Shane’s Japan Trip Report Day 5
Japan Trip Report Days 5: Drive to Matsushima Seaside Resort, in Miyagi Prefecture, and a Multi-course Japanese Meal
Drive to Matsushima
Most of day 5 was spent driving from Niigata to Matsushima, a seaside resort town near the city of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture. As we left it started raining, and as we went along the weather continued to get worse. As a result, the three-hour drive turned into a six hour drive. We stopped at a road stop about halfway there for lunch, where I ate wappa meshi, a somewhat obscure dish similar to taki-komi gohan, where rice is steamed together with seasonal ingredients in a bamboo steamer. Mine was a kinoko (mushroom) wappa meshi, and I thought it was quite good, especially for roadside food.
Matsushima Scenery
We finally arrived in Matsushima around 4pm. As we drove around looking for our hotel, I could tell right away that this is a very beautiful place. Matsushima literally means “pine island,” and although it is a peninsula rather than an island, it indeed contains many groves and forests of pine trees. The peninsula itself is also a sight to behold, encompassing a beautiful harbor full of oyster farms, dotted with tiny islands, and just overall beautiful scenery.
Matsushima Lodging
At length, we found our hotel, which was actually more like a lodge. Nestled in a remote area, Kampo no Yado is situated just about a minute’s walk from the Pacific ocean. Not exactly a new place, it had a bit of an old, musty smell that matched its outdated mid-70s decor. In fact, the lodge was celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.
We checked in to our room, which was a Japanese-style tatami room, similar to what you’d find at a ryokan: a tatami floor, a low table, tea service, a TV, and futons stuffed away in the closet. Oh yeah, also yukata, an informal Japanese kimono, which is quite comfortable, and traditionally worn in such places, so I wasted no time changing and settling into my element.
Matsushima Onsen
After we changed, we headed right to the onsen. After bathing, I took a dip. This facility has both an indoor and outdoor onsen (which is called a rotenburo). The bath was full of locals chatting with one another in a dialect I could barely understand. As usual, I was the only gaijin within miles of the place.
As for the onsen itself, I thought it was just so-so. It didn’t really have that full-of-minerals smell that the best onsens have, and it was a bit too hot, so much so that I was really only able to soak for about 15 minutes, which included jumping out several times to cool off. Still an onsen is an onsen, and as usual left me refreshed.
Matsushima Multi-course Japanese Meal of Fresh Oysters
After bathing, we returned to the room to chill before dinner at 7pm. As usual, my father-in-law (otoo-san), a trained chef in his own right and very generous when it comes to food, pulled out all the stops, and my mouth watered as the multi-course Japanese meal was brought to the table. Matsushima is famous for its oysters (“kaki” in Japanese), which happened to be in season, and so the theme of this meal was fresh oysters!
A plate of several varieties of sashimi:
Oyster nabe:
Fried oysters (kaki fry):
Grilled conger eel (anago):
Delicious miso soup with clams:
and several other dishes. It was far more than I could possibly eat, but it was all delicious.
After dinner, and completely stuffed, there was little else to do but go back to our rooms and relax. We were unsure whether this place, like a traditional ryokan, would set out our futons for bed, but indeed they did. Nice touch. We watched some TV and then hit the sack early with plans to rise at the crack of dawn to view the rising sun–in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Proceed to Shane’s Japan Trip Report Day 6–>
