Suma

Today started out with Baby We Were Born to Run playing on the radio as we cruised down the highway. If that does not spell out the start of a good day to you, then you need to be rethinking your position in life.

This morning we left early heading for a city south of Kobe to go fishing. Suma is a city on a hill (or rather, a forest covered mountain) that looks down into the harbor. What more could you look for in terms of scenery? We arrived just before 10, and after much difficulty parking, we headed out onto the docks.

Fishing in Japan is very different from fishing in the US. Or, at least from fishing at the Lake. First, quite obviously, we are fishing in the ocean. There was a network of docks that stretch out into Osaka Harbor where families, couples, and middle-aged men were set up, all with varying levels of intensity. We were prepared for a whole day on the docks!

The fishing lines were different as well. Attached to the end of the line were little buckets, which the fishers filled with mini-shrimps. For about the next two feet of line, smaller (about an inch) strands of line hang off with little hooks tied to them. The idea is that the mini-shrimps float off in the water, summoning the fish to the area, where they then mistake the hook for the tasty-smelling shrimp. Then, you can catch a bunch of fish at once. Today we caught 11 fish by ourselves and received one as a gift from the middle-aged man next to us.

On our way back to the mainland, Okaasan and I witnessed two old guys dealing with a squid one of them had just caught. They laid the thing out on their icebox and then one of them gave it a chop in just the right place and suddenly the color drained out of it and I'm pretty sure it was dead. I really wish we could have caught a squid.

After fishing, we went up the mountain, because it's actually an amusement park. No, stop. Whatever you are imagining, it's not that. It was like taking a step back in time. We rode a cable car up part of the mountain and then another ride up the rest. At the top were more fun things, but we settled for the observation deck, where you could see Suma, Akashi, and Awaji Island. There was also an arcade of the first floor.

Side note about Awaji Island: In the Kojiki, which is somewhere between religious texts and historical documentation, Awaji is the first island created when Izanagi and Izanami created land in the world.

On the way home, Olivia Newton-John's cover of Country Roads was on the radio (yes, same station). This pretty much means nothing to anyone who knows nothing of Studio Ghibli movies or Japan's obsession with random American songs. Needless to say, it was a good way to finish the trip.

Okaasan fried up some of the fish after dinner. Oh yeah, and dinner was beef stew. No, not some Japanese beef stew. Regular beef stew with carrots and potatoes and onions.

Today was definitely a perfect day of East meets West.