea, Tokyo and Chiba.
After that brief stop, we went to Nokogiriyama where I would experience a hell worse than the stairs at Enoshima.
We took a ropeway to get to this point.
We didn’t realize how much stair climbing would still follow. Sadly, these flat stairs were just a tease. Most of the stairs were really steep with few breaks in between. Damn temples and their love of stairs.
“Peering into Hell.” You certainly have to go through hell to get to that point.
Part of 1,500 Arhats
There was also a large Buddha and a large Kannon that we wanted to see, but we were already dying from climbing, so we cut through one section and ended up skipping those statues. My friend’s dad is absolutely awesome though; he barely broke a sweat the entire time while the rest of us were ready to collapse. That man is my new hero.
Apparently some of the rocks that were shaved off the mountain are now part of a stone wall at Waseda
After all that climbing, we needed food, so we headed to a nearby rest area. This part of Chiba is known for Biwa! It’s quite nummy.
Biwa parfait with yuzu sherbet
Matching Biwa that my friend bought for her and I!
There is this apparently famous shoyu store in the area, so my friend’s parents made a stop there to pick up some stuff. While I was wandering around the store, I noticed this, and the fangirl in me HAD to take a photo.
After that, we headed to a GIGANTIC Kannon statue. My friend’s dad wanted to climb it (20 stories!) but the rest of us were too dead to climb that many stairs again. Once again, that man is my hero.
Perspective…my friend couldn’t get a picture of me in front of it without cutting part of it off.
After that we made a quick stop at a beach.
And then we made our final stop at a restaurant that’s famous for a certain type of clam that’s famous in the area. Unfortunately I forget what it’s called.
Anago tempura. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD
The clam in sashimi form mixed with onions and other veggies. Yum yum!
Same thing as above, but cooked with miso. Also yum yum!
My friend and I were pretty tired by the end of the day. We pretty much passed out in the car on the way back. It was a lot of fun and I’m so thankful to my friend and her parents for letting me tag along and treating me!
ごちそうさまでした！お世話になりました！ありがとうございました！
Tags: arashi, boys, celebrity sightings, chiba, food, shrines & temples, umihotaru
