Nikko Soba Festival

Last weekend, we had planned on not doing anything since it was only a few days before payday (ran really low last month...). Sunday morning, our friends, the Mitani family called and asked if we wanted to go to a soba festival. Soba is noodles made from buckwheat. They are very popular in Japan. We could not resist tagging along.


I don't think that I have shown gas prices. I took a picture while we were milling around getting ready to go. The top line (red) is regular. The yellow block shows high octane. The regular is 127 yen per liter. That's about $1.53 per liter. There are about 4 liters in a gallon. So basically, we are paying about $6.12 per gallon for regular gas. This is one reason why I ride my bicycle every day. Based on a rough calculation, I have put about 850 miles on it just riding to and from work every day. The temperature in the morning can drop to freezing, but it hasn't been much lower than that. A hooded sweatshirt over a T-shirt is enough to keep me warm.


This is us getting off the highway at the Nikko exit. The Mitani's are in the car in front of us. We tried to get some pictures of the leaves changing but it was a little difficult.





This is a shot from the main road that we took looking for a parking spot. It seemed like there were a ton of cars, but not so many people. We had to park about 2 miles from the festival and take a bus in.




The bridge we crossed to get to the parking lot. We thought it was odd the way it was designed. It kind of leans...






Picture of the mountains. As you have seen before in the blog, Nikko is a mountainous area. I have heard mixed messages about hunting here. It seems like there is a LOT of unused land in the mountain areas. Kind of frustrating to not be able to hunt. I know there are deer here....



I HAVE PROOF!!! This is a large hoof print next to the main road. There was woods on either side of the road so the deer must cross it sometimes.





And I saw some droppings. Sorry if you are squeamish. I am probably going to get in trouble for this. The 'parade' pictures I added a few weeks ago didn't draw any negative feedback from Elin, but this might.




The Mitani family and the Parkers. One of the bus attendants took our picture for us. It was a little chilly, but not so bad.






There was a shallow river moving along the main road. It is so shallow that the weeds cover it pretty well. I didn't know it was there until I walked close to is.





More landscape pictures.












Here are a few trees turning colors. I think we are a few weeks late for the best colors, but we are told that it gets really crowded that time of year. We heard it can take 3 hours to get up the switchback road that usually takes about 15 minutes.








Denny and Yuki on the bus.

















Savannah and Lisa on the bus. Emma is in the foreground. The Mitani's spent a lot of time in the US. I think this may be part of the English sounding names. I'll have to ask.







Small creek I saw as we were crossing a bridge getting to the festival.
















Denny slurping up some soba noodle broth. Drinking from your bowl is acceptable manners in Japan... we love it.











Savannah and her soba with ebi fry (fried shrimp) on top. It was really tasty.
















Here is a closer picture of the soba dish.












We were able to get another person to snap a picture of the whole crew.











More landscape pictures.












One of the bigger clocks that I have seen in my time.













I could not resist taking this one. I saw them coming my way and could not believe how short her...coat?... was. It looked as if she was only wearing a coat. I could see no other clothing on her. Kind of looked like a flasher.















Fish on sale. I am not sure if these were cooked, dried or just for sale.











The sign says "2010 Nikko Soba Matsuri". Matsuri is a festival. The Japanese find many reasons to have small festivals. It is interesting.










Savannah and Lisa in a heart balloon.


















Denny riding a sign... once again, Denny being Denny.















Savannah riding the bus back to the parking lot.

















The sun was starting to come down at about 4:00 or so. It was making the clouds turn colors. I didn't realize how the clouds looked until I put the blog together. I think this looks pretty cool.










Savannah posing in front of the mountains.
















Picture of some weeds in front of the river.















One of the shop workers rolling out the soba dough. They did this in a small plastic lined hut. I think it was to ensure no bugs or germs get to the noodles, not sure, though.

The same worked hand-cutting the noodles.




The kids playing 'anpanman' which is a popular Japanese cartoon.




Walking on the rocks.