Welcome to fukushima
I am standing in the iwaki marine tower
which gives you a fantastic view of all the great places that you can explore while you're here
there is so much to see let's not waste any time
let's get after it
It's worth noting that Iwaki is only 2.5 hours by car from Tokyo
if you're going to the top of the iwaki marine tower
going to a dharma festival
perhaps exploring the local aquarium
you're going to need energy to do all of that
so the first thing we did was hunt out a delicious cafe at iwaki station
the name of this cafe is Break
and it's quite popular with the locals
i could see that as soon as i walked in
well frequented
made me really really happy to see that
it has a few specialties but the one that particularly drew me to it was that it has an oversized sandwich
which uses 1.5 loaves of bread in its creation
if you can believe that
you think you know how big it's going to be
until it drops on the table
and i think no matter who you are you're going to be kind of surprised by the size of this thing
you're not going to be disappointed
now if your eyes felt a little bit bigger than your stomach
once it drops onto your table
i think there's no shame in sharing this with a friend
although if you're really hungry you probably crush your way right through to the other side of it
as for the ingredients
lightly toasted bread
so nice
the vegetables were super fresh
everything was good
i would highly recommend checking this out if you were to drop in to Break
now the encore that we went with was an oversized parfait
brimming with many different kinds of fruit
splashed with whipped cream all over
and of course a delectable cherry on top
no one i think has ever left break feeling hungry
and i say that with great great confidence
i certainly didn't
there's real charm here
the little lady who was running the store that day was so kind to us
kept coming over making sure that we were okay
everything was all right
really really nice pleasant laid-back atmosphere
well worth dropping into if you're around the station
with great value for what it is that they're selling
even got a nice little fist bump from that kind little lady at the end
after being super fueled for the rest of the day
who among us doesn't enjoy getting to be a kid again on some occasion
and that's what i felt when i went to visit the iwaki aquarium
i haven't been to something like this since i was probably 10 years old
and it was never on the scale that i found here
also pleasantly surprised to see that they actually had a lot of fuzzy cute land animals that you could observe
another part of the experience was seeing feeding time in the enclosure
where the caretakers would throw chunks of the food for the day into the water
and then you would watch them the animals rush up to the glass and make off with their delicious lunch
they looked very very happy and i feel like that was indicative of the kind of care that they were getting
the aquarium itself is separated into two buildings
the larger of the sea creatures can be found in the second building
and before we even went in we commented that it sounded like there were dinosaurs in there
because of some of the incredible loud sounds that you could hear
it was peaceful watching all the fish swim around
and a real joy to explore because there were so many rooms
that had been modeled after different parts of specific warmer climates
making it something of a vacation from the cold
which was very very welcome for me
a definite highlight for me is when we entered the sea lion enclosure
where at first it was only in my mind that i felt like a kid
here i actually got to behave like one
playing along with them as they were swimming around
and it started to feel like a little bit of a terrence malek movie actually
again they looked really really well cared for
happy chubby fat
and the attendance giving them a really really good lunch
lots of different amounts of fish for them to eat
the hottest part of the whole aquarium would come next
where it was basically tropical inside the building
and i had to take off my jacket
to not overheat
all the plants the fauna that you saw
and then there were aquariums which were filled with all kinds of fish
what i was not expecting to see was that actually in some of these aquariums
near the end of the tour as you were walking through
you actually saw scuba divers who were maintaining the tanks
looking after them
feeding the sea anemones
and cleaning all the walls
contributing to this idea that the aquarium is lovingly attended to
and just the people again making the experience so so wonderful
if i were to return to IWAKI i would go here again
and definitely spend more than the time that we had available to us in this visit
if only i had better luck
i've thought many times
well japan has an answer for that
in the form of daruma
now rather than me give you an explanation
because my information is secondhand at best
we got to go to a festival that was going on in iwaki
where they claim to make the real daruma
the real doll of luck
and we got to sit down for a quick conversation
with a family that's been doing it for many many generations
and answered all the burning questions that i had about this particular tradition
well there you have it
whether you are an aspiring academic
an athlete
or for whatever reason that you might need a little bit more luck in your life
if you can make it out to the dharma festival in iwaki
rest assured you will be getting the highest quality luck
provided by a generational family
who truly knows the business of fortune
i absolutely love seafood
and as a coastal town iwaki is a fantastic place for you to enjoy some of the best that japan has
we are here today at urokoju
and we are going to try some of the wonderful selections that they have
we got a big order
and if i anticipate correctly i think it's going to be absolutely delicious
Here is the Big Tendon (Tempura Bowl)
Look so good!
