Utsume Beach

Spent my Wednesday off with Jo at Utsume beach. Early concerns about weather ended up being being just concerns as the weather was absolutely fantastic: hot and sunny, with a good breeze coming off the sea. Sure, it was hot, but it is Japan in the summer. The previous night had just pissed down rain, so Jo and I were talking about what we could do of the indoor sort; but Wednesday morning at 8am was bright and sunny, so the beach it was. I was really glad we went to the beach too, it was my first time in the ocean in four years...which is fairly depressing since I've been living on this island for 14 months now. Anyway.

Started out at Kanayama, where we ate a little lunch and watched a bizarre man capture a pigeon and give it a pedicure (picture 1). Weird.

Made it to Utsume, about an hour from Nagoya, and went to the beach. Utsume is a cool little beachtown, complete with the townie/tourist vibe and a twentysomething parking lot attendant with a gas-powered skateboard. Also weird, but in a good way. Passed some really cool old-style Japanese houses and businesses (picture 2) on the way through town, and saw some crabs in a tidal gutter outside the town's (luckily) only highschool band practice (picture 3). At the beach, I smeared myself with sunscreen, not so much to keep from burning but as to try to keep the glare off my pasty white Minnesotan skin to a minimum. It worked for the most part, except for where I sweated it off and on my shoulders, thus leaving me with the ugliest piebald sunburn since Iain's trip to the beach last week. Jo managed to get pretty toasted herself, and was looking a little lobster-esque by the end (picture 4).

We stayed till sundown and watched the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful (pictures 5 and 6), then headed back to the station to try to change out of our sand-, salt-, and sweat-encrusted clothes for the train-ride back to Nagoya. Jo says she can't understand people who go to the beach to look glamorous - it's just not possible. And she's right.

Got back to Kanayama and decided it was time to eat, so we went to perrenial favorite Yama-chan for more food than I thought was possible for two of us to eat. We looked like two Murakami characters before the end of the world. Oh, it was good. I like the beach.