iwate day 2

The next morning, we woke up early and headed down to the pier
 

If you turn around, you can see how high the new sea wall is...the wall blocks the view of the sea for those living on the hillside

The wall in the foreground was the sea wall before the tsunami...the one in the background is the new sea wall.

On the pier, there was a mountain of oyster shells...I haven't seen something like this since the time we visited Lake Saroma in Hokkaido (pre-blog)

I can't remember if it was before or during breakfast but Mother Nature welcomed us to Rikuzentakata with an earthquake...boy was it long and loud!

Interesting things at breakfast...Kesen green tea shabu shabu

Thinly sliced pork for the shabu shabu

Miso soup with tofu and ogo, you don't see ogo used in many things in Tokyo

Rikuzentakata yuzu used for yuzu cha...there was also honey added to this.

From Rikuzentakata we took the BRT to Sakari...here we found a Pokemon manhole

Must be cool to see this kaki noren (curtain of persimmon) in person! 

From Sakari we took the Rias line to Kamaishi

There is a huge Kannon statue that we saw from the train (we'll need to check this out the next time!)

The photo I took of the Kannon was kinda creepy because the electric lines in the foreground look like fuzzy caterpillars

There was an area near the station that had these huge piles of wood!

And deer! 

I bought these thin cookies that the Santetsu railways were selling.

In the past, Santetsu railways were on the verge of bankruptcy and sold these cookies to help save their railway...and still sell them to this day.

These sesame cookies are delicious, super crispy.

They are sweet but also savory with the aonori (green laver) on them.

We got to ride this fancy train from Kamaishi to Miyako

Apparently Kuwait helped the railways after the tsunami.

Along this route, there were many tsunami memorials and the deer made the train stop suddenly several times

When we got to Miyako, we took a taxi to Jodogahama where we would be staying.

100 plus stairs down to the shore

Wear a bear bell...because they are around...eep!

Beautiful area...short video here.

This area was also hit by the tsunami, there is a visitor center and the 1st floor was destroyed

Sushi kaiseki for dinner...we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

The restaurant is named "Odense" (oh-den-say) which means irrashaimase (welcome) in Iwate dialect

have you ever had ichigo ni? it has nothing to do with strawberries...

Abalone, sea urchin and ogo are used in a clear soup

Different and delicious

Another long day, but we saw a lot!

The Park Hotel Jodogahama

32-4 Hitachihamacho

Miyako, Iwate