Days at the Beach

We spent Shane's first few days here doing normal Japanese things. By this I mean that we went where real Japanese people go for their holidays, and did things that they do: we spent time at a non-resort beach in quiet Shizuoka prefecture. We stayed at the Hamayu minshuku (a simple Japanese style hotel) about a 30 second walk from Shizunami beach. Of course, this is peak season so I'd made the reservations about a month ago, and we didn't exactly have a large room.

(Click on images for a larger view).

This is the room that the three of us shared, sleeping on (real) futons on the floor:



However, the convenience, friendly service, and good breakfast made this a great place to stay.

Breakfast:


Shane, while adventurous, opted to eat only the rice and avoid the fish 'with the head still on':



We spent two full days at Shizunami beach, renting a spot at a little shelter and venturing out for a swim and some sunshine at decent intervals. The weather gods were on our side - we had hot, strong sunshine the whole time.

First day:


Second day:


We even enjoyed some cocktails on the beach on our second afternoon:


Shane's been fairly willing to try various Japanese food, and most of it he declares 'ok', but he really liked the katsu-don that we had for lunch at a "restaurant" at the beach (katsu-don is deep fried pork in a bowl of rice and egg):


He also likes Pocari Sweat, the Japanese version of Gator-Ade, which you see him drinking here as we sit in the umi-no-ie, a beach house/shelter:


For our final (third) day at the beach, we deserted the ever-popular Shizunami swimming beach and made our way to a desolate, un-developed-but-perfectly-swimable beach a few kilometres down the road. Brian was able to drive his Mitsubishi Pajero (an SUV) right onto the beach, and we set ourselves up in the sun.

Shane was hanging in there, but missing the shade!



We also tried to experience different dinner styles for our nights away. Though we could have had a home-cooked dinner served by our minshuku, we opted instead to go out for dinner both nights. On the first night we went to a nice yaki-nikku restaurant. Yaki-nikku is directly translated as "grilled meat", and is more often translated as a Korean BBQ. However, unless you know what a Korean BBQ is, it doesn't mean much. So here are some pics.

We ordered a lot of raw meat from the menu - beef and pork, mostly - then grilled it at our table:


Here's the meat, close up:


For our second night out for dinner we just went to Coco's Curry, a fast-food chain that serves only curry rice. I have no pics, and it's a bit hard to explain, but pretty much everyone loves curry. Shane declared it "edible", but was impressed that we actually sat on chairs at tables rather than on the floor!

We are not the only ones who blog. Brian and I have stayed at the Hamayu several years in a row, and the woman who own the place always takes pictures of her guests for the site's blog. Here is our mention - (best viewed in Internet Explorer) http://www2.gol.com/users/ip0510177859/asunaro/nikki.html . Her comments in Japanese translate as: "I'm pleased that you planned to come back [to my hotel] since July. To your nephew from Canada: How did you like the ocean in Japan, and the summer? Was the food here ok? Though you don't speak Japanese, and I cannot speak English, I think it was very nice meeting each other."

Well, Brian and I will probably be back again next year.

So, tomorrow we are off to spend a couple of nights in Tokyo. We will certainly spend time in Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Akihabara. Possibly also in Asakusa. However, fugu had been on the agenda, but I've been rethinking that plan...More blogging (hopefully) on Saturday night after our return from Tokyo.