And then it was the end of summer

Last time on ‘Sarah Goes to Japan,’ I was in a terrible typhoon. But it passed and left a morning of crystal blue skies in its wake, only to sweep hose away and drench us again in the afternoon and take summer with it. So now I suppose, unannounced and all-of-a-sudden, it is autumn. That being said, as I live in the most beauty oriented country I’ve ever experienced, we get a day off just because it was the autumn equinox. Japan really knows how to appreciate the seasons.

My big plans for the long weekend was my last undoukai and then a trip to the beach as only a day before the typhoon I was sweltering the heat. Well, it rained Friday so the undoukai was postponed in favour of me doing math homework and the weekend dawn cold and rainy.

In lieu of the cancellation, I took a walk down to Saruhashi and to my sickening amazement I saw something drastic that typhoon had also taken: the platform where I used to look out over the river and up at the bridge. It is perched high enough off the river that I could have never imagined the water reaching it, at least five or more meters above, but not only did it reach it, it swept most of it away. It is unimaginable to think the water got that high and worse did such destruction from a seemingly unreachable distance.

The next morning was bright and blue but colder than normal but still perfect undoukai weather! The Hatsukari undoukai was the very best! Because it was scheduled on a day all by itself I got to spend the whole day there and the kids were so happy to have me around. And to make it even more fun, another English teacher, who used to teach at my schools two years ago, came along so we got to have fun and talk in English when I got tired of trying to speak Japanese. It was such a great day, I really adore this school and the students are so great!

They played all sorts of fun games, but the best was this free-for-all war where there were tires piled in the middle of this square and four teams ran for them all at once and dragged them off to the corners. Except even when safe in their respective corners, other teams could come steal them away until the timer went off! It was hilarious, kids were getting dragged about and rolled around in tires and the game would definitely be banned from Canada within minutes it looked so dangerous but the kids loved it and so did I. The other best part was when the fifth and sixth years put on their routine which involved this awesome dance, (which I had practiced with them) where they flicked about this straw hat in really cool movements, and then an acrobatic performance that puts some circus performers to shame. The stood on one another and their partners up onto their shoulders and all sorts of things leading up to their grand finale: the pyramid of over thirty students!

 

 

And I need to mention that the teacher’s bought me a bento for lunch and it was the most amazing bento ever! With tonkatsu, shrimp tempura, rice, sweet egg, rice noodle salad and miso soup! It was a great day and then in the evening we went out to my favourite restaurant and then to karaoke. Also this following picture is one of my favourite views of Otsuki, it's taken from the upstairs window at the school. Sometimes after class I just stare out the window, it's always beautiful regardless of the weather. The rice is just being harvested now.

The next morning Rhee and I woke up really early so we could drive down to the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka prefecture. Izu is famous for its wild boars, (I bought the cutest little stuffy of one) wasabi, (I had wasabi tea, it was disgusting) and beaches! It took about three hours to get there but when we did we drove through little rustic town and beautiful green hills to a massive water fall where the river flowed crystal blue and green. A little further down the road we went to the famous seven waterfalls except the area had been hit extensively by the typhoon and most of them were inaccessible. When I say most, I mean all of them but we were just a couple of gaijin who couldn’t read Japanese so we snuck under the rope to see the most famous one. It has a statue before it which is monument to a short novel that takes place in the area called ‘The Izu Dancer.’ Just a little ways downstream was a wishing rock where one takes three rocks and makes their greatest rock and tosses them out to this boulder with a little shrine on top. If one of the three rocks stays on the boulder your wish will come true but then you need to return and give thanks. Oh and there was this really cool part of the highway leading down out of the mountains towards the ocean that looped around twice in the sky so it felt like I was driving a track out of Mario kart!

At last halfway through the day we made it to the tip of the peninsula and consequently the beach! Shirahama was gorgeous and had huge waves where surfers frolicked about in the waves and on the far side were some low cliffs with a torii. The torii led to a very attractive shrine that had all my favourite elements: a red bridge, forest, gardens, multiply little shrines and a secret path that led up the hill to a peaceful little grove. There was also this tall hollowed out tree stump where somehow, someone must have climbed up and then down into it to place a little shrine. It was really neat! Another torii led us to another secret path that cut through sea grasses and low trees to a secret beach. I collected the prettiest shells I’ve ever seen and then noticed some stairs were cut into the rocks. Unable to avoid climbing them I led Rhee again on adventure that belonged out of a pirate tale. This was where the treasure was hidden. We had to climb up the stairs and across this platform over the crashing waves and then a bridge that was built over a large crevasse where certain death lay in the fierce surf against the lava rock cliffs below. I felt like I had walked into a setting from a book because then rising from the cliffs was a little V shaped passage with a wooden gate. Beyond the gate was a round hollow between the cliffs and the hill where an underwater passage made the tide reach the area. It was a steep drop so I didn’t get close enough to dare take a picture but then again a picture couldn’t do it justice. In what seemed a disconnected part of the land the ocean was swelling, it seemed impossible but so cool!

 

Now that it was afternoon we began heading back north but this time along the coast. We stopped at another section of the coastline that was more rugged and where lava had once flowed all the way to the sea to create black cliffs against the sharp blue water. A suspension bridge led us over the ocean and then my curiosity carried me up one of the cliffs that jutted out over the water. It was really fun climbing up the lava rocks but it was a shame the white sky in the pictures didn’t merit the landscape what it deserved.

We finished the evening with dinner at a café overlooking luscious palm trees and the last bit of twilight before the sun slipped away and ended the last weekend of summer. Now, Monday, it is chilly and I have unpacked my sweaters. Maybe it will warm up a little but with typhoon season over, so is the heat.