Akaoka day trip

Last Friday I went with a friend to Akaoka. The town is about half an hour or 45 minutes from Kochi by train. The train was the first awesome bit--we lucked out and got a "conductorless train" (but there was totally a guy sitting in the front, so what the hell) with a balcony-like outdoor space! So we spent most of the trip outside, getting blown away by train speed wind and watching the scenery.

When we got to Akaoka, we wandered through the streets. It's a very old town, and there is a lot of great traditional Japanese architecture. We were "OH ENGLISH HELLO"d by the lady working in a handmade/used goods store, and must have spent at least half an hour looking around inside, there was such a crazy amount of awesome stuff there. Old and new jewelery, obis (the ties for kimono), pretty traditional and modern sandals, old dishes and umbrellas, and even a couple of ancient and VERY awesome-looking cameras. I bought a children's obi to wear as a scarf, and was somehow given an umbrella... no, not just an umbrella. The raddest umbrella IN THE WORLD. It is neon pink and black plaid. I bless the previous owner who broke the curly part of the handle, thus enabling its being given to me many years later.

We also saw an old house than has been taken over by vines! Check out the pictures on my Flickr page; there are many! It looks like the house is TOTALLY FULL OF VINES but according to the neighbours, it's just between the window and the blinds inside. Anyway it looks creepy and awesome.

Then we made our way to the Ekingura, a museum of the paintings of Hirose Kinzou (known as Ekin). They're really dramatic story-paintings from the Edo period, and 23 originals remain in Akaoka. They're displayed outside for one night every year at the Ekin Festival, which is this weekend... but alas! I am not going.

And then we went one town over on the train, and ate awabimushi (abalone on rice) right beside the Pacific Ocean!