Odds And Yens: The Ultimate, Part 2

I'm not calling this post "The Ultimate" for nothing, but up until now Miyazaki City, beach camping and Aoshima are all things checked off my places to see list last year. It's from Aoshima, however, that we moved into unexplored territory and the wonder begins to ratchet up. Before getting down to any more major sightseeing food was an order. We found a surf-shack restaurant with mugi-cha (wheat tea) in a pitcher at each table and to-die-for chicken nanban, one of Miyazaki's famous dishes that consists of fried chicken smothered in a secret sauce concoction. I can't properly say why, but each time I've come into the prefecture I never sample their local specialties (that chicken dish and mangoes, among others) and this was certainly a kick in the ass to beware of what I may be missing.

We were heading for a shrine called Udo Jingu down the coast when a supposed onsen caught our eye and we stopped. We still hadn't found a proper hot springs all day that didn't cost an arm and a leg and thought we had one in this place only to find that it was something like 2,000-yen and involved hot pebbles. Really. Outside the place though were two giant Moai statues, one of which the likeness must have been taken from me while I slept or something, it was that much my doppelganger. As it turns out, this part of Miyazaki has an entire theme park based around Moai statues and these must have been a couple of samples to entice visitors up the hill.

That's...that's me! Goddamnit, I need better locks on this apartment.

Arriving at Udo Jingu we met a phenomenally nice sixty-something year-old woman who explained the historical significance of the shrine and the stairway we were about to climb up--in the 85-degree weather. Fully being able to appreciate the 800-year-old stone pathway we were hiking up took my mind off the driving sun and sheets of sweat rolling down my shirt. The shrine, located inside a sea cave and mercifully offering respite from the heat, was gorgeous. Actually, the approach may be more impressive than the building itself, as you have to descend a bit of swirling sandstone cliffs and cross a couple crescent moon bridges to reach it. The two mound-shaped rocks jutting out of the sea below are said to be the breasts of a fallen goddess and visitors are invited to throw rocks (five for 100-yen) at a hole in them, just going to show that even the minds of shrine priests here are little more developed than that of a junior high student. Which reminds me of a story one of my vice principals told me last year: We were driving over the Yufuin-Beppu Pass, near the dual peaks of Yufudake, when he said "I used to look at those mountains when I was young and see an enormous pair of breasts. It gave me a hard on." Wow...

I'd call Udo Jingu the most impressive holy site I've ever been to in Japan, but it's lacking rice spoons I can write limericks on and hammer into the wall, so it loses to Rakanji.

Further down this pristine coastline, past the city of Nichinan--a seemingly pleasant place to live, if not completely isolated from everything by at least three hours of driving--Maia suggested we make a detour to a place she'd heard of called Cape Toi. Word was that wild horses roamed the peninsula and we weren't disappointed on that front because there were horses left, right and standing in the middle of the road even. We pulled in just a tad bit too late to get up to the lighthouse at the furthest reaches of the cape or to see Shirohebi Jinja ("White Snake Shrine", really), but were rewarded when, while heading back to the main road, we spotted a monkey in the road. Then another. Then two more. We got out of the car to have a better look and found ourselves surrounded by maybe thirty or more monkeys! They were pretty apathetic towards humans, luckily, and we just stood there for a while snapping pics and basking in the fact that this was closer to a monkey than most people will ever get.

Monkey...'nuff said.

Down the road we found a charming little onsen on the outskirts of fishing and farming mecca Kushima City. Finally, cleanliness, and it only took us eight hours to find the place. Down here in the southern reaches of the island, where inaka farmland meets the sea, there is no shortage of deserted beaches to pitch a tent on--point yourself in any direction and you can't fail. This night's beach was arguably better than our campsite in Miyazaki since the waves broke more softly and soothingly over the sand while the only partly cloudy sky allowed the moon to shine on us splendidly. Before bed though, dinner. Kushima unfortunately reminded me a lot of Kusu on one point: A lack of restaurants of seemingly any merit at all. Yakiniku and yakitori shops, generic izakayas, the obligatory Joyfull chain restaurant and an overpriced, underwhelming pasta joint. Dejected, we resigned ourselves to the kaiten sushi restaurant we saw on the main strip, Sushi Tora, and tidily had all our preconceived notions about the place blown away like ash in a gale. The staff--every single person--had a smile on their faces and were extremely helpful, while not ever flinching that two foreigners had just entered the building. In fact, not even the customers flinched when we came in and nobody ever gave us that patronizing "Oh, your Japanese is so good!" line after saying some elementary school-level phrase. So, now that the ambiance is set, how was the food? Divine! Maia's vegetarian friendly sushi was legion on the revolving belt and included never before seen items like shiitake tenpura nigiri and eggplant with miso sauce in addition to old favorites like kappa (cucumber) nigiri and natto (fermented soy bean) maki. As for me, I couldn't get enough of the aburi...anything. Doing something aburi means to basically take a blowtorch to it and a lot of sushi places around the island here are doing this to tuna, yellowtail, salmon and mackerel. Sushi Tora does it better than anybody else. The fish is fresh to begin with, so blowtorch or not you're eating a quality catch, but torching it brings out some of the juices and oils, plus the garnish of a pinch of rock salt...mmm...it massages the taste buds in all the right places. Final verdict: Best Sushi Ever! EVER!