A walk in the park, Shakujii-Koen 3rd May 2019 (Part 2)

A few more photos of people enjoying themselves in the relaxed atmosphere of Shakujii-koen.

A walk in the park, Shakujii-Koen 3rd May 2019 (Part 1)

The Golden week holiday gave many people a chance to their local park in Shakujii-koen.

The park dates back to the Edo period with large ponds and plenty of trees. It also contains a small shrine and the site of a samurai castle.

Extended lunch in Onagawa 30th April 2019

The weather was very wet and windy in Onagawa for the final day of Heisei. After grabbing a "grind your own" coffee in a nice new cafe on the main shopping street and checking out a few of the shops I decided it was too misty and unpleasant to warrant a photography walk around the harbour.

So we retired to the arcade for an extended lunch and I enjoyed three different local dishes.

Two of them were set meals so it was a rather substantial feast.

The view of the new shopping street from the station

Grind your own coffee beans in this cafe !

 I bought some interesting ingredients in this great shop selling local produce.

 The conditions were not good for a photography walk.

 Extended lunch set meal number one.

Konago ( young Japanese sand lance fish ) with raw egg and a shrimp.

The soup had fish dumplings in and the set was rounded off with pickles and tea.

 Then ( luckily not a set meal ) I wanted to try a gyutan menchi katsu.

This is grilled minced beef tongue mixed with potato then bread crumbed and deep fried.

Served hot and topped with katsu sauce.

 Finally set meal number two!!

Broiled Hokke 

Also known as Okhotsk atka mackerel or Arabesque greenling!

Served with rice , miso soup, silken tofu and pickles.

 All hotels were fully booked in Onagawa and all the bars seemed closed during the day so back to the station to head to Ishinomaki.

Ishinomaki station to Onagawa station. Riding the Ishinomaki line on the rainy final day of the Heisei era, 30th April 2019.

After breakfast in Sendai the plan was to spend the final day of the Heisei era in Onagawa. The weather was wet and windy, not ideal to be heading to the Miyagi coastline but we took the train to Ishinomaki station where we could change to the branch line for Onagawa. 

The Ishonomaki line to Onagawa needed a lot of repair after the 2011 tsunami resulting in the splendid new terminal station at Onagawa.

Ishinomaki Station.

 Riding the Ishinomaki line.

Onagawa station.

A stroll from Ikebukuro 2nd May 2019 part two, the other side of the tracks.

After enjoying a pleasant walk through the park and realising the temple and graveyard we passed were not the one we were looking for we checked a map and headed across the tracks of the Toden Arakawa tram line to continue our search. More back streets and a playground eventually lead us to the correct cemetery where we had some fun locating the famous graves.