Saturday, September 17, 2011

Weird Attractions in Izu

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I planned on having a rad writeup about all the totally random attractions, theme parks, and dodgy bubble economy left overs in Izu. Timing was perfect. 3 weeks of summer camp work, with a random few days off in the middle. While the other staff would take the express rapid train back to Tokyo, I was going to slowly ride the bike around, camp, and visit 80s sex museums, ruined water parks, and turtleariums. All of which exist.

But a typhoon came for exactly the days I had off. So I too took said express rapid back to Tokyo. Upon my return, had a little bit of good weather, so the multi day tour was more like a few hours.

Anyways, here are a few oddities out of the many from the peninsula 150km from Tokyo. Enjoy!


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Fairly standard, depressing zoo. But it has a...

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... Shinto poo shrine? Elephant doodie if I recall.

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メキシカンサンド - Mexican sandwich. A pita (?) pocket filled with taco meat and a chorizo. Hot! Spicy! New!

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Some poor kid made an official wish at a shrine. The dream is to have an internet penpal. Why not include your mail address with the wish, T.S.? A no-brainer, ね?

Atagawa is rad!

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Onsen vents all over the place. But is something special about this one?

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Yes!

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You can cook your own eggs in it. A natural hot spring dedicated to deliciousness.

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温泉卵, them eggs were pretty damn tasty, with a little local sea salt on top.

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Up above the onsen is a whole mountain covered with windmills.

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But the highlight of Atagawa, in the South East of Izu is...

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The Banana Alligator Farm. For like $20 you can check out a bunch of gators, then see banana trees. Thats about it. But it was still kick ass.

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Not too crowded!

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Souvenirs include a banana-croc-hybrid plush.

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Rad banana ice cream.

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And a plate of banana curry.

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I will be back again, and when I do, I will be sure to hit up some enka music museums, wasabi farms, and other random things.

Izu... for when you did everything else.

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2 comments:

Steph said...

Say, I couldn't help but notice... you've got a pretty cool bike.

Hiking boots said...

i love the heart shaped fireworks. it just looks cute doing it in a hiking boots mountains.