Japan Fun Time 1.8

Sometimes, plans change…

Yesterday morning, we were planning to head out to Takayama for the weekend, but we had a really late start.  The old town city is quite a drive, we didn’t have any hotel reservations, and businesses usually shut down there around 5 pm.

So, we decided instead to spend the day on Himakajima Island.

Just off of the Chita Peninsula, this island is home to a small fishing village that specializes in Tako (Octopus) and Fugu (Blowfish).

It sounded like a good time, so we all hopped in the car and headed South…

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Driving

We bought our ferry tickets, and headed down to the docks…

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The Docks

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Waiting with a Football and a Mocha

After a quick boat ride, we reached the shore…

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The Shore

And then, it happened…

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We took a look at a posted map of the island, and realized that we were not on Himakajima Island, but its neighbor Shinjojima Island… We had jumped off the boat one stop too early.

We figured since we were already there, that we would rent some bikes, and explore Shinjojima before hopping over to Himakajima…

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Biking It

We saw some pretty cool stuff…

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Locals Fishing

And we spent quite a bit of time hanging out on the beach…

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The Beach

But we were ready for the excitement of Himakajima, so we returned our bikes and hopped on another boat to the bigger island…

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On the Boat

The town looked much more developed on Himakajima Island…

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Octopus Statue

But we soon realized that most of the shops were starting to shut down.

The reason for this is that most of the people who work on Himakajima actually live on the mainland of Japan.  The last ferry leaves at 7:30 pm, so in order to make sure that everyone gets home, most restaurants close at 5:00 pm.

But we were hungry…

PB started talking with one of the locals, named Suzuki…

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PB and Suzuki

Suzuki knew of a restaurant about a mile from the docks on Himakajima that stayed open later for the locals, so he made a call and had the place send out a van to pick us up and take us to the place…

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The Van

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The Ride

When we arrived at our destination, we were treated to a traditional Japanese dining experience…

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Dining on the Floor

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All Japanese Menu

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Tea

Since Himakajima is a small fishing village, they pretty much only serve what was caught that day…

We all decided to share a plate of Sashimi…

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Sashimi

Now look…

I’ve had Sashimi before.

I love eating fresh, raw, pieces of fish.

But…

I’ve never had anything this fresh before.

Check out the video…

And just in case you thought I was a poser, here’s footage of me eating it…

Ater that, I dove into my Unagi (Eel) and Miso Soup…

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Unagi and Miso Soup

And, of course, I had some of their house Hot Sake…

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Yum!

After we returned to Nagoya, we headed out to the Sakae district to check out the nightlife…

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Sakae at Night

We met up with some friends at Darts Bar Leo…

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Darts Bar Leo

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The Bar…

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Complete with Darts…

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And Karaoke! How about some NOFX?

Sometimes, plans change…

And they become greater than you ever thought they could be.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

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5 Responses to “Japan Fun Time 1.8”

  1. Jeff Eckles (@JeffEckles) Says:

    Looks like a great day. Good on you for eating Twitchy.

  2. D'Arnold Says:

    So jealous…

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