It was unfortunate that it was raining, overcast and gloomy on the ride to Hachinohe. The countryside reminded me of some of the beautiful mountain areas we have been through. Our route took us by Lake Towada which I am sure must be a beautul sight. We couldn't even see the lake because of the mist. I think we were in the middle of a low lying cloud.
Once settled into our hotel in Hachinohe (western style room for the night) it was off to BANQUET! This time I think I got a picture of each course. I'm still not sure what everything is. A new dish for us this time was what I might call a fish-pot-pie. It had some trout in an edamame sauce covered by a flaky pastry cover. it was DELICIOUS!!
Veggie hot pot with some fish
We left Hachinohe about 10:30 for our drive to Sendai. It was still cold and rainy. The plan was to stop at Morioka for lunch at a restaurant that specializes in wanko soba. However, when we got to the restaurant there was a 2 hour wait. We tried a second restaurant and that also had a very long wait. We finally decided to go to a large mall and find something there.
Although there was McDonalds, KFC, and other ubiquitous American places, this was a typical "food court" Japanese style. Josh took us to one of the Japanese style eateries. Among their offerings are either chicken or beef which is cut into pieces and placed raw around a mound of rice and corn. All of this is placed on a SIZZLING platter. The chicken or beef cooks on the platter and when it is done to your satisfaction, you put it on top of the rice so it won't cook any more. Stir everything together and eat.
Below is a picture of the instructions that were wrapped around the platter like a shield. They are in both English and Japanese, Granny had the chicken, I had the beef. It was suprisingly good.
For the most part, the mall looked like any large mall that you see anywhere.
Following lunch, it was back on the road to Sendai. It was expressway the entire way so there isn't anything special to report.
After getting settled in our Western style hotel in Sendai, we were joined by Yoichi Wakabayashi, one of Randy's long time friends from the Rotary student exchange program. Yoichi hosted an EXCEPTIONAL banquet at a French restaurant. The food was outstanding but the highlight of the evening was the visit with Yoichi. Here are the six of us after a wonderful meal.
Space is at a premium in the city. One way to alleviate the space problem is to utilize technology. The parking garage where we parked for dinner does this. I've seen this in other cities but it is still fun to watch. Click on the center picture to see a short YouTube video of the car park in action with our car.
The car is driven onto one of the two turntables. It is then lifted to the proper level and transferred to the designated parking spot. You can see one of the parked cars on the second level in the picture on the right.
We will fly from Sendai to Komatsu, pick up a van and drive to Kaga where we will spend the next 2 nights.
One last picture in Sendai. Sendai is on the East coast of Japan and was one of the towns severely damaged by the tsunami. The Sendai airport was destroyed. Here we are at the car rental return at the airport. There is a blue sign above Granny's head that shows how high the water was at this spot.
