Japan Day 2: Iwaki

Breakfast at Chiba's Hotel Mystays Premier Narita was lovely.

We sat next to a Japanese fellow named Yusei who started talking to us. He told us he was from Yokohama.

He could tell we were not from Japan and was curious as to our origin. What a shock to learn that he actually grew up in an Illinois suburb very close to where we used to live 10 years ago. No wonder he spoke English so well.

We like eating a salad for breakfast when we go abroad.

The big difference between my breakfast and Art's is the natto.

Natto is fermented soybeans and often eaten for breakfast by the Japanese. Everybody in my family loves it. Me? I somehow can't get past the sliminess.

One thing we really liked about some of the hotels was their multi chargers. It made it so convenient to charge all our devices.

We also don't need to use adapters in Japan. Awesome!

We were then leaving the Chiba Prefecture for the Ibaraki Prefecture to see the Ushiki Daibutsu (Buddha).


The following information is from Wikipedia:

Ushiku Daibutsu is a statue located in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. 

Completed in 1993, it stands a total of 120 metres (390 ft) tall, including the 10 m (33 ft) base and 10m lotus platform. The statue held the record for the tallest statue from 1993–2002. As of 2018, it is one of the top five tallest statues in the world.

An elevator takes visitors up 85 m (279 ft) to an observation floor. The statue depicts Amitabha Buddha and is made of bronze. It was built to commemorate the birth of Shinran, founder of the Jōdo Shinshū or "True Pure Land School" of Buddhism.

The statue weighs over 4,000 tons and is the tallest standing Buddha in Japan. It is more than twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.

We've seen a number of statues of the Buddha, but this was truly impressive. The incense burner in front of the statue is also the biggest in Japan.

We took the elevator to the observation area which is located by the Buddha's chest. Shoes had to be removed before you entered the elevator. That is the size of the Buddha's thumb on the right.

A garden of delicate cosmos danced around the statue. I love cosmos!

At one of the gift shops, we finally found a bag of pickled baby eggplants that we fell in love with years ago. This trip was almost ALL about shopping. Well, it seemed it anyway. Our tour group certainly helped the Japanese economy.

Aha!

A persimmon farm!

Art loves persimmons. It's one of his favorite fruits and the Uchida Persimmon Farm was a place he was looking forward to seeing.

We were each handed a plastic bag and clippers to select three of the best persimmons we could find.

This was lovely except that because we were being fed so well, it was hard to find a time to finish the six persimmons we had between us.

We were told that there are over 1,000 different varieties of persimmons. The persimmons we were picking was called Matsumoto and is a sweet version.

Lunch was in Mito, the capital of the Ibaraki Prefecture.

They asked first who wanted to have natto with their lunches. Mito is famous for their natto and Art was looking forward to it.

I didn't raise my hand for a sample. I just had a bean or two from Art.

More shopping in the gift area. Tohoku Travel is well known for handling your purchases for you. Just before entering the bus, they label your packages and load them in boxes in the lower level of the bus. It's great, but a bit of a surprise at the end of the trip, when you see how much you've so happily bought.

On the bus again, we watched the Japanese movie, Hula Girls. We'd actually seen this video before but it was fun to see it again.

Hula Girls tells the story of a coal mining town that is failing with the economic times. With so many residents losing jobs with the changing energy needs, the town decides to create a Hawaiian tourist center while hiring a professional dancer to teach the young women how to dance the hula. I was surprised that the tour was taking us to a Hawaiian center when we are all from Hawaii, but it turned out to be quite interesting and fun.

The rooms were large and comfortable. 

I actually went to the onsen with a couple of new friends who let me join them. 

Onsen is a hot spring bath. You have to strip down naked, wash yourself thoroughly and enter the large hot springs bath with a lot of strangers. Once you get over the initial discomfort, it's lovely and is supposed to provide lots of health benefits.

Dinner was great with lots of choices. I had to take a photo with the chocolate fountain to show mom. She loves chocolate fountains.

It was great!

The evening hula show was fun. It was hula on steroids or hula Vegas style. 

It was very much enjoyed by all the tourists from around Japan and beyond who came for a taste of Hawaii to go along with their onsen experience.

I was happy that I was getting enough sleep to keep me focused and energized. 

We were getting to know the other 37 tour members on the trip and already feeling like they were all friends.

It was great!