P Day Activities

Part of our regular activities includes a 2 hour drive to Hamada for an apartment check.  Hamada is located north of Hiroshima and sits on the Sea of Japan coast.  A nice little coastal town, so we decided on this trip top do a bit of P Day activity.

We paid a visit to the Shimane Prefectural Aquarium, Aquas.

Getting there was not without its own risks.

Aquas was a very nice modern aquarium with 10,000 marine creatures from about 400 species.  The seal and sea lion show is always good fun.

 The fish exhibits are always amazing!

 We also had a chance to go across the highway and dip our toes in the Sea of Japan.  It was a bit cloudy, but still a nice day.

After we got back from Hamada we wandered over to the high school on base for "Friday Night Lights".  It was Kinnick High School from Yokosuka versus Matthew C. Perry High School for Iwakuni.  I had to root for the Kinnick Red Devils in support of Rebecca and Cynthia.  Final score was Kinnick 33, Perry 0.  Next week I'll root for Perry.

Monday, September 4th was Labor Day and everything on the base was pretty much closed down.  All but essential personnel were given a 96 hour liberty (4 day pass).  We decided to do a bit more exploring.  We headed to the Akiyoshidai Plateau which was about an hour and a half northwest of us, near Yamaguchi.  Again, getting there had its perils.

 We finally arrived at the entrance of the Akiyoshido Cave.

The cave system was named "Akiyoshido" by Crown Prince Showa during his visit in 1926. Before, it was (not so imaginatively) called Taki-ana or waterfall hole. Akiyoshi Cave took over 300,000 years to form and is still slowly being shaped by water flowing out of the karst plateau above. Only a small portion of the cave's estimated 420,000 cubic meters volume and 10 kilometer length is accessible to the public.

 A Thousand Plates

In leaving, we were reminded that the rice harvest is just around the corner.  Everywhere you look there are rice field starting to turn yellow.