Place: Shipwreck Beach

After a little over two months, all of our stuff arrived in Japan. The joy of no longer living in the hotel of our own home is indescribable. "Christmas" was Saturday at 8 am sharp on Labor Day weekend. 

Our entire house on wheels.

Battling a raging hangover, I directed the movers where to drop everything. Moving to a place half the size of your old house requires a lot of creative furniture placement. We spent most of Labor Day weekend deciding what to keep and what to donate.

To break up the monotony of moving, we planned a trip to Shipwreck Beach on Monday. