Trip to Tateyama - Chiba
- March 19-21, 2005 (Chiba, Japan)
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| Going from Kanagawa Prefecture to Chiba Prefecture, Yuka and I took the Tokyo Bay Aqualine, a highway that crosses the narrowest part of Tokyo Bay. According to Web-Japan, the highway opened in 1997 and cost 1.44 trillion yen to construct. 9.5 kilometers of the 13.9 kilometer long crossing is tunnel, which apparently makes it the longest in the world. Above, I am standing on an artificial island created in the middle of Tokyo Bay, from which there is a tunnel on one side and a bridge on the other. | Tateyama is located in southern Chiba, and is popular among Tokyoites looking to leave the city for the weekend. Most people go to Tateyama to surf or to see the various sights in the area. I visited as I wanted to bang my head against a fence. It did not help me get more intelligent. |
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| After banging my head against a fence for some time, I decided to make use of the sexy yellow helmet for something else. The most interesting attraction I saw during the weekend was some caves that were used by the Japanese army during the World War 2. | Most Japanese are relatively ignorant about the war, and very few sites have been preserved from the war. These caves were actually the first I had seen in Japan since coming here. Unfortunately, there seems to have been done little research on what the various tunnels and caves were used for, thus I had to use my crazy imagination when walking through them. |
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| March is popular among tourists as the tulips are blooming, and one can pick flowers and bring them home. However, that costs money. If you eat the flowers without anyone catching you, you can pick for free. | This pole was very tasty. Licking water from a pole is another activity you can do for free in Chiba. Highly recommended. |
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| After five minutes of picking flowers, anyone will get tired. I guess my only masculine trait may be that I do not enjoy picking flowers. Someone called me feminine once, and I hit them with my handbag in pure anger. Then I slapped them. | March is also the top season for picking strawberries in Chiba. However, it is not very economical. For the amount of money you pay for a 30 minutes all you can eat strawberry orgy, it would be possible to buy a lot of strawberries on any fruit market in Tokyo. |
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| Mini golf is a great sport for people who can not play real golf. A stand-up comedian at a show in New York that I went to last year commented that golf is the only sport that comes with a slave. One benefit of mini golf is that there is no need to hire a caddy. | Yuka had never played mini golf before, but she quickly got the hang of it. She even got so good, she abruptly fired a ball into the small lake in the background. I humbly had to return to the golf center to grab a new golf ball. At least we did not kill any birds. |
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This is from a different trip we made this year to Shizuoka Prefecture. We stayed close to Dogashima, which we also visited last year. The above picture is from Atami, which is one of the oldest and biggest resort towns in Japan. Prior to making trips abroad became affordable, it used to be one of the most popular honeymoon destinations in Japan. Today, I do not think anyone in their right mind would go there on honeymoon. In its heydays, it does not seem like Atami imposed any kind of restrictions on the buildings that were constructed, thus Atami today looks like an architectural disaster zone. |