Thank you very much
what's up with this?
beautiful looking presentation
a theme to coming to iwaki can be enjoying the dekamori food that they have here
which is this quite large style that you get
if you've had a fantastic day touring around and exploring
and you're very hungry
don't worry you'll be able to walk out of here full
i'm excited
okay
crispy
light
flaky
everything you want in a delicious piece of tempura
with a veritable feast laid before us
it was a challenge but a welcome one to get it all down
and we were lucky enough to actually have the brother of the owner of the company
give us a little bit of his time
sit down with us
and give us a message for anyone who might be considering coming to visit iwaki
with my belly full of some of the most amazing seafood i've ever had
i headed down to the peninsula again
because i wanted to see what the views were like as the sun was setting
it was incredible
and definitely a highlight for me would have to be the lighthouse
that i went to see
and it was so cool to see just as the shadow would pass over it as the sun went down
but again that meant i burnt off all those calories and needed to eat
so what better place to enjoy but another local izakaya
where they specialized in a lot of great japanese sake from fukushima
we've come to a place that has incredible selection in terms of the Nihonshu that they have on offer
we've gone for local
we've gone for fukushima
and then within that you have a couple of different flavor profiles
you could go for a little sweeter
you could go for a little dryer
my personal favorite is the dryer
of the options
and that is what we are going to try now
to migrate honor and surprise
the master of the izakaya actually came out and poured for me
i will never forget this kindness
so cool
as is customary kanpai
absolutely delicious
it's a gentler flavor if you've not tried the Nihonshu before
don't be intimidated
it's really easy to like
almost too easy to like in fact
i'll be definitely having a lot more of this
sake of course isn't the only reason that locals come to visit the restaurant
and hang out with the master-san
there's a lot of great food as well
i enjoyed a whole lot of it when i was there
but rather i tell you what it is that they enjoy
i think it's better if you actually hear from them themselves
why it is that they keep coming back and why they enjoy it so much here
for our second day we ascended the mountains of fukushima
to once again do something
experience something
that i never had before since living in japan
or in fact in my entire life
today we're at abukuma caves
i've never ever been to a cave before
and this one is quite extensive
with a lot of interesting features
i think it's going to be a lot of fun
so this cave was first found in 1969
in a quarrying operation
and then they later in the 70s opened it to the public
by 2004 over 19 million people have come to visit the cave
you can imagine then by now that it's been very very very popular
i think it'd be interesting to come here at all times of the year
but we're getting this very very interesting experience out of winter where
look at all this ice that you're finding
it's giving it a very distinct vibe
there's a whole lot that's surprising me here
i thought that it was only going to be narrow
and there's great expanses of space in some areas
i thought it was going to be cold
and it's actually surprisingly warm
it maintains a temperature of 15 degrees celsius all year round
here we are at where they actually found the first initial entrance to the cave
you can see it was a mining operation when they busted through
and you can see some of the old equipment and staircase that would have led down into it
what a day that must have been
once you enter the cave and got in a little bit further
you have two options before you enter the main cavern
one of which is the exploration course
and one of which is the regular
we're going to take the exploration course
to make it just that much more exciting
let's go
we just passed what was said to be where you purify your soul
in the lake
not much of a lake more like a little pond
but i'll take anywhere i can purify my soul
they're not kidding when they call this the adventure course
it is low you got to watch your head
i will say though i'm 6'1 and it's totally doable
so don't be afraid if you're a little bit taller to get through here
you can do it
no exaggeration that this has some serious indiana jones-like qualities to it
and i'm not talking about like kingdom of the crystal skull letdown
this is more like holy grail or ark of the covenant
cool stuff
we found our way to the main cavern of the whole system
and it is impressive
if you are the sort of family that has some kids who love the jungle gym
or climbing around cool obstacles
you're gonna have a lot of fun in here
maybe that's just the child in me that never got older but
i'm really enjoying it
never at any point in our exploration was i expecting cave wine
but here it is
apparently the characteristics of the cave make it really good for storing and maturing the vintage
the consistency of the temperature means that it smooths out
much better than it would in other locations
and you can grab it from the gift shop for 2000 yen about 20 usd
very cool
i'm always calmed by the spiritual locations that you can visit in japan
whether that's a shrine or a temple
each in the different prefectures that you find them
offers you a different feeling
a different way that you can be at peace
and as that this was my first time visiting fukushima
i'd heard that there was a quite beautiful place to visit
and so made some time to drop by there
and after all the running around that we had done
take a moment
slow down
breathe
and enjoy a bit of the unique serenity that can be found in japan
this is shiramizu amidado
and it was first built many hundreds of years ago
in 1160 by the fujiwara clan
it became the one and only national treasure of fukushima in 1952
as of 2011 it actually suffered a great deal of damage from the earthquake at that time
but was repaired and then reopened for 2012.
