Shiriyazaki - Wild Horses and Stunning Views

Kanachime horses grazing near the Cape Shiriya lighthouse

Trip path, by train and bicycle

I recently took a quick bike trip to Cape Shiriya (尻屋崎, Shiriyazaki), a beautiful coastal area on the northeastern-most tip of Honshu (本州), the main island of Japan. The cape is located in the Higashidōri Village (東通村, higashidouri-mura) region of the Shimokita Peninsula (下北半島, shimokita-hantou) in Aomori Prefecture. From here, the Tsugaru Strait can be seen to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The area is quaint and very peaceful as wild horses roam free and spectacular views are abundant. Time seems to slow here, and the complexity of life vanishes for awhile. For me, it was an incredibly relaxing and unique experience.

The cape is accessed by a single road that wraps around the coast. Approaching the area, visitors must pass through an automated gate which only allows entry from early morning to late afternoon, and from April to November every year. The scenic road is flanked by the coastline on one side and a mixture of grassy plains and wooded areas on the other. The landmark most people initially stop at is a historic white lighthouse at the very edge of the peninsula. There's a small parking lot here as well as a small shop offering small souvenirs and some simple cooked meals. During my visit, several of the wild horses were grazing in this area and could easily be approached.

Left: Cape Shiriya lighthouse; Right: this youngster keep following me and loved being pet

The old lighthouse is quite famous for several achievements and fisherman stories. Built in 1876, it was the first western-style lighthouse in the Tohoku region of Japan, as well as the first in the whole country to feature a fog bell and later a fog horn. It was also the first to have an electric power generator. During World War II, the lighthouse was severely damaged and the attendant was killed in a bombing by the US Navy. In the following year, Japanese fisherman still claimed to see light coming from the lighthouse, despite the light room being completely destroyed and inaccessible. But the ghost stories were put to rest by 1951 when the structure was repaired and went back into operation.

The horses found here are a unique breed called kandachime (寒立馬). From what I've read, they nearly became extinct in the mid-1990's when their numbers dwindled to single digits. But thankfully they have since recovered to about 40, thanks to a protection policy put in place. Shiriyazaki may be the only place in the world where these horses exist.

Adult kandachime female grazing

Kandachime (lit., "horse standing in the cold") are a stocky breed with thick, strong legs and large bellies--bred to survive the harsh winters in the region. I've read that these horses were originally bred at a horse ranch of the Morioka Domain (known colloquially as the Nanbu Domain) long ago, but I can't confirm this. 

Despite being very large and powerful, the kandachime horses are incredibly calm and gentle. I spent hours walking around and rubbing the horses' big bellies and petting their heads. I also saw many others doing the same, including families with young children and even babies. That being said, approach them at your own risk. It's important to take care and never startle or scare them. For those less adventurous, you can certainly still enjoy them from a distance.

I recommend exploring the cape past the lighthouse, as there are more beautiful views to be seen as well as more horses hanging out in other areas. Just past the lighthouse is a nice area overlooking the ocean and some mountains in the background (see video). It's a nice place to sit and relax for awhile, and there's a good chance you'll see some horses come out of the nearby forest too. On my trip, I took the first morning train from Aomori City to Mutsu, then biked the rest of the way. The total distance biked totaled about 75km for the day, and was very doable for a day trip. But no matter how you decide to go there, Shiriyazaki is an amazing place, so it's definitely worth it as long as the weather is good.

Riding my bike around Shiriya

Information / Getting there:

Public transit from Tokyo:

Departing from JR Tokyo Sta., take the JR Tohoku Shinkansen (towards Shin-Aomori) and get off at JR Hachinohe Sta. Take the Aoimori Line towards Noheji Sta. and transfer there to the JR Ominato Line (towards Ominato). Get off at Shimokita Sta. and take the Shimokita Kotsu Bus to the Mutsu Bus Terminal. Take the Shimokita Kotsu Bus (bound for Shiriya) and get off at Shiriyazaki.

Public transit from Aomori:

Departing from Aomori Sta., take the Aoimori Line towards Noheji Sta. and transfer there to the JR Ominato Line (towards Ominato). Get off at Shimokita Sta. and take the Shimokita Kotsu Bus to the Mutsu Bus Terminal. Take the Shimokita Kotsu Bus (bound for Shiriya) and get off at Shiriyazaki.

