Mussel Colony 



A mussel colony is exposed at low tide in Miyako.

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Umineko 



An umineko seagull rests on a rock in a protected cove of the shore near Miyako, Iwate.
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Miyako Manhole Cover 



A pair of salmon dance on the Miyako manhole cover design.

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But... Is It Clean? 



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Sea Urchin Paradise 



We spent a weekend at the coast, and found a large number of sea urchins hanging out in some shallow water at a rocky beach.
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Looks Like Autumn 

Masses of variously colored cosmos flowers are very common around Kitakami in the fall.


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The I-O Distinction 

This is definitely not the kind of pepperoncini I ran around town looking for back in May:



As it turns out, this kind of pasta is actually called peperoncino. This batch is from a mix, consisting of a liquid sauce packet (olive oil, garlic oil, soy sauce, and some other stuff) and a separate toppings packet (toasted garlic, parsley, and sliced dried togarashi). It's quite delicious.


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Akita Manhole Covers 

Here are some more manhole covers. These ones are from Akita prefecture.



These racks of lanterns feature prominently in Akita City's largest festival, Kanto Matsuri. The manhole cover is in the city's downtown area.



Kamakurando, a tourist destination in Yokote City, has its own manhole cover design. The dog is Kamakurando's mascot, Nobu. Of course, he's an Akita dog.



Omagari is a city famous for fireworks, and the site of Japan's largest fireworks competition.
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Summer Caterpillar 



Battari-mura was full of these caterpillars when we were there in July.

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Black on White 

A friend gave me a bag of satoimo today.



Satoimo are probably better known in America as taro root, the basis of the Hawaiian food poi. Here, they're most often boiled, peeled, and served in miso soup. I have a new Japanese-language cookbook that rather conveniently has a bunch of satoimo recipes in it, so I made one of them tonight.



This is satoimo no kurogoma miso ae, taro with black sesame and miso dressing. It was quite tasty ¡½ the satoimo themselves have a mild flavor that went nicely with the stronger black sesame. And a Manhattan.
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