Tohoku! Shiroishi castle

It has already been a week after we arrived from our Tohoku trip, but I have had my hands full of the new E course and also going through all the 1 200 pictures I had taken, that the posts are coming now one by one, a little bit late! The trip itself seems now like a dream and I could give quite a lot to be able to go back to enjoy it one more time. Small detail before starting the story is that we went by car and also slept in the car. We stayd one night couchsurfing, but all the others we slept in the car. Sentos and onsens were our baths and combini parkinglots our hotels. I'm looking forward to tell you everything!

Our one week Tohoku trip started on Monday morning when we fetched out small rental Suzuki Every from Ookubo, drove back home, inserted the futon to the back of the car and and then we took off around 10:30am. We drove toll road, Tohoku Expresway so that we would be in Ooshu, Iwate, around 8pm. On our way we stopped to eat, but the bigger stop was in Shiroishi, because of the Shiroishi castle (白石城). Before we have visited the Odawara castle near Hakone, but Odawara was something very different. Odawara was a huge vastle that had been almost completely transformed to be a museum, so there was more glass vitrins to see than the actual castle. Shiroishi was the complete opposite.

1500th build Shiroishi castle stands on the 75 meters high hill in the small city of Shiroishi. The Castle is the common whie type, with multiple floors, but what makes this much more pleasant is that the small castle has a rule to have the guests take off their shoes and walk around on the wooden floors bare foot, there is no glass vitrins or omiyage shop at the top of the castle. You can enter freely to the highest floor's small balcony and enjoy the view without nets and other limitations. Setting sun colored the insides of the castle with warm orange while warm wind blew through the open windows. Outside the castle you can also visit a small shinto shrine that was one of the most beutiful ones I have ever seen. We spent about an hour expoloring the castle area before continuing our way towards Ooshu.

Todoroki Keikoku

I wonder where all this time vanish. Just a moment ago t was 1st and now is already 26th... Oh well. I wanted to share with you one of my experiences around Tokyo: Todoroki Keikoku walk. In the middle of the huge city of Tokyo, there is always a surprising small green places, where you can forget the city around you. Todoroki Keikoku is one of those. A little bit aside from well known Yamanote line, you find a small Todoroki station and after maybe 100 meters walk a pretty red bridge and stairs that takes you beneath it. Welcome to Todoroki Keikoku park walk.

The view is like you would walk within a forest, only voices surrounding you are made by nature, no car voices down here. The walk follows the river where you can wash your feet if feeling like it. Some locals make almost the whole way walking in water instead of the path. From the path area you can find a Buddhist temple that has a special place for pets that have gone to a better place. Also a small riverside traditional Japanese tea house that sells kakigori (shaved ice) during summertime as well as other traditional sweets and of course tea. While moving forward on the other side will also be a Japanese garden, that has a tea service for visitors if you are lucky with the day you pick.

Todoroki Keikoku walk ends to a suburb area, but if you keep walking straight forward though it, you will arrive to another green area. A bigger river and green fields surrounding it. I still find it pretty weird scene in Tokyo, since close to place I live there is nothing like that. Warmly recommend this walk if in need of nature while living or visiting in Tokyo!