* Please check for the latest public transit info for up-to-date info and details

Hours/Cost: 

April, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

May-November, 7:00AM - 5:00PM

* Closed December 1 - March 31

* Free

Aomori JHS English Speech Contest 2013

Every year, a select number of students around Japan thoroughly prepare, anxiously await, and then nervously take part in English speech contests. Here, the biggest such contest is aptly called the All Aomori City Junior High School English Speech Contest, and takes place at the Aomori Prefectural Social Education Center (青森県総合社会教育センター) in the beginning of every September.

The preparation typically starts as summer vacation gets underway. In previous years, my school's English teachers chose the speeches for students and scheduled all of the practices for them. Then, I would simply come and practice with students during the pre-arranged times. But I felt like this wasn't very effective, so this year I took the initiative to be much more involved with the whole process. I selected most of the students to participate, worked with them to find readings they liked, and both scheduled and managed all of the practices myself. It was more work but I really enjoyed it!

The speech contest has four sections; three recitation (暗唱, anshou) sections divided by grade (7th, 8th, 9th), and an original speech (スピーチ) section in which one student from any grade may participate. Thus, each school in the city can choose up for four students to participate in the contest. At my school, the students presented the following:

• 7th grade recitation: Zorba's Promise (story of friendship between a cat and seagull)
• 8th grade recitation: The Diary of Anne Frank (excerpts from the famous diary)
• 9th grade recitation: A Mother's Lullaby (story during the Hiroshima atomic bombing)
• Original speech: Sensible Social Networking (about social networks and their affects on human communication)

One of the challenges with this contest is following the requirement that readings for the recitation sections may only be chosen from the students' English textbooks. No outside sources can be used. I would think that the organizers would realize by now that this system isn't very practical. Yet year after year, the same thing happens--since so few readings are suitable for the contest, many students end up using the same ones for their recitations. So on the day of the contest, everyone has to listen to the same readings over and over. I don't think this is very fair for all students. For example, if the judges have already heard a particular reading five times in the past hour, and have to hear it once more, will they really be as attentive and unbiased as they were for the first time hearing it? Based on my observations, it seems like the judges are nearly falling asleep when this happens. But I digress, rant over.

So how do I prepare my students for the contest? For recitation-section students, I first make sure they fully understand the content of their readings (by providing Japanese translations of the scripts and discussing the meaning of the readings). Speech-section students must write their original speech by themselves, but often in Japanese initially. Then a Japanese teacher of English and I work to translate it into English, before meeting with the student again. After the basic translation is done, we check the speech line-by-line to ensure the intended meaning and nuance has been translated properly.

Once the all of the Japanese-English language aspects have been covered, I spend a practice session reading each script with the students to help them get become more comfortable and familiar with it. We then focus on pronunciation; first individual words and then word pairs or groups. As their pronunciation gets better we start to work on rhythm and fluency. By this time, I also encourage them to start memorizing the script (which is required in the contest). This isn't too hard for recitation but for students participating in the speech section, it can be quite challenging. Time passes more quickly and as the speech contest approaches, I make sure everything is sounding good together; pronunciation, rhythm, intonation, and stress. In the last couple weeks, I try to get an audience for them to practice in front of (teachers, classmates, etc.), and make sure they are confident with a loud, clear voice. In the last week, my job is easy as I basically just meet with them and listen to them practice over and over.

This year, we left early for the Education Center where the contest was being held. We practiced a little outside, and them shortly after the contest started. It lasted from about 9 A.M. until almost 4 P.M. My students did great; they walked up to the podium with their back straight, and did they best they could with a nice, loud voice. Unfortunately, none of my students placed in the contest. Each section had about 20 students and awards were given for the first three places. Without trying to sound bitter here, I understand why my 7th and 8th grade students didn't place. But I was a little surprised that my 9th grade student didn't make the cut, and quite honestly very disappointed my student in the speech section wasn't given recognition for the amazing speech she delivered. To be candid, I really believe this was largely due to her placement, which was second-to-last in the entire day of the contest. Also the winners' speeches tended to emit themes of personal tragedy and hardships, which may have subconsciously influenced the judges' decisions as well. Anyway, there were lots of other students who did just as well but didn't place either. Ultimately, I think the hope is that students walk away with a great feeling of accomplishment regardless of the final results. I certainly respect them for all the hard work they put into it.

