Good morning tanuki! Ahhhh we get ready and take our bags down to the lobby. Drop them off and do a quick breakfast hunt before our train time. We hit the covered walk area just around the corner. There isn’t much for food here actually. Well, I know Tully’s is gonna have shit breakfast but at least it’ll be quick.
Yep, shitty but quick. We grab our bags from the lobby of Sunroute, thank the front desk for having us and walk to the street car. We get to the station and check into trains. Don’t really know what we’re doing but we see a train to Mihara and from there we’ll just get one to Tadanoumi where the ferry for Okunoshima is. Let’s just go and figure it out on the way. It’s kind of out of the way but kind of on the way too. Okunoshima sounds like the perfect combo for Queenie and me. Cute bunnies and sinister weapons of war all in one place.
The train whisks us out into the country side away from the big cities. This is a nice change. Farmland by a river that looks great for tubing. Bridges crossing over water and forests. No high-rises. Absolutely no one around. I was hoping for this. The houses we pass all have old style, temple like architecture. Nice to slow things down. Peaceful train ride
We get into Mihara and the train for Tadanoumi isn’t until 1:09. We’ve got about an hour and a half to kill. Might as well stow the backpacks in a locker and snoop around the town. It’s gonna take 2 lockers now that we have all of this stuff. Tanuki Tax. Yeah, might as well bring the sochu and our leftover mazeman noodles from the other night (dry ramen makes waaaaay better leftovers than normz ramen). Maybe we’ll find a park to picnic in.
Is this Mihara’s mascot? Dig the octopuses.
We exit the station and there is a fountain with octopuses all over it. And is that an octopus clock on the building over there. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a Clocktopus before.
We stroll in a random direction from the station to get a feel for Mihara. Not much happening, seems pretty slepepy. We do spot a Mos burger though and decide to check it out for lunch.
They’re having some competition between new sandwiches. I get the one w spaghetti on it. I don’t think I’ve ever had a fried pork burger. Especially not one with spaghetti on it. We get a couple of iced coffees. Sochu iced coffee? Sure. Eat the rest of our noodles and drink sochu at mos burger. I don’t think the parents of the kids beside us are too impressed with this manuever. Hey, we’re on vacation.
Well my first Mos Burger experience was sub par (except the sochu iced coffee which was surprisingly good). I probably should have just gone with the regular menu items that made them famous instead of trying the special. That’s probably true for most every restaurant.
We circle around a park across the street that’s up a level from us but can’t for the life of us find a way up to it. We curve our way back towards the station and walk through the side streets. Not much going on. We find what looks like the main drag. Most places are closed since it’s only about noon. There are more octopuses lining the streets. There must be good okonomiyako here. I wonder if people from Mihara are big into tentacle porn?
Narcopiggy vs Giant Octopus!
I like what you did here, pal
We find a pawn shop. Not that we need anymore swag, but.. you know.
Seriously Snack Owl? That is the second smallest entrance to a place I’ve ever seen.
Ok, that was a cute little stop over but it’s almost train time. We head back a tad early so as not to fuck it up. There are some displays in the station depicting a Mihara festival with some unique traditional garb.
And a small octopus shrine, of course.
The train rolls out of the station and takes a pretty path right by the water. Barely anybody on it. The sea beside the train has everyone gazing out pensively. The rolling hill islands on the still water is serene.
About 40 minutes later we arrive at Tadanoumi. There are a handful of tourists milling about, undoubtedly here for the same reason. We go to the family mart by the station to inquire about rabbit snacks.
Haha yep, they have a spread of rabbit goodies to choose from. We go for the value set.
It’s a short walk to the water and the ferry terminal is easy to find. It’s a cute building that doubles as a coffee shop and souvenir spot. We grab tickets for the next boat which should be arriving soon. They have a large rubber and ink stamp here. Lots of places in Japan have these, the temples especially. Should have probably been collecting them in a book. Total scrap bookers dream.
We take our ticket and rabbit treats to the pier. Another nice day. The port is pretty.
The ferry pulls in and we wait for everyone to disembark.
We spend the whole ferry ride on the top deck. This is really pleasant. The wind and the smell of the sea. It gets a little more overcast as we close in on Okunoshima
We pull into port at Okunoshima and a number of bunnies come out of the bushes, rushing towards the ferry. Haha, this is gonna be hilarious. But if we learned anything at Nara’s deer park it’s not to feed the first animal you find. Alright! Let’s get over there and feed some poisonous bunnies!