Okayama: A garden, some taiko and a boy in a peach

Momotaro - I have an unexplainable love for little Momotaro. He's just so cute...and he popped out of a peach! He is the mascot of Okayama.

Korakuen: One of Japan's 3 big gardens. It was built in 1700 on an island in the Ashigawa River. It is known for it's expansive lawns. Apparently this is why a lot of foreigners find it boring.

I really liked the garden. It was tranquil and nicely designed. But man, it was HOT and all of that 'expansive lawn' meant very little shade. That's why there aren't many pictures of us...we were looking and feeling kind of wilted.


I can't remember what these birds are called but they are endangered. They were also quite big and unfriendly looking. Maybe that's why this kid looked a little uncertain. Or maybe that was because he was looking at the two huge foreign guys who had beers in one hand and huge ice cream cones in the other standing nearby.

My dad and I tested out our black and white settings and had a bit of a contest going to see who could take the best black and white/Japanese tree/garden/scene. I think we got some really nice shots.

Above: Mine
Below: My dad's



My rice field self-portrait (above)


That night there was a huge festival/fireworks in Okayama. When we entered the garden we found out that we could stay later to watch some performances and the fireworks from the garden. Also, the garden was to be lit up. How exciting.

Above: Photographers lined up to capture the perfect picture of the sunset with Okayama castle in the background. Some of these people were really serious (think multiple tripods with two cameras attached to each!)





There was a fantastic taiko performance. Two of the drummers were kids no older than 12! In the video below they are on the left and right sides of the stage. We were all amazed. They were so much better than the fireworks (although once a few test fireworks went off near the castle, the Japanese spectators went nuts...I mean, come on...they are just fireworks. Kid pro-taiko drummers are so much cooler!)


I couldn't leave Okayama without something Momotaro so at the train station I picked up a Hello Kitty dressed as Momotaro bento. I was surprised how good the bento actually turned out to be! I guess I enjoy the kid selection (ok, the mayo corn...not so good).


A little bit of the performance, for your enjoyment!

Southern Shikoku

Continuing our drive down the coast, we stopped at a few scenic spots to take pictures of the beautiful beaches. It was weird because I never think of Japan being tropical or beachy...


Ashizuri Point

This lighthouse is located at the southernmost tip of Shikoku. Quite the view. Quite the 80m high cliff.

A thought: It's really hard to take a picture of a lighthouse from the bottom of it.



Sea Side Lodge Ki No-Kujira

This pension (I guess the equivalent of a B&B) was spectacular! It was owned by an adorable couple who we all fell in love with immediately. The view was pretty awesome too (below).

The style of the pension made me think of a shiny, new Canadian lodge but somehow it fit right in. It was clean, airy and welcoming. Dinner was the most amazing thing - we had the whole dinning room to ourselves and the food was some of the best I've ever eaten!

Below, is possibly the best fish dish ever! There was a whole fish for two people (I think I could have eaten the whole thing, it was that delicious), sashimi, rice with fish in it, tempura, wonderful eggplant...

We asked the owner where she learned to cook and she told us how she didn't know how to cook when she got married so she took some lessons and now cooks all the meals in the pension. She is such a fantastic chef and so cute!


After that wonderful dinner we did some fireworks in front of the house. Or rather, Mr. Yamamoto did some fireworks and I stood nervously on the porch watching (I'm not a fan of 'at home' fireworks).



Next morning's breakfast was just as delicious as dinner. I wanted to stay here longer...but we had places to go...so we said our goodbyes.



Above - the very cool and cute owners. If anyone is ever in southern Shikoku, definitely stay here!


Local Fish Market



We were going to be cooking dinner for ourselves that night so we stopped at a local fish market. My dad and I were amazed by the variety of fish. There were some we'd never seen before and some that were absolutely terrifying.

These were definitely the weirdest. Kind of like an eel with a strange tail and a scary, scary face. Can you imagine these swimming by you in the water?? EEEK!


Check out the teeth on that fish!



Our next stop was a stretch of beach that is famous for its rock formations.





Cool, huh? The only not cool part was the thousands of tiny sand/rock bugs that were crawling all over the place. When I went close to the rocks to take a picture they'd all shoot out of their hiding spots in the rocks and freak me out.


That afternoon it poured but we were dry in the car, singing songs and thinking of Japanese sound words (pika-pika!). We were spending the night in cabins at the top of a mountain, which sounded cool until we were on the impossibly small, single lane, winding road up the mountain. I seriously thought we were going to die. We later found out we took the back road and that there was a large highway road up and down...oops.

This place was so Japanese, in that it was weird and out of place. At the very top of this mountain was a campground, some cabins and a weird amusement/nature park. But once it stopped raining, the view was amazing.






My dad and I doing an "Aaron" shot.

My mom singing "The Sound of Music"


Osugi (Big Cedar)


This tree is approx. 3000 years old. That's right. I didn't just sneeze, causing my hand to slip and add extra zeros...it's three thousand years old. My brain can't understand how it can be that old.





Our last stop on our road trip was the fancy Seto-Chuo Expressway bridge. Here we stopped for pictures and lunch. It was burning hot. After a break, we hopped back in the car and the Yamamotos dropped us off in Okayama. We waved goodbye and the Elliott-Yamamoto Shikoku Road Trip came to an end! What an adventure!