Odawara to Fujisawa - a Hawaiian Festival and Finding connections
One thing we have learned about the weather in Japan is that when it rains, be prepared for a deluge. Similarly, when they say light or intermittent rain, it is exactly that. As travellers we love that consistency and reliability. We have learned to take these forecasts seriously, make a plan and stay put when we can. Granted, we are used to riding in the rain as we live on the the coast in British Columbia, but here we find that bad weather along this coast comes with heavy winds.
When we arrived at the Drake Hotel the manager tried valiantly to find us space to park our trikes. There just wasn’t any place to store our trikes except by the front entrance.
It rained heavily in the night and our trikes fared ok with our MEC knapsack rain covers on the job. We love these as they compress into a small bag. They are always attached to our trikes.
This fellow, Ute came up to talk with us while we were stopped at a Konbini. First of all, we were surprised at his excellent English. It turns out that he had lived for some time at Whistler and had visited both Galiano Island and Saltspring Island (we have lived on both of these Gulf Islands). He is a passionate snowboarder, surfer and he is a videographer of things in nature and his passions.
And this is surprising….later, we were riding along the coast and he drove up beside us with a big smile. He was off to do some surfing with his daughter. Small world.
Riding so close to the Pacific Coast, we feel immersed, vicariously, in the surfing culture here. It is thrilling to watch surfers in action as this coast can have spectacular waves. It is a solitary endeavour but we see a strong connection amongst surfers.
This beach area stretches a long way. We found it very interesting to learn about the resident green pigeons who have a rare habit of taking in seawater.
Having an image like this happy fish on a sign that is delivering stressful information is something you see a lot of in Japan. Similarly, when construction is happening and traffic may be stopped, slower or have detours, the barriers are made of cute characters to ease the stress.
Riding alongside a sports park, we could smell food cooking and hear the bustle of people having a good time. We couldn’t see in as there were walls around this community centre and sports field. So, we turned in and discovered that we had timed it just right to visit this community’s annual Hawaii festival. It is a big deal, there are traffic people directing you to a parking spot (very few cars….mostly bikes) and it seems like everybody in the area is here.
This golden retriever who is dressed in a Hawaiian Shirt for the event, had the typical lovely personality that the breed is known for. All I did was reach out to pet him and he was instantly my friend. Boy, we do miss Mochi, a Golden Retriever we love on Saltspring.
This woman is Canadian from Toronto, via Honolulu. She comes every year to this festival from Honolulu and has a booth where she sells her paintings. She was able to explain the festival to us. Japanese people from this area love to visit Hawaii and they share a strong bond. Along with the surf culture which they share, hula dancing is a big deal here. In fact, there are more Hawaiian Dancing Schools in Japan than in Hawaii. She also said that the quality of the dancing here is top notch.
She also shared with us that Honolulu and this town, Chigasaki are sister cities. She was instrumental in creating this manhole cover which will be installed in this town.
Pretty much everybody at the festival were dressed in Hawaiian attire. This extended to the countless dogs we saw at the festival. This dog seemed happy in his t-shirt and yellow lei.
Food trucks serving Hawaiian style food and vendors with Hawaiian shirts, clothing and souvenirs. It was a bit surreal at first, but now we understand that the ties between Japan and Hawaii are pretty tight.
When we arrived at our hotel we went to put our rain covers on and discovered that they were missing. Unfortunately, they were probably still hanging up outside the Drake Hotel. Hopefully we will be able to find an outdoors store that sells backpack rain covers.
We have had an extraordinary day of discovery and being in the right place at the right time. Learning more about the surfing culture in this area, befriending dogs and stumbling onto a Hawaiian Festival. You never know what a day may bring. You just need to be ready to embrace whatever comes your way.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles) Total: 1,004 km (623 miles)
