There is this really neat waterfall near where the Garlic festival takes place. It’s neat because it’s actually small streams of water pouring down this huge rock. The pictures of the waterfall alone are deceptive because they lead you to believe it’s small, but you can see the true size in the picture with us and the waterfall. The other great thing is that there is a nice park area (no playground) [Read more…]
Oirase Gorge Lake Towada in the Winter
Here are pictures of Oirase Gorge in the Winter. Notice all the the waterfalls are frozen solid, there was some free flowing water in the streams but not much. Also notice how high the snow walls are from being plowed. And just a bit of warning, the rest stop at the top (Lake Towada) does not have toilet paper, you have to supply your own. Also as with most rest stops in Japan there are no paper [Read more…]
Oirase Gorge Lake Towada in the Fall
Oirase Gorge is a beautiful scenic ride or hike up to Lake Towada, we have visited it in the fall and the winter. Today’s pictures are from the fall visit. It’s an almost 9 mile hike from top to bottom. Boo has hiked this several times for field trips with the school, Mr. B went on the last one and hiked it as well, we’ve only driven it as a family. There are places where you can stop and park [Read more…]
Mt. Osorezan
Mt. Osorezan means ‘Fear Mountain‘ and is considered the Entrance/Gateway to Hell, or where the dead pause on the way to the underworld, something that I was not aware of at the time of our visit. It is located in the Shimokita peninsula and is about 2 hours from Misawa. It is a volcano which cause the area to smell like sulfur and there are areas where steam comes out of the water. The pamphlet [Read more…]
Swan Park
On the way to Shimoda mall there is a Swan Park that you pass, it has a great little playground complete with the plastic little tikes dinosaurs, a nice grassy area with ponds, a stair slide and a large lookout tower. It’s a nice place to visit for an outing. There are swans in a large pond on one side but with all the Bird Flu issues we just stick to the playground part away from the swans.
[Read more…]Shirohama Swimming Beach
Just past the Ashigezaki View Point from my last post is the Shirohama Swimming Beach. The reason that swimming beaches are so important here in Japan is due to the dangerous rip tide currents. It’s unsafe to just go swimming in the ocean like you’d do at most beaches, you need to go to a swimming beach where they have large concrete breakers in the water. We’ve gone here a few times, not to [Read more…]
Ashigezaki Scenic Viewpoint
Tanesashi is a nice scenic coastline with a hiking trail and old fort-like structure. It’s a great place to spend a few hours and take some great pictures. The fort like structure is called Ashigezaki View Point. We’ve been there several times and most recently took family there for a visit. There is also a little place their that sells our favorite outing treat, soft serve ice cream 🙂 It’s [Read more…]
Big Buddha in Aomori City
There is a Giant bronze Big Buddha statue located in Aomori city, which is about 1 1/2 hours from Misawa. It is almost 69 feet tall and weights 220 tons! It was built in 1984 and the Japanese go there to pray to their ancestors and for their dead children. There are also several different statues located throughout the park. I think the hardest thing about visiting these places as a Christian is [Read more…]
Black Sand Beaches
When people think of the beach they generally picture soft white sand as far as the eye can see. I was surprised on our first visit to both the Icleandic beaches and the beach here in Japan to find that there wasn’t white sand. While the sand here in Japan is darker, some even call it black sand, but having lived in Iceland and seen true black beaches I wouldn’t quite call it black. One of the downsides [Read more…]
Children’s Botanical Garden In Hachinohe
The Children’s Botanical Garden in Hachinohe is a neat little (or rather big) park to spend the day at. It has many things to look at from Statues to vehicles (fire truck, helicopter, ect). It also has an awesome view from the lookout tower. There are a few rides, a pond, flowers, a fountain and a small pet ‘zoo’ which consists of a chipmunk, goats, and some ducks. There are also horse rides [Read more…]