Well, I got back from my trip to Utsunomiya on Saturday, but I haven’t been able to post photos until now.
I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures in the city, as it’s not really any more appealing than Sendai in terms of looks. Sendai has more trees, more narrow streets, and everything is generally closer together.
But Utsunomiya does have one thing over Sendai, and that’s really good gyoza. Gyoza are basically little dumplings about the size of the palm of your hand that are either boiled or fried. We each ate about 2 and a half dozen of the little buggers in one night; some had vegetables, others pork, garlic, or some spicy stuff. And the tab at the end of the night only turned out to about $10.
Parking in Japan is always somewhat strange. This is where we parked before checking into our hotel room; it’s a rotating carousel that lifts your car up into an enclosed building. At the end, when you leave, you back up and the turntable swivels your vehicle so that you don’t have to back into traffic. Strange, but effective.
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On the way back, we had to stop for a random festival which was taking place in the neighborhood we were driving through. I ripped the camera out of my bag and snapped off a few shots through the windshield.
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Since we travelled by car, we had to take the Tohoku Express Tollway. The speed limit was listed as 80. By 80 they mean kilometers per hour, or about 50mph. Obviously this is a cross-country expressway, so everyone is going more like 130kph. I guess the explanation if you get pulled over is something like, “Well, officer, I thought the sign was in MILES per hour!”
There are a couple radar cameras set up to catch speeders, but everyone seems to have a jammer. Regardless, the scenery is absolutely spectacular.
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