Third Time's a Charm - The Idiot Returns to Japan

Noel Mugavin · Apr 29, 2023

Open field where the village was once situated

Very gentle path leading up the slope of the hill

Looking toward the point of the bridge where the group was heading. Again, open field where the village once stood

Noel Mugavin · Apr 29, 2023

A look to the rise in land that the students were evacuating to from the carpark

One last look

My chariot. Weather was turning decidedly nasty, High winds, grey skies, and rain coming.

Took a drive to the river mouth, cemetery now where homes once stood.

Drove over the Shin-Kitakami Bridge to head north along the Sanriku Coast. Once again, it is absoulutely beautiful, unfortunately with 'Previous Tsunami Inundation Area' signs littered along the side of road.

Made my way to Minamisanriku. Wedding hall that stood in the main part of town.

Indicator of the water level

To the newly elevated part of town

Minamisanriku 311 Memorial

Noel Mugavin · Apr 30, 2023

Sun Sun Shopping Village.

Local high school, and Tsunami Evacuation Centre

Crisis Management Department building. Worksite of Miki Endo, working on the second floor, stayed at her station broadcasting evacuation warnings until the water eventually swept through the building, taking her with it. There are photos of people clinging to the tower on top of the building as the water completely submerges the building.

Open land where the city centre once was

Noel Mugavin · Apr 30, 2023

Very hard to convey the scale of nothingness through photos.

Dark part is where the tsunami swept through, and what is pretty much uninhabitable now

Went into the memorial, wanted a quick walk through before I headed off again. Weather was getting worse, and pushing to get to where I wanted to get to. Entrance fee of 1000yen, passed my money over before the girl at the desk waved me away. Bit confused, thinking okay no entry fee, before another worker came over and showed me a sign with different times on it. Worked out there were 20 minute interval entry times; unfortunately I didin;t have the time to wait around so gave it a miss.
It was slow going on the coast road, speed limit of 40kmh, so near Kesennuma, jumped on the Sanriku Expressway, one lane road, 80kmh limit. Probably not a bad thing, as conditions weren't great. Wanted to visit Kesennuma, however Rikuzentakata was a higher priority, so pushed further north to visit there first.
The Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum, Rikuzentakata.

Photo inside the museum, before I saw the sign saying no photos

Very informative and well presented memorial, and focussing very much on future prevention and response.
Quite heavy rain now, fortunately the gift shop sold umbrellas, and I was able to get to the outside viewing area.
Whole lot of nothingness here as well

Noel Mugavin · Apr 30, 2023

There were 70 000 pine trees in this area, all but 1, The Miracle Pine, were washed away. Looking like replanting taking place. Weather was certainly getting wild and woolly, which added a certain atmosphere to the visit.

Workmen were able to save themselves by climbing to the top level of the back staircase of this building.

Water level indicator

Back in the car, and the Sanriku Expressway would take me back to Ishinomaki. I was however drawn to pay another visit to Okawa. Ducked off the expressway through Minamisanriku, and the slower path directly along the coast.
There are some very attractive looking villages and inlets along the way, and had a quick stop at one of them.

Noel Mugavin · Apr 30, 2023

Made the return visit to Okawa; raining, cold, drab, and once again added a certain something to the site

I didn't stay long, but glad I came back for a second visit.
The Sanriku Coast is definitely worth visiting and I would like to go back and spend 3 or 4 days being able to visit the numerous small towns and villages along the coast
Back to Ishinomaki, fueled up and returned the car, and an hour or so back to Sendai. Arrived at Sendai at about 6.30, had a quick dinner at the station, bit of a wander, then back to the hotel; another early start the next day.

drron · May 1, 2023

Really appreciate this TR. Such a different Japanese experience. Will have to go back to Sendai and travel by car through this area. We did have this booked for 2020 but unfortunately couldn't go.

Noel Mugavin · May 1, 2023

Early start, back to Sendai Station and the Shinkansen heading north.

Think it was between an hour/hour and a half to my destination of Hachinohe

Picked up my hire car, and off I went.
Driving in Japan, albeit in predominantly rural areas, was decidedly easy. Roads were a very gentle 50kmh speed limit, trucks were of the mini variety and signage was good.

First stop was Takko, garlic capital of Japan. Really wanted to try their black garlic and garlic steak, however the restaurant didn't open until 11 on weekends, and no patience to wait the hour or so for that to happen.

Back out the way I came, and a short stop in a hardware store where there seemed to be an emergency services display.

Noel Mugavin · May 1, 2023

I'm not a religious man, however it was Easter Saturday, ,I was in the area, and I though while I had the chance I would go and pay my respects.
Cross country, through the hills and a couple of country backroads, to the village of Shingo.
And:

Wont find this in the bible.