32nd Asakusa Samba Carnival

In the last weekend of August, I went to a fun, lively samba festival in Tokyo. It was the 32nd Asakusa Carnival Contest (弟32回浅草サンバカーニバレコンテスト), a vibrant 5-hour parade in the same style as the famous Rio de Janeiro Canival (Carnaval no Rio de Janeiro) from Brazil. In general, carnival consists of various samba schools competing to show off their best costumes, floats, music, and atmosphere to represent their particular theme (enredo, in Portuguese). Each team is made up of several main sections; (1) a small opening group of dancers who introduce the school/team and set the mood, (2) a mix of people who ride on the floats--dancers, people waving, and one person wearing an highly-decorated costume, (3) people walking along with the float, including more dancers, musicians, etc. It's worth noting that I've personally never been to any other carnival festival, so these details are simply based on my observations and some very basic research. Someday, hopefully I'll be able to see the real thing!

Participating groups came in many shapes and sizes. There was a lot of variation. Among the many teams, I saw Brazilian samba dancers, Japanese samba dancers, middle school students, very young children, old men and women, and nearly-naked dancers proudly shaking their butts while others calmly waving their hand while wearing heavily multi-layered dresses in the hot Tokyo sun. It was very fun and truly impressive. The energy level was extraordinary and it was easy to see that everyone was having a great time. Many of the costumes were very sexy, but for me the most enjoyable aspects were seeing the over-the-top, bright, colorful designs and overemphasized, playful facial expressions and gestures the dancers made throughout the parade. It was super fun to photograph. 

The music was also exciting, with very upbeat, and often fast-paced beats and rhythms. Most teams had musicians jamming out on drums, guitars, bells, etc. Some of the specific instruments I saw and heard being played were the repinique (medium-sized two-headed drum), caixa (small drum), tamborim (hand-sized drum), rocar (a set of small cymbals), agogô (bell instrument), and cavaquinho (a small guitar similar to a ukelele). The music was blasting from large speakers on each team's float as the dancers danced and sang to the lively rhythms. I even saw a few spectators start dancing in the crowd.

The parade is a ton of fun and feels very light-hearted, but at the same time it's still a real contest between participating teams. This year, 19 teams competed in the festival, which is organized into two leagues. The S1 league is composed of the best teams and allows for a larger number of participants and some special perks like the use of allegoria handcarts (type of parade floats). The S2 league is thus composed of smaller teams, with less perks, who are striving to get into the top league. They can achieve this by becoming the winning team in the parade contest, which will enter them into the S1 league in the following year.

Teams are judged on the following aspects: (1) representation of theme, (2) dynamism (3) costume design, (4) performance, (5) dancing, and (6) overall evaluation. The winners receive not only bragging rights but also real cash prizes. For 2013, the team, "G.R.E.S. Uniao Dos Amadores" (or "G.R.E.S. Union Of Amateurs"), swept the competition and won first place in the S1 league, won the Asahi Breweries Special Award, and even won the Jury Special Prize. The first place team in the S2 league was, 自由の森学園サンバ音楽隊 (Jiyu no Morigakuen Samba Ongakutai, or roughly translating to, "Freedom Forest Academy Samba Musicians"). Congratulations to these teams for a job well done!

This was an incredible, unique experience and I definitely want to go again. I highly recommend going to anyone that has the chance. It's scheduled on the last Saturday of August every year, and starts in the early afternoon. The parade route runs very near Tokyo's oldest temple, Senso-ji Temple (金龍山浅草寺), located in Asakusa (浅草); starting on Umamichi Street (near Nitenmon Gate) and turning onto Kaminarimon Street. This makes it very easy to get there via public transit as the area is just a quick walk from Tokyo Metro Tawaramachi Station / Asakusa Station. Since the event draws an estimated half million people yearly, it's important to get there early and find a good place to sit. I didn't know this ahead of time, but there are places where you can actually set up a small tarp, cooler, cushions, etc., right on the street (I saw this on the east side of Umamichi Street). Don't wait until the last minute to find a spot or else you'll likely be standing behind a bunch of old, sweaty Japanese guys (which happened to me for the first two hours of the parade).

