Japan Diaries 4: Weekend 52
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Weekend 52: October 29-30, 2022
Day 362: October 29, 2022
Saturday – My Wife’s Birthday
Today is an important day because it is my wife's 35th birthday. We had originally planned to stay the night at Jozankei, but Ella's school play was postponed until today. |
| I did my best to help prepare the dishes for my wife's birthday celebration |
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| One of the dishes that we made was baked sushi |
Hence, we spent the morning preparing food for our mini-celebration. We made baked sushi, pad thai, and honey chicken wings. Our neighbor Deguchi-sensei also sent cake and sake as a gift to my wife.
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| Off to Midorigaoka Elementary School |
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| Ella is one of the narrators for their Kaguya Hime play |
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| Congratulations to the teachers and the Kaguya Hime cast |
Before 2:30 PM, we went to Midorigaoka Elementary School with Teacher Kanda to watch Ella’s presentation for their Kaguya Hime play. Ella did great as one of the narrators. I was surprised that she memorized her lines and it was in Japanese.
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| Happy birthday my love, KC Nicerio |
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When we got back home, we had a simple feast as a family. Overall, we might not have traveled today during my wife’s first birthday here in Japan but we are still very thankful that we got to celebrate it together.
Day 363: October 30, 2022
Sunday – Tomamae Gang Goes to Wakkanai
Last Friday, Hasegawa-sensei invited me and the two other ALTs in Tomamae on a road trip to Wakkanai City. Since we were all available today, our road trip pushed through as planned. |
| Hasegawa-sensei came to pick me up |
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| Driving along Route 239 |
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| We made a brief toilet break stop at Obira Roadside Station |
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| I didn't miss the opportunity to say hit to Tomamaeda Bear |
Hasegawa-sensei picked me up from my home at around 7 AM and then we drove to Tomamae City Hall in the town of Tomamae (苫前町) to pick up Jon and Mike.
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| We passed by the Otonrui Wind Farm |
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| 45°N Monument |
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| 45°N Latitude Monument |
From Tomamae, we made a brief stop at the 45°N Latitude Monument in the town of Horonobe (幌延町) to take some photos before continuing our drive to the Sarobetsu Wetland Center in the town of Toyotomi (豊富町).
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| Sarobetsu Wetland Center |
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| The wetland center was still closed when we arrived so we first explored Sarobetsu Primeval Flower Garden |
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| Sarobetsu Primeval Flower Garden |
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| A picture with Mike, Jon, and Hasegawa-sensei |
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| The Sarobetsu Wetland Center was already opened after we explored the wetlands. We watched a tourism video of Rishiri Island |
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| Inside Sarobetsu Wetland Center |
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| We continued on to Wakkanai City via Route 106 |
We explored the wetlands using the elevated wooden path behind the center. The place was very scenic. During our visit, we were the only people there so we got to take our time and take hundreds of photos of the Sarobetsu Primeval Flower Garden.
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| We turned left to Route 254 |
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| We had lunch at Dino's |
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| Hasegawa-sensei recommended this place to us |
⦽ Dino’s
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| We finally reached our main destination - Cape Soya |
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| The Statue of Rinzo Mamiya |
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| Kashiwaya - Japan's northernmost store |
⦽ Kashiwaya
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| From Cape Soya, we drove to the White Path or White Road |
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| White Path / White Road |
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| The scenery around White Road is also picturesque |
⦽ White Path / White Road
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| Wakkanai Centennial Memorial Tower |
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| Hasegawa-sensei really is a funny dude |
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| The view from the observation deck |
Aside from going to the observation deck of Wakkanai Centennial Memorial Tower, we also checked out the museum on the tower's ground floor. It was there where my phone battery died on me. That only meant that there were no photos from that point on.
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| The elevator going to the observation deck |
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Before driving back home, we went to Etchan in the city center and ate ramen for dinner. Mike generously paid for our food.
From there, Hasegawa-sensei drove us home. The drive back home was an adventure in itself as we almost crashed into a deer somewhere on the outskirts of Embetsu and also almost ran over some foxes in Haboro and Obira.
Thankfully, we all arrived home safely. Overall, today was a fun and memorable road trip with my Tomamae JTE and ALT co-workers. I hope that we get to travel again someday soon.
Japan Diaries 4: Day 363
From there, Hasegawa-sensei drove us home. The drive back home was an adventure in itself as we almost crashed into a deer somewhere on the outskirts of Embetsu and also almost ran over some foxes in Haboro and Obira.
Thankfully, we all arrived home safely. Overall, today was a fun and memorable road trip with my Tomamae JTE and ALT co-workers. I hope that we get to travel again someday soon.
Read more:
Japan Diaries 4: Week 52Japan Diaries 4: Day 363
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