exploring my backyard: miyazaki's coastline

Nichinan, Miyazaki 

So, a couple weeks ago, I drove down to the coastal area of Nichinan to visit (re-visit) the area. You may remember that I visited Aoshima back in January.  Well, the first photo on this entry is the view of Aoshima from higher grounds. The red tori gate is easily noticeable. It was a really nice drive along the coastline. Thankfully, the weather on this day was sunny and very warm. I took a break at the rest point and bought a mango flavored sherbet. Miyazaki prefecture is known nationally in Japan for its mangos. And, your eyes aren't fooling you... that is shrimp flavored sherbet you see written there. 


Here's a little random encounter I had at the rest stop. As I was eating my ice cream while looking out at the ocean, four college aged looking guys came to my area. I overheard them saying how beautiful the area was and their desire to take a photo with all four of them in it. So I went up to the guys and said I'd be happy to take their photo. These guys were really happy that I offered to help. Hearing their "thank yous" in English was really cute. So, I used one of the guys' cellphone and took their picture... mind you, I was still holding my ice cream cone with my left hand. After the picture taking, we talked a bit with them asking me a bunch of questions like where I'm from, yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't know... whenever I tell Japanese people that I'm an English teacher, their reply is almost always kakkoi/cool!! Well, I do think I'm a rather awesome teacher, uh huh.


Anyways, I made quite a few stops on my drive along the coastal area to take photos because the area was just so beautiful. It's times like these that I'm grateful that I have a car or else I wouldn't have been able to leisurely take in the picturesque views. Later, I made my way to the Sun Messe Nichinan "theme park" area. Here, there are seven rather large moai statues. These replicas were built as a symbol of friendship between Japan and Easter Island. With Easter Island being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are imprints of various UNESCO sites listed at the Sun Messe Nichinan premise. 

My little adventure doesn't stop here. I also visited a shrine, which I'll talk about next time. 


Thanks for visiting!