14 November 2019
Turtle hunt
Wandering around the many gardens of Koriyama
Today is my rest day after yesterdays big hike. The weather seemed very changeable. There was very fast moving cloud, high winds, then a few seconds of sunshine and no wind, then rainbows, but never really any rain. At least where I was.
I set off towards the main park, described as a beloved park, Kaiseizan. What I want to know now though, does any place describe their park as a hated park? Anyway, it was not much of a park, just a few sporting stadiums, a pond, a metal red bridge. No turtles.
In one of the sporting stadiums a school sports day was being held. I watched from afar, cause watching kids is creepy and I will be arrested. The 10 year olds were lined up for the 800m, which is two laps of the track. I was amused that in a 2 lap race, about half the field got lapped. Shameful.
After the main park and attached shrine visit, I battled a leaf force gale (leaves were sandblasting me) and headed to the mall. Literally its called 'The Mall'. Strangely this mall had nowhere to sit and have a cup of coffee. There were 2 supermarkets and a kind of department store, as well as a food court. Mcdonalds was the only place serving coffee of any kind. After a quick walk through I pushed on.
Then I stumbled onto numerous other parks and gardens, they didnt seem to rate a mention on the things to do in Koriyama lists, but they were a lot nicer than Kaiseizan. At least in my (correct) opinion. One feature of these parks is that all the kids playground equipment was roped off. All of it. Swings removed, slides roped off, monkey bars covered in hazard tape. What happened?
Finally I wandered back into the main part of town, found somewhere for another coffee, fled from the flash Tiffany and Gucci department store and ended up having a crust free fruit sandwich for lunch.
Somehow that was still quite a lot of walking despite not doing anything, and I am back at my hotel just after lunch with nothing planned.
Heading towards the Kaiseizan garden, and the skies were looking ominous. Fast moving cloud. Nice street though.
My first stop was the baseball stadium. I was surprised the gate was open and I could just wander around.
If you look closely, its a rainbow.
This is probably the best view of the beloved park, and its red metal bridge.
The martyr monument. No is it? Do they have those in Japan or just in the other Asian countries? Are they generally monuments to people who died fighting Japan? I have no idea.
The nearby shrine smelt brand new. It smelt like freshly cut timber. I hoped they installed a fire suppression system!
The grounds of the shrine were quite nice.
Back to the beloved park now, here is the outdoor performance area. A live performance of leaf sweeping was occurring.
The train was fenced off. I wanted to climb up the ladder and pretend to be a train driver.
Some leaf color, more later.
Here is 'The Mall'. Its a mall. A mall without a coffee shop.
Cultural misappropriation!
Its an older style mall. Photo here otherwise I am sure there would be complaints. There were no empty shops at all.
I fled the mall and found an open gate to this garden. I was not sure if I was supposed to just walk in or not as there were signs on the open gate suggesting you cant come in. I went in anyway, snapped a quick photo and left.
Nearby the private garden area was this public garden area. And surprise blue sky. No turtles though.
Another park nearby. This is the one that had all the playground equipment roped off with crime scene CSI tape.
Annnnnd the last garden for today. Still no turtles. My turtle hunt had failed.
Last pic for the day, the beloved historic Usui concrete block. Its the flashiest department store in town, with Tiffany, Luis Vuitton, nothing of interest to me. It has been constructed to last a thousand years. It was blue sky when I went in, brief sideways pouring rain 5 minutes later when I came out.