it is one of these beautiful serene places in japan that is beautiful all year round
but i would say especially so in the fall and spring
my favorite season is fall
and the fall colors here would be absolutely unbelievable
if you were looking for a nice peaceful way to spend your afternoon
walking around the grounds here would definitely calm you down
and be a great place to get a breath of fresh air
i was genuinely surprised to see that there was a hawaiian themed resort here in fukushima japan
even more so to discover that at one point they had actually made a hula themed movie
for me the highlight was hanging out with the performers
because you could really feel just how passionate they were about this particular performing art
but as well i made time to enjoy some relaxation in the spa
aloha welcome to spa resort hawaiians
they got a lot to do here
pools
water slides
never did i think i would be going down one in january
but here we are bending reality
let's try it out
perhaps not quite so nimble now at 37
than i once was at 10 years old going down water slides on vancouver island
but i enjoyed this experience nonetheless
and i'm happy to report that they were very very fast
afterwards it gave me a great excuse too to go and try out the more relaxing pools that they had
bubbly
good for when you got sore muscles
they had quite a large variety at the resort
and then
most interesting for me was sitting down with a different performing artist
to hear what they had to say about each of their respective arts
an interesting detail for Yuya,
the fire dancer i sat down with
is that he had actually competed and come in first runner-up in Hawaii
if you've never tried a private onsen
Have you ever lived?
yes you have
it's very very rare to do
but it shouldn't discourage you from trying
it was in fact another check mark on the long list of first times for me
i'd never enjoyed one before
it put me in the perfect mindset though for the very busy day
and final one that we had in iwaki
where we would check out a coal and fossil museum
to get in touch with iwaki's history
a sake brewery
and once more delicious huge dekamori iwaki food
we've come to the iwaki fossil museum today
to explore a little bit of the town's history
and discovered some cool details
for example
they found the first long-necked dinosaur fossil
in this area
it's called the futabasaurus suzuki
futaba named after a region
and then suzuki named after the high school student who actually found it
kind of cool
much as i enjoyed the fossils
they were really cool at scale
and again something i'd never seen before
this all for the first time for me
it was the coal museum that stuck out and stayed with me afterwards
getting to see the conditions that people worked in at that time
just to be able to survive
was mind-blowing
and i had a new appreciation for the effort that my civilization i live in now was built on
it would not be possible without anything less than what you would call the sacrifice of these generations that came before me
this was yet again another experience i will ever forget
sake is one of japan's great gifts to the rest of the world
whatever flavor preference you may have
soft sweet dry
you'll find something that suits you
in iwaki there are two major breweries
we went to visit the smaller of the two
the master brewer there whose family had been running this brewery for generations
sat down with us and explained a little bit of their history as well as their signature sake
we've done it
procured the most massive confectionary i've ever seen in my entire life
all we've to do is find a great place to sit down
there's a park nearby
and we're going to unbox this huge ball of sugar
let's go do it
decamori
is essentially an oversized food item
and they were originally distributed around japan for people working in blue collar jobs
where you're doing a lot of hard work
and you're very very hungry
here in owaki it is no exception they have this
it was interesting to talk to some of the shop owners
because they said that actually for them
this isn't decamori
it's not considered that large for them personally
but it is still considered of that variety
we have a massive cream puff
so opening this up statistics will throw at you here
it is 1.2 kilograms
and it is 25 centimeters in diameter
now to make it not seem so insane
when we were speaking with the shop and looking up some details concerning it
actually it's less that an individual would consume this
and a lot of people are getting this for the purpose of birthday parties
or in replacements of cakes
so crazy though it may seem
it's actually very practically purchased here
this looks amazing
while there is no turning back now
let's dig in and see what this is all about
okay we've got a little cream here
it looks incredibly flaky and light
just as you'd hoped it would be
and it is
wow
it's like eating a fluffy little cloud covered in sugar
hmm
what an amazing trip
so many firsts
and really doing what i love most in japan
that's exploring a place that i've never been before
signing off i'll just say thank you so much to the people and city of iwaki
you made it so special
and i really can't wait to return again
i surely will