Have you ever been to Choshi?
It’s in the northeastern part of Chiba prefecture and has an amazing view of the pacific ocean. Well, it usually does. But when we stopped by on our way back down to Chiba, it was so cloudy that we couldn’t see a thing! Of course, that didn’t stop us from going up to the observatory deck to take a few pictures just so we can say we were there.
I actually liked the view that we had, even if we couldn’t see far.
There are also some other activities going on inside the observatory deck and we ended up working on seashell art. The project itself was fun but the older men and ladies teaching us were the real entertainment. So nice and eager to tell us their outrageous stories.
After that we took the Ken-o-do further down Chiba to drop off our baby sister at her campus. And that was the end of our short Golden Week this year. I’m hoping next year we have an even longer vacation so we can take an even longer road trip somewhere! x
Here are some photos:
Kaori Square Feet 
we can se how you enjoyed the trip with your sisters , beautiful pictures and drawings 🙂
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Your shell art is so realistic at first I thought they were done similarly to Japanese gyotaku fish prints from real fish. OK, I can see that you used a stencil but I have no idea how you got the erased-looking white lines.
The observatory is at an interesting-looking building.
A couple good summer beaches in the area (but not exactly near) might be Onjuku which has a wide, white-sand beach and can be walked to from the closest station. And in the opposite direction from Choshi there is the popular Ōarai Beach in Ibaraki (known by the locals as 大笑い。）My home stay host took me to Ōtake Beach, which I liked a lot, but it was out in the middle of nowhere. But, come to think of it, I have no idea what these places are like today.
You sisters sure put out some infectious smiles. I wish all my infections were as uplifting.
I have to admit that I am curious about the old-timer’s “outrageous stories.”
Oh, to answer your question, I don’t think I have ever stopped in Choshi, but I heard that it has some excellent seafood. Thanks for showing us some of what I have been missing.
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Thank you Babzy! We had a really great time 😀
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It's hard to see but there actually is a real shell underneath the white cloth. They are both covered by the stencil to stabilize the shell inside. You can see the real gyotaku art behind us posing with our shell art!
Onjuku was where all the college kids used to go during the summer when I was still a student. The fact that it's so close to the station is probably why it was so popular, now that I think about it. Although the water was pitch black. Not the cleanest beach in Japan, that's for sure. Well, it probably also has to do with the fact that the sand is very dark. Oarai is a popular surfers beach, too! My sister lives near there. We also passed through the most popular Kujukurin beach in Chiba, which was also full of surfers 🙂
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I think I understand now. Maybe it is a kind of frottage, a little like taking rubbings of something textured underneath. Thanks for the explanation.
The octopus and fish tail look so realistic and 3D I didn’t think they were gyotaku.
I had some good times briefly during a few summers, in spite of feeling too old compared to all the teens, visiting Niijima and Kozushima (and not so much at Oshima for some reason)—members of Izu Seven Islands
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