I walk Iwalk Iwak Iwaki....Iwaki

Since neither Clive nor I had been north of Hitachi on the Joban line, we decided to head up to Iwaki in the afternoon and check it out. It was raining, but since the last time we got soaked, we went to the umbrella shop and bought 390 yen umbrellas. We first checked out an "american goods" store, which turned out to be a secondhand store. If you've ever wondered what happened to all those incredibly tacky clothes from the late 80s and early 90s, wonder no more. They're overflowing the racks of a shop in Iwaki, Fukushima Province, Japan. We didn't buy anything. Stopped by the local NOVA branch to ask about a good place to eat - went to a relaxed little "Italian" caffe for panini and afternoon tea - steeped for exactly three minutes by the colourful hourglasses. After much mutual bowing on the way out, we headed out to see the sights. We checked out the Iwaki Art Gallery - under construction. Walked by the cultural centre (under construction) on our way to the Iwaki Velodrome - under construction. Crossed back through the station (also under construction) to a park. Had a nice stroll past a bamboo forest, a pond and a boardwalk/stairway (all made out of plastic timber). Saw a statue (General Iwaki, I presume...???), noticed the Statue of Liberty and the Venus de Milo adorning an apartment building, and went to a little Izakaya for dinner. (There was a lot of walking involved between the panini and dinner!) Clive ordered barbecued beef (we hoped it wasn't' horse), I ordered eggplant (which turned out to be more mushrooms than eggplant, but still not bad). We decided to split what looked like a chicken salad. They brought us some kind of seafood salad - Clive ate the shrimp and ?clams?, we both ate what we thought was fish but, in hindsight, may have been ika, (squid). Not really impressed by it. The price you pay for not being able to communicate well.... Wandered the evening streets of Iwaki, checked out a little store with cool artsy dishes, 4,000 yen chopsticks - cool stuff. Took a detour through snack alley (one of several snack alleys - and we thought the little alley by our apartment was bad!) Chilled out at Ito Yokado (department store run by 7-11) and caught the train back. A good day. (pictures on flickr)