Good Morning guys! It's about 6 o'clock
And I am just getting ready to go down and have breakfast
I don't know if I can eat this early
I usually don't have breakfast but
pretty sure they've prepared something
fancy for me
so I'm going to try and eat it
today we are going to... what are we doing first?
i can't remember
but there is a few things we are doing
we are going to paint those little red cow things
the mascot of fukushima
and we are going to look at these miniature sculptures
i think the carver is going to be there as well
so maybe we'll get to watch him do it
and...
what else are we doing today?
for dessert we get to have those buns again that I had on the train
so... yes
I'm really looking forward to those, those are freaking delicious
ok so im going to go have breakfast now
bring you guys with me and show it to you
I can't believe it's still snowing here that's so weird
because Tokyo's so hot you could wear a t-shirt now
so we are in the forest right now
and a photographer is going to show us the best place to take pictures of the Tarami line train
so this is a secret spot
well it's not so secret anymore
but um.. most people there's a view spot where most people take photos from
but he specialised in taking photos of the train and hes found a better spot
so he's going to show it to us
so behind us in the distance you can see the bridge over there maybe
thats normally where people take photos but if you walk through the forest like we did
you can get a super awesome view of the train line
the train will come across this bridge here
this is like the famous setting that you see in photographs
and postcards and calanders and stuff
so we got a really nice angle from here
It's really pretty scenery
but we only get one shot to take photos of the train
so hopefully my timing is good
I don't really have a good photography camera
I just use this vlogging camera
so I'm just going to try take some with my cellphone for instagram or something
apparently it doesn't make a sound before it arrives so you kind of just got to be prepared for it
it should be on time though
the weather is nice so there shouldn't be any reason for it to be late
I'm going to attempt to take a picture with my phone
while I'm filming this with my camera
so this will be interesting
here it comes
that was really cute
the train is so short it's only 2 cars so it looks like a little toy from here
but we had an awesome view of it
and I got a couple pictures I think they are nice
I'll put them on instagram so go check them out
but yeah that was really cool what a neat spot
so I don't really know how to explain how to get here
but if you see the bridge in the background
that's where people normally take it from
if you park on the road just um a little before the bridge
then walk through the forest
then you might be able to find this spot
I wish it was easier to explain but it's kind of like a hidden spot
there's not a path or anything
we stopped to get some coffee at a souveneir shop
on the side of the road
they're called meechino ekki
or road stations
and you can always find like souvenirs of that city
and most of the time they have food to eat
and coffee and drinks
so I'm just looking around at the souveniers
Fukushima is known for peaches
so there's lots of like peach flavoured stuff
oh these are sakura
even better
oh these look so good
it's so big it moves around
apparently this is the daughter and there's a whole family of them
that's awesome
the mom is in like another station she is bigger
oh cute
theres like hats and stuff
this is what I'm going to be painting later
and I got to practise
so this is what the face looks like
remember that
so we came to see the guy that makes the really tiny sculptures
but his shop was closed today so we couldn't go that's too bad
but instead we are going to go eat manju right away so can't complain
pretty excited oh my god I can see the sign I bet it's that place
I forgot if I mentioned it before but they're made out of millet
that's the word I was looking for
they're millet manju
this is the shop here
ahh I'm so excited
apparently this shop is really famous
so if you want good awo manju
come find this shop
ooh I can see them
in the window
fresh ones
sakura flavour
I'm going to try the sakura one
because they're special for spring
they only make them during spring
I could eat like 3 of these
easily
and these are the regular ones
so you can get these ones all year round
still warm
that's so good
this is freaking awesome
this is like
I think this is like one the best manju I've ever had
I really like the millet
It's really nice
It gives it a nice texture too kind of like oatmeal
so it's like a little bit gritty
chunky
that doesn't really sound appetising but like in a good way
on the way back to the car we passed the ahh sculpture place and it was open
so we're inside
they're so small that I need my glasses to look at them
OK so it's completely impossible to see with my camera
but this is a sesame seed
and the reddish part that you can see there is actually a little tiny statue
that is small enough to fit inside a sesame seed
and if you look at it up close
there's a photo of it up close in a magazine I'll show it to you
so that's what it looks like
that's insane
oh my god
even with like a really big magnifying glass it's hard to see the detail
that's an amazing picture
I'm going to paint my akabeko now
beko is tohoku slang for cow
so this is a red cow
It's the symbol of Fukushima
so I can paint it like the traditional one which looks like this
if I want
but I don't know
I don't know if I should do that or make something different
I'll think about it
I'm going to like google some pictures then decide
I decided to make mine a maneki beko
because I like cats
so this is how it turned out
It's not exactly red anymore
which is kind of weird
but I like it
I think it's cute
That was the last ah spot in our trip
so now we're headed home
but I'm kind of sad
it was really nice
I had such a great time
and we're going to stop at the meechino ekki
the um the like stations on the side of the road
so that I can get stamps for my new stamp book
I think I mentioned this in a video before but
A while ago when I was living in Iwadey prefecture I got one of these
and i visited all the stations in Tohoku
to get a stamp
because I'm in Fukushima now I will get some stamps for my book
I got one already and I'm going to get one more on the way home so
tada
It's going to take forever
It's probably going to take a few years to fill this up again but
everytime I go on a road trip I'll bring this along
and fill it up with stamps
It's really fun
yay I got my stamp
theres only 146 stations
144 more to go that's not too bad