Pics of Taneichi

Out on a bike ride, 'twas much prettier in person!

Taneichi = where the hills meet the water

This is a view appx 50 feet from my front door...did I luck out or what!

Pretty standard yard of a Japanese home--teeny and extremely well-maintained. Watching a vertically challenged population trim some of these taller trees and bushes is usually good for a laugh or three...

I never tire of views like these. It is while I am on my jogging route that I truly have time to reflect on Japan and what it already means to me.

This is just an average street in Taneichi. As you can see, it is poorly maintained, not very well lit and about enough room for one car and a tricycle to pass by one another. Just not enough space in Japan! Too many people! Even in a small, less populated town like Taneichi, you still feel crowded. The streets are cluttered, hair salons on every corner and a zillion small shops selling everything from ping pong paddles to quilt making materials.

I have never quite seen anything like it!

So this is our teeny bus station...bit of an eye soar actually. Everything in Taneichi (and rural Japan for that matter) is smaller--portions, sizes, space, vehicles. Anything you want or need is here, but in teenier versions!

View of Taneichi's mountainside.

OK, I realize some of these aren't all that aesthetic, but hey--that is Taneichi for you! Small, rural town in the inaka! This is the uni fishery! Yep, most of the money that this town has is from the commercialization of these little spiky sea creatures!

This is just one of the 3 or 4 large "plantations" of uni farming going on. I live just up the hill from this place, but no smells and no noise-so no complaints! Just don't make me eat it again!

This is the cemetery--I realize how sacreligious it is to have even taken the picture! Families buy large memorial like stones and then members of the family are buried pretty much on top of one another. In the end, it looks like one huge sculpture of large and small stones stacked all over each other. Cozy--you might say? Guess the issue of "space" just can't be avoided...even in the afterlife.

Also taken on my running route - the local fisherman are on these piers everyday. Not sure what they are catching, but there is a good chance I will end up eating whatever it is at some point or another.

View from retaining wall #1...

This is the marina in town. Just a short jaunt from my place. Love waking up to that fishy salty sea smell each morning!

This is on my running route. Great exercise boardwalk just seconds from my home. What motivation to exercise!

The Taneichi beach is pretty decent. It is built like a fortress, 3 retaining walls I think? They are in tsunami terrority so these are just a part of the necessary precautions I guess. The water is freezing so our local surfers have to sport the wetsuits.

This is the sole Buddhist temple in town. Have yet to go in, but it is in a really beautiful location, isn't it?! Love the architecture too.