Thursday, July 11, 2013

Sawara Grand Autumn Festival.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I've been sitting on this post for more than half a year now!

Time slip again - this time to the beginning of October. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and I headed up to northern Chiba with some fun company. First we made a quick stop to check out Katori Shrine.

But first, a slight detour at Katori Shrine (香取神宮)! I love the nature here.
Basically, there is an incredible festival called the Sawara Grand Festival (佐原の大祭) held twice a year, once in the summer and the other in the fall. As the title suggests, I went to the autumn festival, but the summer festival is actually coming up this weekend!

Read more about the Sawara Grand Summer Festival here: http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kokusai/english/information/residents/news/issues/july2013.html#f0702

Anyway, here's a peak of the sights you can enjoy at the festival:

Passing under one of many low bridges. Each boat is operated by two people - someone operating the motor, and another (always a woman?) watching for other boats, obstructions, etc.
After our mini stopover at Katori Shrine, we hopped over to our main destination for the day - Sawara, a historical district in Katori City! We went by car, and from there you can hop on a boat into town for just a small fee.

At the festival! Here comes one of the dashi, or festival floats.
Sawara's really serious about its festivals - they even have dashi on the lampposts!
These guys have the important role of steering the dashi with these giant wooden poles...
...especially when they have to navigate super narrow roads and power lines!
I originally took this because of the adorable kid looking all comfy on the dashi...
the random McDonald's bags surprised me when I reviewed the photo later on.
The guys smashing each other to help push the dashi! Looks fun, but also super painful :/
Love these girls' outfits!
Entrance to JR Sawara Station - the main festival venues are about a 10-15 minute walk from here.
It's festival season again!! I am a little skeptical about whether or not I'll be able to go see a festival before I leave Japan, but I hope you will be able to make it out to some!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

One week in Chiba (revisited).

The final installment of my adventures with my dear mum (one month later! sorry) in a photo summary. (Almost all of the photos I've used were her photos, so that's why they've got time stamps on them...and the camera was set to San Francisco time.) But hopefully this offers a little more insight into all the different stuff we got to do.

Part 1: Dinner at Syu's Garden Deli (Chiba City)
The appetizer plate...for one person. At least 4 other full plates of food (again per person!)
Super intense BBQ plate of meat, fish, and fresh veggies!

Oh man. This place is just...epic. I have so much praise for this place I donno where to start. We had the "Garden BBQ" course menu - initially, I thought it was a bit pricey at (I think?) 3000 yen/person, but I knew my mom would appreciate the healthy-ish (ish beacause of the sheer amount of food), veggie-centered menu.

Considering that it was all-you-can-drink (including alcoholic drinks) and an eye-popping amount of amazing food, the price was totally worth it! The restaurant staff was also incredibly nice (very accommodating to our rowdy (but in a friendly way?!) group. I'd love to go back again if I get the chance. It's about a 5 minute walk from Parco in Chiba.

Syu's Garden Deli website: http://www.syuplanning.com/

Part 2: Mitsui Outlet Park (MOP) Kisarazu 
Being silly with the random statue/objects placed around the outlet.
My previous post about MOP Kisarazu: http://ikosa.blogspot.jp/2012/04/grand-opening-of-mop-kisarazu.html.

We went on a weekday afternoon after I got off from work - if you're not a big fan of crowds, this is definitely the perfect time to hit up these outlets. There aren't many other shoppers so you can look around as you please.

Part 3: Sea Festa 2013 in Kamogawa
Rain cleared up just as we arrived in Kamogawa...absolutely gorgeous!
The last day of my mom's visit was the only day we didn't have any reservations or appointments...so I gave my mom the choice between Tokyo and Kamogawa (the two places we hadn't been able to fit into the trip). To my surprise and pleasure, she chose Kamogawa of her own free will, because it was noce and relaxing, and she wanted to see people she'd met during her previous visit.

To male things even better, my mom was visiting just in time for Sea Festa, one of my annual traditions! It's a huge, city-wide event, so I knew we had an incredibly high chance of running into everyone we wanted to.

...and we pretty much did exactly that.
This lovely lady took good care of me when I was in Kamogawa!
She's a part of the women's group within the local Chamber of Commerce...they were selling all sorts of fun Kamogawa t-shirts (and of course, I am a proud owner of a number of them!)

Kamogawa Coffee! This coffee here is seriously epic. I don't actually know where they normally do business...their truck just appears at various local events!
Kamogawa grins all over!
We ran into a ton of people and got tons of delicious food and drink!!! My only regret was that I was duped by the cool weather (and morning clouds!) - found myself pretty well roasted and burnt the next day. I suppose it is a smaller price to pay for a rejuvenating day with friends on the beach though!

Also, found these lovelies at Ichihara Service Area on our way back to Chiba City:

Chiba pride!
To the left - peanut flavored cafe au lait. The peanut flavor was really light - rather, it was the intense smell of...peanut shells? That really caught me off guard. Other than that, I suppose the drink was pretty normal. The packaging was really cute!

To the right - the service area carried a huge variety of I love...Chiba-related place names, so I picked up one for Kamogawa and another for Chiba in general, in honor of my two employers. These'll go on that new suitcase I am overdue to purchase for my trip home. Anyway, the stick come in rectangular and circular shapes, there's one for pretty much every city/town in Chiba...in addition to general "Chiba" ones in hiragana, katakana, romaji...and perhaps others?!