Grave of Jesus

And one for Isukuri

Noel Mugavin · May 1, 2023

No idea what the cough*'s going on here, but it was picturesque

There we go, the tomb of christ. My old primary school scripture teacher would be very proud.

Back in the car and off to Gonohe. For any horse lovers, best you don't read the next couple of entries.
I was off to Gonohe as it was well known for its Sakuraniku. Used google maps to try and find a restaurant, the one with best reviews didin't look at all that promising from the front.

Walked in to an L shaped butchers counter, 5 or 6 butchers going at it at the back, heaps of meat in the display cabinets. Walked to the register at the back of the L and asked the lady there if this was actually a restaurant. Answered in the affirmative, lead me down a back corridor, then upstairs.
Bit hard on the knees.

Started with some basashi

Noel Mugavin · May 1, 2023

Started cooking 1 piece of meat at a time, until I was chastised by the waitress and told to throw it all on at once.

A couple of large sized croquettes, a salad, then a few pieces of sushi

Thought it was over, but then a couple of dumplings were brought out

And finally dessert. Fantastic meal and fantastic value, about $50. The meat was extremely lean and very tasty. Would have no hesitation eating it again.

Probably a 20 minute drive back to Hachinohe. Stopped at a sporting complex along the way for a pit stop. Few cherry trees around.

Fueled up and returned the car. Fella cam from the upstairs office, looked the car over, told me everything was good. Thanked him then went to walk off, he then said to me 'can you come upstairs?' First thought was, cough, what have i done? Anyway went upstairs with him, he went behind his desk and started punching numbers into his calculator. He shows me the calculator and then says the magic words - 'Refund'. I imagine I was getting money back due to not having the car the whole day. It was about 400 yen, or $5, and to be honest not really worth the 15 minutes I was standing in the office.
Shouldn't really whinge as it paid for my coffee that I had while waiting for the train to get to Hachinohe proper.

Noticed a hill with some sakura as the train was pulling in , so that's where I headed

Noel Mugavin · May 2, 2023

Stayed in an APA for the night

Bit of a rest, then headed out for a wander

Lot of alleyways with izakayas. Love the atmosphere and look of the alleyways, say please indulge me

Noel Mugavin · May 2, 2023

In pretty much the city centre of Hachinohe is Miroku Yokocho, where there are about 30 different little food stalls. Most of them were pretty full, so gave them a miss.

I ended up taking the easy route, grabbed something from a convenience store, then headed back to the hotel. Was a bit chilly at this stage.
Did pass this store, which I'm going to assume was a whale meat butcher

Noel Mugavin · May 3, 2023

In life you make good and bad decisions. Happy to say I made and absolute cracker of a decision while wandering the previous night. Up early and about a half hour walk to Tetehana Wharf Morning Market. It was 3 degrees, and I was extremely thankful for the gloves I brought the night before. Sun was out, so although it was cold it was quite a pleasant walk.

Grabbed myself a yakitori stick and some fried chicken. Not the healthiest breakfast, but certainly tasted good. Aomori is exttemely proud of its apples, however with a 600yen price tag, wasn't that keen. An elderly couple had a stall with 300yen apples, so that was my go. Bit surprised when the old boy pulled out a bag and filled it with about 10 apples. 600 yen wasn't such a steep price after all.

Was there for about half an hour and noticed this coming in from the north.

It got a lot colder very rapidly, and I needed to get the hell out of dodge before the rain came in. So off I went to the closest train station, about a 15 minute walk.
Was just after this photo that the rain started, and the ever so small snow flakes. It was absolutely freezing, nearly enough to regret wearing shorts.

Thankfully there was a waiting room and I was able to get some blood flowing to my finger tips.
2 stops to Hachinohe Station. Planted myself under the heaters.

Noel Mugavin · May 3, 2023

Back on the shinkansen and a stop at Morioka

Not the most attractive of cities

It does have one beautiful feature though

Unfortunately the cloud didn't lift for me

Quite windy and bitterly cold, so quickly made my way back to the station

Hung around for some train cough

Noel Mugavin · May 6, 2023

Hayabusa and the Komachi from the Akita line are coupled at Morioka for the remainder of the trip to Tokyo

On the way to Sendai

Got back to Sendai, dropped my back pack off, then back to the station and off to Matsushima Bay

2 stations at Matsushima - Matsushima and Matsushimakaigan. If you get the line to Matsushima, it's about a 15 minute walk to the main area. Matsushimakaigan, about a 3 minute walk.