A Weekend in Shimoda Izu

The Izu peninsula is couple of hours west of Tokyo on the train. As part of her fellowship, Ingrid had to go there to give a lecture to some school kids. So we decided to make a weekend of it.

In the TV show Shogun, a lot of the action takes place in Izu. If you believe the show, the weather is always terrible in Izu. Despite it being the middle of November this was not our experience.

The distinctive local product of Izu is the fish known locally as kinmedai. In english this little guy is called "splendid alphonsino". Certainly very delicious, and featured on billboards and advertisement all across town.

Shimoda (the town) is also famous as the place where the American Commodore Perry landed with his fleet of black ships and forced Japan to end its isolation and open its markets for trade. You can take a trip on a modern "black ship" around the bay. So we did.

The other tourists threw food for the seagulls.

This incredible pink building was our hotel. Of which more later! It was incredible in a very dated style.

We took a cable car up the local hill for views across the mountains on one side and the bay on the other.

There was a little shrine at the top with these guys. Also about a hundred little buddhas.

That place at the corner is a cool little cocktail bar, where they specialise in drinks with fresh citrus.

In Tokyo, vending machines mostly sell soft drinks. In Izu: fish.

There is a small district of much older buildings, called Perry street, after the commodore. It's not too much changed since the 19th century.

Obvious there were a lot of boats. This was our favourite for obvious reasons.

The hotel had a hot outdoor bath with sea view. It was very difficult to leave.