Isumi, Japan - Ending
We spent an amazing 36 days in Japan! We did a lot of traveling, and we went back and forth between a lot of locations, cities, and districts. To make things easier to read and write, we have grouped everything in our travels into city locations and not exactly by time. The Japan list of contents so far can be found here!
Isumi. Isumi was our final destination in Japan before heading back to Tokyo to relax at Park Hyatt, which after we would fly home. This location was another one that we found in a top Airbnb listings for Japan. The listing reminded us of Halemano in Maui, and it didn't take long for us to decide that it would be the perfect place to finish up our Japan trip.
A train trip from Tokyo, we arrived at the destination, ready to be picked up by the host and transported to his property. Funny thing about the host. When booking the adventure, the headshot of the host was clean cut, British looking male in a suit, he looked like a stockbroker that had made his fortune, and perhaps this retreat house was something he had purchased to "get away from it all". What picked us up at the train station, however, looked like a man that hadn't bathed in 10 years, his hair no longer styled or cut, Birkenstocks on his feet, his car looked like it was barely ever used, with the windows stuck in the rolled down position and cobwebs in the corners. To say we were worried upon the greeting was a bit of an understatement. Was this where Airbnb would fail us? Was this our worst nightmare come true, instead of a clean cut host with an amazing house by the sea, we would be transported to some underground butcher basement?
Luckily for us, no.
The host was warm and laidback, and explained how he was born in Germany, grew up in Canada, and now lives in Japan. He told us about how he had purchased the land and built the house upon it, shipping the wood in from overseas for it. We would be staying in the yurt he originally built and lived in while he was building the main house.
It was a gorgeous piece of land and house.
The yurt was much larger than the one we slept in at Halemano, with a lot of room to spread out in.
The location was right on the cliff that dropped into the ocean. Watching the ocean and fishermen work became a habit while we stayed there.
Much like Mount Zao, Isumi was filled with nature, and much like Yokosuka, filled with spiders. We believe that the spiders in Japan have been bred for their intelligence, as you can see, this one was smart enough to make a sign proclaiming that all spiders are beneficial and should not be killed.
A fishing storage shop near our location that had activity all day and night.
Lots of warning signs along the cliffs, warning of ocean waves and falling rocks.
A small shrine we stumbled upon while seeking out dinner.
A dining location recommended to us by our host. Unfortunately, we do not have a name for it. Isumi was the first location we stumbled into where almost no one spoke English and we had no idea what we were being served.
Bugs we found along the ocean rocks.
Our main transportation was via bicycle, rented from our host.
Lunch at a Japanese fast food establishment.
Sushi recommended to us by our host. It turned out to be very tasty, much better than the establishment we had tried previously.
That concludes our trip. A post or two on the odds and ends of Japan and then we move on with our adventures!
A train trip from Tokyo, we arrived at the destination, ready to be picked up by the host and transported to his property. Funny thing about the host. When booking the adventure, the headshot of the host was clean cut, British looking male in a suit, he looked like a stockbroker that had made his fortune, and perhaps this retreat house was something he had purchased to "get away from it all". What picked us up at the train station, however, looked like a man that hadn't bathed in 10 years, his hair no longer styled or cut, Birkenstocks on his feet, his car looked like it was barely ever used, with the windows stuck in the rolled down position and cobwebs in the corners. To say we were worried upon the greeting was a bit of an understatement. Was this where Airbnb would fail us? Was this our worst nightmare come true, instead of a clean cut host with an amazing house by the sea, we would be transported to some underground butcher basement?
Luckily for us, no.
The host was warm and laidback, and explained how he was born in Germany, grew up in Canada, and now lives in Japan. He told us about how he had purchased the land and built the house upon it, shipping the wood in from overseas for it. We would be staying in the yurt he originally built and lived in while he was building the main house.
It was a gorgeous piece of land and house.
