Daniel here! What did you do for Golden Week? Caitlin and I went to Morioka!
On Monday, May 3, Caitlin woke me up very early – even though it was my day off! – and we took the 8 a.m. bus to Iwate Prefecture. I really enjoyed the bus ride; the weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful, especially Iwate-san. That’s a big mountain!
We were both pretty hungry when we arrived in Morioka, so we decided to eat reimen for lunch. We went to a famous restaurant near the bus station; maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s called Pyon-pyon-Sha! I ordered the really spicy reimen. It was delicious, but it wasn’t spicy enough! Next time, I’m going to order the really, really spicy kind.
After lunch, we went sight-seeing. First, we went to the castle park [盛岡城趾公園] and saw beautiful cherry blossoms. There were hundreds of trees in full bloom, and hundreds of people enjoying picnics, too! There was even live jazz and rock music, and a lot of street food! We also saw the famous rock-splitting cherry tree [石割桜]. It was a very beautiful tree, and very popular too. There were many, many people there, taking pictures. 
Then, we went to Mitsuishi shrine. Here, we can see a devil’s handprint in stone [鬼の手形]. Legends say that long ago, a devil or monster lived in the north of Japan, and caused many problems for people. Finally, a priest captured the devil and put it into three large stones. The devil tried to escape, and left handprints on the stone. Maybe this is where we get the name Iwa-te? I really enjoyed seeing the huge rocks, and reading the story of the demon trapped in them.
We also stopped at the grave of the Centipede Princess [ムカデ姫の墓]. One thing I love about Japan is that there is history everywhere. The grave of the Centipede Princess is interesting, because it is a 500 year-old grave next to modern parking lots and apartment buildings.
The last thing that we saw in Morioka was Hoonji temple [報恩寺]. There is a collection of 500 golden buddha statues there, as well as other beautiful artwork.
After a long day of walking and sight-seeing, we decided to head back to Sendai. The traffic was pretty heavy on the way back, so the bus ride was pretty long. I didn’t mind though – it was nice to finally rest after our exciting trip!
You can see more of our photos here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.phpaid=2022310&id=64100733&l=cbd78aa42e
