Shimoda and Higashiizu

Last weekend, we drove down the coast of the Izu Peninsula with a few of the other JETs in our area. The coast is truly beautiful, as it is mountains that plunge into the ocean. On the way down, it was dark, but the next day we got some great shots of the Shimoda coast. Lisa's colleague from Ft. Lauderdale, Katie, was kind enough to let us crash at her apartment on Saturday night. Shimoda is a lovely beach town, and there is a surprizing number of Gaijin there. Aprently, there was a famous diplomat from the West who had his residence there, and the town has grown to be a place for foreigners to live. The festival was to celebrate the end of summer, and was very much like a fair or festival in the US, with booths selling all kinds of festival food, and trinkets for the kids. People were lighting off fireworks most of the night, and there was an air of cheerfulness to the entire place. I had eaten before we got there, so I didn't totally pig out, but our friend Melody, a tiny little Chinese-Cambodian from Long Beach, CA, ate enough for all of us. It was amazing. The girl weighs all of 99 pounds soaking wet, but ate her weight in festival food. I got away with a pan of okinomiyaki, which I think is Japanese for "kitchen sink" as it contains noodles, ginger, onions, peppers, fish, and a bunch of other stuff. Melody taught me a useful little phrase in Japanese: "Hai, dozo!" Which means something like "yes, after you." You say it when you open a door for someone or let them pass in front of you, but you also say dozo when you give someone a gift. So, we spent the night shouting "Haaaai, doooozooo!" to each other from across the fairgrounds.
Here are some pics from the festival:
This guy seems to be considering whether to have snails or a corn dog...


Here's Melody and Katie having a Yakitori swordfight
Here we have the gang: Lisa (jumping up on our favorite Brit), Tom, Stacy, and Melody.

And here I am with a plate full of okinomiyaki.

Here are a few pictures we took the next day (Sunday) on the Shimoda Coast:

The views from the highway were amazing, and we really enjoyed the drive. I imagine it is what the PCH is like in California, except the ocean is on the other side of the road. We drove home and spent Sunday afternoon relaxing and getting ready for the work week.