Wednesday 4 November 2009

Umi hotaru

The winter is fast approaching, which means the end of the biking season is also approaching - at least for me anyway. Sunday we took advantage of the sunshine and decided on a trip to  'umi hotaru' 海ホタル.  Umi hotaru  - or firefly sea - is an artificial island in the middle of Tokyo bay, located at the point where the tunnel from the Kawasaki side meets the bridge from the Kisarazu, Chiba side.  The aim of the 'Aqualine' is to enable traffic to by-pass Tokyo by connecting the two sides of the bay - at a distance of 14kms.  Umi hotaru itself is a somewhat tacky collection of eateries, souvenir shops and statues designed for people to pose next to for photos.  The air was less clear down there and the shoreline was not as visible as it would be some days.  Nonetheless, it was worth the trip.

We had brunch at a fish shop on the Chiba shore where we have eaten at several times and always has very good fish before taking a look at some of the southern shoreline and returning home before the forecast evening rain.



Looking towards Chiba

Fish drying at a market near Hota



More fish drying
Chiba coastline
Chiba coastline