Hitachiota Sight Seeing Day!
Timothy Dobbins
This was our day to be shown all the glory of Hitachiota City. It is
actually the largest city square mileage wise in the Ibaraki
prefecture, measuring some 40km by 10 km! About 10 years ago, four
cities in the area decided to merge to simplify things, forming
Hitachiota City!
The morning started with a long drive through the absolutely gorgeous
countryside. We are really in the mountains here, with hills and
forest everywhere! It is so...green, and such a nice change from the
urban Tokyo! The road lead us to a place called Purato Satomi, which
is essentially the top of the local mountain range. Up there, they
have 6 HUGE windmills, providing a bit of the power for the area. When
I say huge...well I mean it. We hiked up a few trails during our 30
mintues at the top and got a good look at them all. Amazing.
Down the hill to lunch. Wait, did I mention we made our own lunch!??
We visited a soba noodle factory, where we were instructed by a noodle
master (yes, that's really what he was called) in the art of making
the famous buckwheat or soba noodles. We started from scratch, and
ended up eating our own creations! Wonderful tasting (served cold)
with tempura to boot! So good and so satisfying!
Next on the agenda for the day was a visit to a local Buddhist temple
known as Satakeji. This is one of 33 famous temples in the western
Japanese area that are visitied by pilgrims all year long. It was an
amazingly serene place (as all the temples and shrines are - even in
the heart of a city) and we were treated to some very beautiful
architecture and scenery. A few of our group were able to get their
temple books signed also!
Oh, the day wasn't over yet, though. Next we were off to Seizan-so
Villa, a beautiful spot where a famous relative of Tokugawa spent 10
years writing a history of Japan. The villa itself was closed, but we
were able to walk around the gorgeous gardens with fields of blooming
irises in purple. Breathtaking! After this, we were treated to an
authentic tea ceremony in a wonderful tatami matted, shoji screened
building. It was quite a treat. After this I was able to feed the
hundreds of hungry (always) Koi in one of the large ponds.
The day ended with a few of us hunting down a sushi restaurant a few
blocks away from the hotel. No one spoke a word of English, but we
were able to use the handy picture charts and plastic food dispays
(MANY places have these in the front windows) to order. I ended up
having a great mean of ebi (shrimp) and a tempura plate! Everyone
really enjoyed the meal and the people were super!
That's all for now. I need to rest before I give my speech tomorrow in
front of an entire elementary school. Pray for me!