Shimokita Bike Trip

Yokohama-machi

One of my most interesting summer adventures this year was a long-distance bicycle trip my friend and I embarked upon. We took the trip in mid-August, starting in Aomori City and riding northward along the edge of the beautiful Shimokita Peninsula (下北半島, Shimokitahantou). Our main stops included Noheji, Kayataira, Mutsu City, Kawauchi, Sai, and Hotokegaura (see map). The whole trip spanned just three days since we had to fit it in between our work days. But in that period we managed to cover about 250 km (155 mi), before hopping on a train for the last leg of our return trip. My friend, Patrick, rode a blue single-speed road bike; I rode a black 24-gear mountain bike--neither of which were ideal for the type of geography we encountered but it worked for us.

Day 1

On the morning of our first day, the weather was fantastic. The sun was shining bright, the skies were deep blue, and it wasn't terribly hot. Both Patrick and I don't have any panniers or bicycle-mounted racks for our gear, so we simply used hiking backpacks. This turned out to be okay for us, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it for such a trip. Despite trying to pack lightly, there were just too many essential items we simply had to bring, such as multiple liters of water, bike tools, clothes, etc. The two of us were in good physical shape but going up mountains with a heavy bag wasn't very fun. Nonetheless, we prepped our bikes one last time and got on our way.

Our first main stop was Noheji Beach (野辺地海水浴場, Noheji kaisuiyokuba). One of the observations I made about this area was that fishing seemed to be a really big part of people's lives. Approaching the beach, there were vast amounts of glass fishing floats, nets, and small fishing boats. Anyway, it was a good rest spot. We put our feet in the water to cool off, ate some snacks, and chilled out for a bit. Once we felt re-energized, we set out on the road again.

A couple hours later, we came across an amazing shrine in Kayataira, Yokohama-Machi. This particular shine is called a Hachiman Jinja (八幡神社), which is a specific type of Shinto shrine. From my understanding, it is dedicated to a god believed to be a protector or guardian of warriors, Japanese people, and Japan in general. The atmosphere there was incredibly peaceful; I felt like we entered an entirely different world.

After relaxing there for awhile, we took off again until we reached Mutsu City. By this time the sun was setting so we decided to stay there for the night. We discussed some different options regarding where to sleep, but since we were drenched in sweat, exhausted, and hungry for real food, we quickly decided to just split the cost of a nearby hotel room. We went to a local okonomiyaki restaurant for dinner and then stopped at a quiet bar for a beer and a couple rounds of darts before returning to the hotel for the night.

Day 2

The next morning we slept-in, and although we got a bit of a late start, the long rest was nice. Once on our way, we unexpectedly spotted a variety of military ships and planes just outside of the city. It turns out this was the Ominato Guard District (大湊警備府), a major Japanese navel base used extensively around the time of World War II. The base is currently used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (海上自衛隊). Interestingly, we saw the Japanese "rising sun" flag being flown on some of the ships. This flag is considered offensive to some people, so Patrick and I were a little surprised to see it there. Nevertheless, We took some pictures and continued towards our next destination, Kawauchi (川内町, Kawauchi-Machi).

Kawauchi Beach

In Kawauchi, we stopped at a great beach in the center of town. We relaxed and refueled here for awhile and then continued on our way. But just as we got out of the city and into the middle of nowhere, it started to rain heavily. There was really nothing we could since we didn't have rain suits or shelter, so we simply keep going until we reached a tiny little village called Ienobe. We were soaking wet by this time, but still took cover by a little shop until the rain subsided. A half hour later, we were on our way again.

