Saturday morning Ryan and I split up–he with Mike and daughter Erika, and me with Tomoko and daughters Ana and Kiara. We each did some sight-seeing on our own and met back up after lunch.
Before we left the house in the morning, we heard a loud speaker announcement outside the house. Think elections are obnoxious in the States? In Japan, political parties and candidates drive around town with loud speakers on their cars and announce their political platforms. We got to experience this because Japan was having an important election the next day on Sunday.
Ryan, Mike and Erika took a trip to an electronics store and the fish market. Living in Kansas, we don’t get to see a true fish market. This one was filled with fish caught by local fisherman that day–super fresh! It had the typical salmon, crab and tuna, but it also had squid, eel, snails, and octopus (pictured below). They then drove around the Ibaraki Christian College campus for a quick tour before a lunch of cold soba, udon, tempura, rice, and Japanese pickles.
I went with Tomoko, Ana, and Kiara to an Ikebana class (more to come on this in a separate post). We then drove down the beach road that follows the coast line on our way to lunch at a ramen shop. After lunch we drove past Ibaraki Christian College and the Shinto shrine down the street from it (shrine pictured below).
