How do you say "ahoy, matey" in Japanese?
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2006
1
10
17
Trip End
Sep 10, 2006
Shimanami Kaido, Japan
Sunday, September 3, 2006
We stopped for lunch at a small place right on the water on one of the islands. Turns out it was a "cook your own seafood" restuarant! We helped Mayumi's dad select our seafood from their selection (fish, octopus, squid, any type of shellfish imaginable), some of which was still moving. Two small grills were brought to the table, and we started cooking. It was quite fun, though I kept thinking "undercooked shellfish!" Everything seemed pretty well cooked though, and although I didn't much care for the sea snails or some of the larger or chewier shellfish, the clams and fish were very good.
After lunch, we visited some scenic overlooks and the Innoshima Suigun Castle on the island of Innoshima, which was a museum on the history of the Murakami Suigun, who were sort of like pirates who patrolled the Inland Sea. There was a large diorama of a pirate in a loincloth with some unfortunate English translation that sent Kirsten and I into hysterics, but by far the most entertaining part of the museum was getting to dress up like princesses/pirates - we made poor Mayumi be the pirate!
Although we were tired when we arrived back in Fukuyama, we decided to make a quick visit to the 100 Yen store right behind Mayumi's house. Yes, it is essentially like the Dollar Store, but the merchandise looks much cooler when everything is in Japanese. Our favorite thing was a photo booth where, for 100 Yen, you could make photo stickers of yourself, complete with fake backgrounds. We so need these in the U.S. For dinner, we went to a Japanese chain fast food restaurant, which was good - food was tempura, fish, etc.
