Friend's Visit

S's good friend came for his once a year visit! He was one of S's best men during our wedding and will come visit for annually for their fishing trip. That's where they will start their 2 days non-stop fishing. They would wake up at 2am and fish all the way til next day afternoon and continue that again for the next day. He was also the person which introduced puzzle and dragon game haha! Unlike last year which we barely could communicate, both of us could understand each of us more this year lol~ See you again next year!

always doing funny poses for my entertainment every year

Kushihiki Shrine @ Hachinohe

We moved to Kushihiki Shrine afterwards, the shrine has 800 years of history and their museum house many cultural treasures. Like I said, S has become an shrine enthusiast and so my blog will be mainly shrines photos. 

Previously, we discovered the beauty of Tanesashi Coastline and I shared the discovery to my friend. I thought I knew the location so I went along with my friends leading the way without S. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of drive we still couldn't find the exact location, felt so bad to Bao who had to drive at my poor direction. Sorry about it! In the end we had to make do at the familiar restaurant in Hachinohe instead but it was good meal since we were so hungry! Kristi finished everything with us until the very end! Hehe... one of the first!

Interior of the shrine

you are suppose to breath in the gourd and it is suppose to suck in  your bad luck

i wonder all the addition of torii gates (Red gate)?

Treasure Museum

View at Tanesashi Coast 

Kabushima Shrine @ Hachinohe

S wanted to eat ramen and when i said no, he said he had not eaten ramen for a long time. I thought about it and its true since I was the one with food requests and usually we go out sushi or rice type of restaurants. I usually prefer to eat udon or soba cos of the light texture soup, ramen is too heavy for my liking. He brought to a famous fish based soup ramen in Hachinohe and it was always crowded with office workers. True enough, the soup was very light and easy to drink and I managed to drink most of the soup (usually I do not drink the soup since too oily). 

Next we drove to Kabushima Shrine, one of the popular Hachinohe tourist visits and its also called the seagulls shrine as many seagulls breed around the area. The seagulls are treated as messenger to the fishermen as they would gather over a pool of fishes pointing the fishes location to the fishermen.

Fish based ramen, the soup was very light, fit to my taste bud

Gyo Gun ramen store

Seagulls around the shrine

view from the shrine

all seagulls drawing

Kabushima Shrine

Shichinohe & Noheji shrines

S was tempting me to go out and said he was willing to drive to Shichinohe and let me eat the farm gelato. of course i knew it was because he wanted to visit the shrines actually! but then it was good for me, i get to tour around new areas while he searched for his shrines. When we went to the farm, the whole fields around the farm was sunflowers! Made one feel happier!

shichinohe shinmeigu shrine

cat taking a nap while owners were away

farm gelato, milk and milk tea.

Noheji Shrine

shrine of studies

fields of sunflowers beaming in sun!

Misawa Air Festival Part 2

My mother in law being the smart one, separated with us upon entering the base since she knew that both of the males would be walking and queuing and all she wanted was to buy the cakes and sit around. Walked over to Japan Air Defence side and saw the row of Blue Impulse planes and many people queuing to take pictures and get autographs from the Blue Impulse pilots. For those who are unfamiliar with Blue Impulse, it is actually Japan's Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) aerobatic display team. The criteria to enter was not only strict but the pilots and engineers are cream of the crop.

However after walking and queuing for 2 hours +, I was getting tired and escaped back to my mother in law who had brought everything like the mat and raincoats so we managed to keep dry as the rain became heavy.

Blue impulse pilot , long queue with people waiting to take photos and get autographs signed

in total 5 or 6 pilots, since i did not want to queue so i just do sneak shot

the Blue Impulse 

yours eyes look so dead 

I found the Blue Impulse engineer and no queue!  

we were waiting and resting for S in the rain while watching the air show

Misawa Air Festival 2015 Part 1

Woke up super early in the morning to attend Misawa Air Festival, my parents in law came down as well. Quite dumb folded  when i saw the never ending queue, and it really seems like we can never get in.  This year even Australia military planes came and joined the display and many new models that I had not seen before. But that was not our main aim, S was aiming to buy all the military coins and badges before all was sold out.  

right hand was the queue and left hand was walking all the way to end of street to join the queue. 

rushing off to take pictures while he was queuing

ended up going to various stalls to buy food since i was hungry 

Mount Osore (恐山) Part 2

Entrance fee to the temple cost 500 yen and it is closed from November to April. The scenery and atmosphere is very contrasting, very serene scenery with beautiful clear water and mountains surrounding the lake and yet you can smell the strong sulphur with all the statues of Jizo and all the stones, windmills written with deceased names piling around them. I wonder those souls that rest here, will there be brought into the next life or continue to stay here forever.

another jizo statue

I was wondering what are those wooden blocks were, some were written with names, some were not.

Those with names turned out to be monks that passed away.

at the side of the temple entrance

went for lunch

meat so so but alot vegetables 

kawauchi shrine in mutsu, the friendly high tech priest that spent long time explaining to us the history (for S's research paper) and he often posted on facebook!