Shipwreck Beach

About 45 min away from the base is Shipwreck Beach. No one is sure what the correct Japanese name for the beach is......but we call it Shipwreck Beach for obvious reasons :)

When we first got here, you could find beautiful glass balls on the beach that washed ashore overnight, but recently the Japanese have caught onto the American market and figured out that we would pay top dollar for them.....so it's a race to find the glass balls........long story short...you have to get to the beach HECKA early to find them!

I mean 5am is a normal time to be AT the beach to find a good glass ball! Hmmmm so needless to say.......I just wait for my wonderful co-workers to go (they have been here forever - and they have hundreds of them) and I ask them for a ball.....they are happy to give me one or two or three!

WOOHOOOO I get to sleep in and still get glass balls! Come to our house and I can show you all of them!

Look what was at Shipwreck Beach!

The world's smallest sand dollars!!

How cool is that!!

1000 Torii Gates Park

So these are pictures of a park on the other side of Honshu island (the main island of Japan).

The word 'torii' means 'gate' in Japanese. I've never seen them any other color besides red.

They are simply BEAUTIFUL!!!

Fall in the beautiful Oirase Gorge

Let me just start by going on record: I am going to miss this place!

Northern Japan is so incredibly beautiful during all seasons!

We took a short drive up north to the Oirase Gorge this weekend with some girlfriends of mine. We were gone all day and Elijah and I were T.I.R.E.D. when we got home. It was really pretty and we got to eat some tasty Ramen noodles!

Check out the fish on a stick - it's cooking right there! There are hot coals that a sweet, older lady fans to help smoke the fish.

The water in the lake is crystal clear - it's melted snow from the surrounding mountains. That water was about 18 inches deep!

This is called Temple Island.

No I didn't feel like doing my hair, hence the hat....let's just move one......

Elijah looks so grown in this pic!

That gigantic rock is supported by a single tree! There is a legend that an old lady used to live there.......

The Wheels on the Japanese Bus go 'Round and 'Round

Our elementary school hosted a group of Japanese kindergarten students last week. Of course they were the super sweet and very polite visitors. They were able to practice the English they knew with our kindergarteners and participate in American specials (music, art, pe, etc.).

Anyway, I was so impressed by the cute buses they arrived in--- they are filled and covered with so much character!!

Here are the Pokemon bus and the Hello Kitty bus!