Had my school bounenkai (end of year party) in Choushi on Thursday night. Choushi is a small city (about 70,000 people) on the far eastern tip of Chiba prefecture. The party was held at the Keisei Hotel, right on the tip of Cape Inubo, near the famous lighthouse there.
It was my first time to visit, so the following day, after starting with an outdoor onsen watching the ocean and the sunrise, I did some sightseeing. Firstly, I took in the lighthouse. No pictures of it but several pictures from it. Along the way I took in the Horizon clifftop, where slightly elevated, you can see the rounding of the horizon. I also cruised past the Port, checking out the fishing industry. And incidentally the local skate park.
I briefly took in a temple to Kannon in the middle of Choushi. I don’t know what the name of it was but it had cool bonzai surrounding the main building, barbed wire surrounding the pagoda and I had what started as a very loose but turned into a very deep prayer there.
I crossed the bridge into Ibaraki ken determined to find the industrial plants I could see clouding the sky from the lighthouse. These were further away than what I thought. I crisscrossed little backroads on this narrow strip of land between the Tone River and the Pacific Ocean. Finally I ended up back on the main highway where I realised I was still a good 5 or 10 kilometres away from these plants. Getting closer I noticeably sensed a change in my breathing. It was so foreign seeing these giant stacks pouring steam (and I hope only steam) out the top. I thought about how much of our modern lives come from places like this and yet how unfamiliar I am with the sight of them. How little land, even in Japan, we dedicate to them relative to agriculture, retail, housing etc.
I cruised back into Choushi and picked up a couple of ALT friends for lunch. They took me to a little cafe called Curaccho Cafe that specialises in bagels. The salmon cream cheese bagel was awesome. The coffee art even better. I also ordered the blueberry cheese cake which came with little jam filled love hearts embossed into it and plenty of cream – great place.
They then took me to a supermarket called Yamaya that has a lot of foreign brand goods. There were a lot of quality items that I recognised from home like pasta sauces, delicious beers and couscous. I bought a few things that I will need after my wisdom teeth surgery on Monday – soups, juices etc.
It was at this point that I parted ways with my friends and with Choushi, bidding the giant wind turbines farewell on my way out the 126.
