Last weekend, a group of us drove to Niigata to see the beautiful Sea of Japan. I was itching to go because here in Gunma, we are rather land-locked by beautiful mountains. I love the majestic beauty of these mountains, especially when I go running and they are dark purple color, surrounding the valley that Takasaki sits in. But, to see the ocean and smell the fresh salty air was what I really wanted to do.
The drive took about 3 hours each way, but we had enough fun on the way with car games, music, and good conversation. At the beach, I collected some obscurely shaped, but beautiful shells and took many pictures. The Sea of Japan shares the water with Korea, which is not too far away from the coast...but we were unable to see it ;)
For lunch, I ate hot ramen, a traditional Japanese soup dish. The ramen dish was very hot to eat and contained miso broth, meat, and vegetables. It's a must in Japanese cuisine! On the way home, we passed by a giant monk statue, more beautiful coastline, and several tunnels that connect the Gunma prefecture with the coastline prefectures.
Seeing the ocean brought me some relief and calmness. My time in Japan has been really exciting and culturally different, but to see the ocean, reminded me of home. It was nice to see the ocean and know that I will be home with my family in two months :)
At the end of the day, the five of us sat on some rocks and watched the beautiful sunset before driving back to Gunma. I really do love exploring Japan on the weekends...it is really nice to see the other prefectures and what they have to offer.
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