This was the view we woke up to on the second day of our trip. I should say, that the birds woke us up to, as I said in the day one post... That is Oshima Island, and after that you don't hit land until Hawaii out that direction. It really was a very nice place to stay. In almost all the Japanese hotels we've stayed in, we have to reserve two rooms, since they are almost never big enough for a family of five. Miss R is usually happy to sleep on the floor rather than share a bed with her sisters.
Today was our big Seven Waterfalls day. Everyone says seeing these is the must do activity on Izu. So we did. To make time though, I had to sacrifice a drive through the wasabi fields of Ikadaba, which I had looked forward to. Izu is famous for it's wasabi, which must be grown in clear mountain streams. But that's ok. I have watched videos about it, and in this case, that's close enough. Almost all "wasabi" that you normally get is actually horseradish dyed green. (If you're curious, the Japanese kind is Eutrema japonicum or Wasabia japonica, and the horseradish kind usually available is Armoracia rusticana. Both are brassicas, so related to cabbage, kale, etc.) Since it, you know, grows in little crystal streams in Japanese mountains, it is rather hard to come by and expensive, thus the switch. I love horseradish- thanks to our friend Dr. Wolf, who introduced it to me at a Passover dinner, and wasabi is even better. I love how it burns the nose, while still leaving the tongue able to taste. Good stuff! (Even in ice cream, but more on that later...)
One thing I really loved about the whole Izu Peninsula was the signs! It is a geologic wonderland, and all the explanatory signs have English. And, more importantly, English written by someone not named google, so it makes perfect sense.
I had no idea this was a thing. I had assumed Japan was all on the Eurasian Plate, but it's totally not! Isn't that awesome?
In fact B had the idea to text his boss that he had actually left Asia and gone to the Philippines. It was pretty funny.
B: Thought I would let you know this little fact about my trip on this leave period. Left the plate that Japan sits on and went to the Philippine last night.
Boss: Was this you? The number is coming in strange.
B: Yep.
Boss: If you really did, I think you would have been smart enough to not tell me.
B: (Sent above picture of the plates.) Oh, I did.
B: The Izu Peninsula is actually part of the Philippine plate. So geologically speaking, I have left the continent.
Boss: Tread lightly Lieutenant Commander. You may set off more tectonics than you hope for should such messaging get accidentally leaked. Enjoy your time.
For the next few hours, we wandered beside the Kawazu River, visiting lots of waterfalls. It was so lovely.
At one of the waterfalls the path was closed off because the area around the river is an onsen resort. It was closed when we were there, but it would be so fun to go back. It looked like the type of onsen I would be willing to enter, because I think everyone wears bathing suits. It would be pretty amazing to sit in hot water next to a cold rushing waterfall. We decided if we get stationed here again, that will be on our list of things to do.
The whole area is made of these igneous rocks, which cooled from lava in a way that formed these columnar joints. So pretty!
I liked this "snippet" about the precious ethnic word.
Just as at the Jogasaki Coast on the first day, I was blown away by the clear turquoise water.
There was a stamp rally! Japan is big on stamp rallies, where you go to different locations and collect stamps. You can't put everyday stamps like this in a goshuin book, it would be disrespectful; so I have a special leather journal from Italy my sister sent me that we keep these stamps in. Becasue there are seven waterfalls (actually, we don't know how they specify, because there seemed to be more than that), and there are seven lucky gods in Japanese tradition, each waterfall had a god and stamp. Here are the first two we came across.
Standing on some gorgeous columnar joints.
Aren't these roots amazing? They were supporting two trees leaning out over the river, and indeed, supporting a lot of rocks on the bank.
Here's our completed stamp set.
We can't quite figure out this bird. We're pretty sure it's a wagtail, since it was acting just like our wagtails on base, but it was definitely bigger and yellow.
One thing I must mention is the STAIRS. So. Many. Stairs. We did the stairs and the hike the day before at the shrine, and then today, we started at the bottom waterfall and walked upriver; because I had this brilliant idea that the waterfalls would look prettiest coming up from below. Which is probably true, but wow, we had to climb a mountain of stairs. My calves are still sore.
Luckily, these girls are super observant. Our stairs were broken up by many things, including this battle to the death between a tiny spider and a small caterpillar. It was very dramatic, and ended up with the caterpillar escaping after many near misses being wrapped up in spider silk, and the poor spider laying stunned on the ground below. We hope he made it! When we came back after making it to the "top," he was no longer there. Either he recovered and scuttled off to catch something else, or something else ate him. Sometimes I'm happy to be human.
They saw lizards.
They saw baby stick bugs. There must have been a hatch? We saw a couple, and let them crawl on us. They have the funniest swaying dance! They are zumba naturals.
They saw skinks. And of course lots of birds, and even a salamander in a pool. It is a pleasure seeing nature through their eyes.
It was such a gorgeous walk. We made it to the Saruta Depth, which as far as we could see was a continuation of the gorgeous river and little canyon, and turned around and went back.
When we got back to the shops close to the parking area, it was time to try some wasabi.
We of course got some wasabi kit kats. They were good! Even Miss R said they were ok. The rest of us really liked them.
Now for the ice cream. We only got one cone, although three would have been better.
Miss R did NOT like it. At all. I thought it was good, but I was fine just having a taste.
The other three rabidly loved it. And fought over what was left, although of course B took the Daddy privilege and ate most of the rest.
We stopped at a quick thrift store or two (I found a jewelry box!), and then went to the Ryugu Sea Cave.
It was beautiful! It was just thinking about starting to rain.
When heart shaped rocks (something else I collect- sheesh, I collect lots of things...) are too big to fit in my jar, we take a photo.
I don't know what this shrub is, but it smelled incredible. Sort of gardenia-esque.
B and I walked around the top of the sea cave, while the girls went to walk on the beach.
This area, near Shimoda, is where Admiral Perry landed his second time in Japan in 1854. Right as the rain started coming down, we found a drain cover with his black ships.
We drove around the bottom of the peninsula and started up the VERY isolated west side. No train lines come here, and it is very mountainous. I had picked a random shrine to visit. It seemed online like the kind of shrine that has, you know, people, and possibly a goshuin stamp. But in reality we ended up on some exceptionally windy tiny roads perched on mountain sides, dodging monkeys, to a miniscule little town. B found a wide spot to perch the car, and I got out to climb up to the shrine. Two different people went past, and they looked at me like I was the first non-Japanese person they had ever seen. Maybe I was? It was a teeny little town.
The shrine was not inhabited, and there was definitely no one to stamp my book.
The view was incredible though! We left, wondering what these people do for a living, and why they have so many tiny greenhouses full of margarite daisies... And how it would be to live there.
We drove to the town of Matsuzaki, where we had rooms in another small hotel booked. This one was called Seaside Resort Pension Surfrider. (Seriously, you have to love the names.) It was also really nice! We lucked out with our lodging this trip. This one was just a two minute walk from a nice grocery store, so B and I left the girls watching a movie, and got their supper. After we delivered it to them, and found them suitably zombied out enough they wouldn't notice we were even gone, we walked back out and checked out several restaurants. We settled on a ramen restaurant. The ramen was good, but their fried rice was incredible! And of course gyoza. We all had a good night's sleep. The waves on the beach kept it from being too quiet.
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