Categories
travel

Japan: Ishinomaki (Part 3)

2012-10-18 11.02.37

Day Off The staff at Grace Mission Tohoku work all week for the Ishinomaki community.  And even on their day off, they brought me along!  Little did I know how awesome the day would turn out….

First, a long hike up a mountain shrine…

545400_10151265014528875_120843469_n

We made it to the top!!!!  …and having too much fun.

46528_10151265015373875_550278057_n

Next stop, AEON SUPERCENTER to play some arcade games!

2012-10-18 11.45.23

Would you believe some prizes are from Costco?

2012-10-18 11.51.18

Then it’s already lunch time…TAKOYAKI!  The ones from the food court were SOOOOOO GOOOD!!!!

2012-10-18 12.37.30

Next, time to shop for a pet!  Look at all the cute animals in their caged windows!

2012-10-18 13.07.10

This doggy costs $1,700 dollars!  Yikes!

2012-10-18 11.16.45

Next stop, coffee at Coffee Ippo http://www.coffee-ippo.com/  Located in the woods of Kesennuma (~2 hours north of Ishinomaki), the coffee shop is in the middle of nowhere.  Just lots of forests….but once you find it, and walk in, you will be transported magically into a warm and welcoming wooden cabin!  Apparently this guy goes around the world for the best coffee beans!

2012-10-18 14.26.59

Coffee jelly with whip cream.  Amazing.  Perfectly mildly bitter.

2012-10-18 14.27.54

Afterwards, we discovered a playground nearly:

2012-10-18 13.58.50

Extremely fun!

2012-10-18 14.02.20

At the end of the day, we decided to revisit AEON supercenter again to get dinner supplies:

2012-10-18 16.50.05

Look at this nabe hot pot!!!! AMAZINGLY GOOD!!! Why does everything Japanese taste so good? :p

2012-10-18 18.22.02

Hungry Cactus’ Verdict: A

What a wonderful day!  Thanks to Virginia for being such an awesome guide (and driving us all day), and for Kat for a few of the above pictures!  I really miss hanging out with you guys! 🙂