木更津ニャー! kisarazu nya!

Posted by: plueonigiri on: December 25, 2009

• In: japan | life | outings | photos
• 5 Comments

another long, image-heavy entry!

on the 23rd of december i went to 木更津 kisarazu, a small, sleepy town in chiba prefecture with one of the girls in my dorm, abby!

waseda –> [tozai line] –> nishifunabashi –> [sobu line] –> chiba –> kisarazu

it was expensive 😦 about 1220円 one way, and it takes approximately 2 hours to get there.

the setting for the insanely popular drama 木更津キャッツアイ kisarazu cat’s eye starring 櫻井翔 sakurai sho! everywhere in the city you can see the drama’s posters and signs. i got a drama tour map from the information centre with all the shooting spots in the city.

mimachi street, where the main shooting spots are. the barber shop, photo studio and kimono shop are all here >w< lately i've been doing the aiba-chan pose a lot in photos hahah!

one of the benches along the street

barber tabuchi, or at least what used to be :3 there are lots of drama items and goods on display, as well as the signboard

i want this ;_;

the ozzy statue minus the mini bussan

野剣八幡神社 yatsuruhachiman shrine, another drama location

sasaki photo studio, ani‘s family business. i find it amusing that they use bussan‘s photos to advertise their passport photo printing services hahah!

the racoon statue outside the photo studio, with bussan‘s photo and name

the kimono shop that was set as bambi‘s house ♥

obligatory self-portrait

>w< ♥ the city was really quiet and oddly empty, because it was the emperor's birthday, so i guess everyone went out to celebrate the public holiday. i'm happy though, because it means i can take photos in the middle of the road like this!

after that, we went to look for the bridge that leads to the nightclub featured in the series

and we found it without much difficulty!

quiet streets on a public holiday

racoons are the symbol of this city

quite a few clubs here in kisarazu, i was a bit surprised hahah

kisarazu is famous for seafood, due to its port ^^ clams are the most well-known, along with crabs and fish

we were wondering what to do because we wanted to visit the red bridge during sunset, and on the way there we were lured to this restaurant by the really great smell! i was a bit hesitant to enter though because i’m not that big of a seafood fan, but in the end we went in because it looks like a good place, plus i’ve never been in this kind of restaurant before.

you get assigned to a table, then after that you choose your own ingredients to cook over the grill, or you can order a set meal or a seafood ricebowl.

more food you can choose

sashimi ♥♥♥

the shop has a really good atmosphere!

i ordered maguro-don. since we’re close to the port i figured it should be really good… IT WAS!!! really fresh and they gave more maguro compared with other places like ootoya.

yummy!!! and fun!!! i want to come here again with angel and the rest… it’s more fun if we eat with a lot of people!

shiitake mushroom >w<

abby‘s scallop… i think (i don’t eat shellfish so i don’t know what it is lol)

my yakionigiri (grilled riceball), which has sesame seeds all over

after eating, we traced our footsteps backwards and visited the other shrine, and aqua city, which is by far the most mundane shopping mall i’ve ever been to, before heading back towards the port to go the the red bridge.

^o^ the sun was just starting to set… nice timing!

中ノ島大橋 nakanoshime oohashi, also known as the legendary red bridge of kisarazu. it was often featured in the drama series ♥

according to a local legend, if a guy carries a girl on his back across the bridge, they will be together forever. in the drama, bambi carried mohko across despite her reluctance

it was really lovely! the wind felt really good, the sun was setting and i could smell the sea in the air! there was nobody else on the bridge so i proceeded to lie down to take photos!

i want to come here with teddy, the nehs and my orangutan buddies!

children looking at the sea

after that i laid down on my back and just stared at the blue, blue sky. my shoes against the cloudless horizon!

the sun starting to set. so beautiful!!!

more people came when the sun started to go down… like this couple.

and this one

and groups of teenagers not unlike the boys in the drama

it was really relaxing

the world is wide

hiro love sunsets ♥

going down…

the factories and… stuff… in the background look kind of magical to me, it reminds me a bit of the bathhouses in spirited away

one last view of the sea

goodbye kisarazu!

on the way back, we met a cute japanese boy on the subway who can’t stop talking to us after finding out that we were not japanese. he tried speaking in english to us, because right now he’s living and studying in thailand with his mum. he was really outspoken, and he told us that he thinks the japanese are “冷たい” (cold), and that he prefers south-east asians because they are warmer hahah! “americans are noisy! germans are not too noisy… russians are quiet!” when i asked him what he likes the most about japan, his answer was “the sweets!” before we got off the train i asked him :

(following conversation was in english)
me : how old are you?
him : 100 years old!
me : … what?
him : no, just kidding. i am ten!
me : what is your name?
him : tom cruise!
me : hahah! no way!
him : okay i lie. my name is micheal jackson.
me : he died!
him : yes. so i’m micheal jackson.

japanese kids are interesting HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Tags: japan, life, outings, photos, travel