Odawara Castle Part Deux

Whew, I really should've written this last weekend when it was still fresh. Well, here's a (hopefully) brief summary of what happened.

So last weekend I went back to Odawara to visit Tanyisha and do Hanami, or flower viewing, at Odawara Castle. Since it wasn't raining, it was the best time to go. We met up with Arvin, one of our fellow teachers (he works for the Odawara BOE just like Tanyisha) and went to Odawara Castle. Along the way though we happened to bump into Williams, who is the third and final other teacher for the Odawara BOE. It was actually really funny because he's this tall skinny black guy from Uganda and he stuck out like a sore thumb among all the Japanese people walking around the city. It was hilarious.

So all four of us walked around the castle. Tanyisha and I took a bunch of pictures and we had soft-served ice cream. Arvin and I got Sakura flavored while Tanyisha got Matcha (green tea) and Vanilla swirl. Both were really tasty. :3

After the castle we decided to go to the beach. Along the way we saw a street that was framed on both sides with Sakura trees. It was so beautiful that not only me and Tanyisha, but other Japanese people were taking pictures of it. We ended up standing in the middle of the road to get a good shot. After that, we got a little unsure as to where the beach was, so we asked some women for directions. After getting some directions, they gave us these books (completely in Japanese, by the way) that tell the true history of Japan, because for years the Japanese have been neglecting to include certain important events in their history. Events like, oh, I don't know... Pearl Harbor.

Yeah...

Anyway, we each got a copy of the book. I haven't had the chance to try reading it yet, but hopefully I'll work up the courage to practice my translation skills on it.

So! The beach. We found a big tiled version of The Big Wave (that famous Ukiyo-e painting by Hokusai) on a jutting piece of cement that went out into the ocean. There, we took video of waves crashing on rocks as well as picked sea shells and pretty stones. Arvin was really good at finding the pretty rocks. The beach in Odawara consists mostly of rocks, with a little bit of a grayish-brown sand, which was really interesting to walk around on. I was constantly worried about falling down or losing my footing. Sure was fun though. Especially after I found a denture on the beach. WEIRD.

After spending at least an hour of sea shell and pretty rock hunting, we left the beach and went back toward the Odawara train station where we ate tempura at this one tempura restaurant we'd found the other day. It was delicious!

Last, but not least, we dropped by Don Quixote, which is the store to go to for American products. If you want some Downy, you go here. It's a huge store, and unlike the one in Hawaii I don't believe this one sold food.

We went home with bags that were heavy with pretty beach rocks and sea shells. I also bought this really pretty umbrella that when it gets wet goes from being an ordinary pink umbrella to having sakura designs all along it. It's awesome, because when you look up at it, it looks like it's raining sakura instead of actually raining. Tanyisha has a purple one from when she went to Kawagoe. I really like my pink one though. :D