Our main goal for the day was to reach a small fishing town called Sai Village (佐井村, Sai-Mura). It's not too far from Ienobe, but the mountainous terrain slowed us down substantially. Thankfully, we were still able to reach it by nightfall. There, we checked out the local port, grabbed some snacks and beer at a convenient store, then went to a nearby campground. We had our own sleeping bags but we were hoping to rent a tent. Unfortunately, they didn't have any such rentals, so we had to sleep under a camp pavilion. It covered us from the rain, but didn't protect us from the annoying mosquitos buzzing around our heads all night. So althought we couldn't sleep much, we did catch a spectacular lightening show in the distance. We departed the campsite as the sun was rising.

Day 3

The morning was a little grey, and cool--not particularly pretty but good for biking up and over big mountains. Our destination was Hotokegaura (仏ヶ浦), a scenic area of naturally-carved rock formations beside the sea. The empty road leading there was surrounded by nothing but mountains and trees. There were certainly no shops or rest areas; only nature. Japanese macaques actually live in these mountains, and we even came across a group of them sitting by the road. They were very shy but happily I was able to get one decent photo.

Wild Japanese Macaque in northwest Shimokita

Ascending the mountains on our bikes was tough. Some of the inclines were very steep, but even the more tolerable inclines seemed to keep going and going forever. However, once we did reach the peaks, the ride down was awesome. We continued going like this for awhile. We began to get very hungry since we didn't have anywhere to eat breakfast until that point. Our water also ran out. But with nothing around, we had to keep going and hope that our destination had a small shop to refuel ourselves. Past the halfway point, the clouds broke open and the sun revealed itself. We used the opportunity to capture some photos of the gorgeous terrain.

Shimokita's beautiful terrain

Eventually, we reached Hotokegaura. After a pretty exhaustive bike ride through the mountains, it felt great to arrive there. You can get a good view of the rock formations from above, so we took a view snapshots there and then zoomed down the rest of the mountain to see the formations up close.

Hotokegaura in the distance

My friend, Patrick, walking next to one of the massive rock formations

Hotokegaura translates to, "the coasts of Buddha." It's called this because Japanese people believe that the various rock features resemble Buddhist figures or other imagery. Many of the formations even have names referring to their representations. Although personally I didn't always perceive this kind of imagery in all of the rocks, I did manage to see some of it. One such formation was called, "eagle." Aside from the typical imagery, I also perceived certain figures of my own. For instance, I thought one particular formation looked like a creepy, monster-like, screaming face (see picture below).

Left: "Eagle"; Right: Screaming face (?)

We spent some time relaxing by the sea--the weather was lovely, and we could feel a refreshing breeze while listening to the waves crash against the boardwalk on which we were laying down. But our time walking near the actual formations was cut short as thousands of pesky bugs seemingly came out of nowhere and started attacking us. We tried to use bug spray and walk swiftly but doing such didn't seem to phase the crazy bugs. It quickly became unbearable and we literally sprinted out of there and ran back up to the road.

At this point, we were really thirsty and hungry. The only thing we could find was an old faucet attached to an abandoned, rusty shack. We hesitantly filled up on water as a precaution, since we didn't know how much farther we would have to ride until we would find a safer source or water or food. At one point the road split and we had to decide which way to go. I made the decision and it turned out to be a very good one, as the rode was mostly gradually downhill and provided tree cover from the sun. I really enjoyed this section or riding; the geography was very pretty with lots of trees and valleys, and then later rolling hills and grasslands. Eventually we did come across a nice visitor's center which had cafeteria-style restaurant.  There, we practically had a small feast and drank liters of water. It was a truly fantastic rest.

Rested and refueled, the rest of the bike ride felt easy and fast-paced. We made excellent timing as we made it very quickly to the our next rest point, Kawauchi Beach. We had been there before just the previous day, but now we wanted to swim and really enjoy the beach. We spent a lot of time swimming and relaxing in the water. We each also used the nice shower facilities they have available there, then grabbed dinner at a nearby supermarket.

The final part of our ride was straightforward and before no time we had returned to Mutsu City once again. There, we bought cheap blue tarps, wrapped up our bikes, and boarded a train for Aomori. By late night, we had returned to Aomori. Our bike trip had gone by quickly but I feel like we gained many great experiences. Doing a long trip like this is really interesting. It gives you lots of opportunities to see many new things and explore new places, and perhaps most of all, it feels like a great accomplishment that few others can claim.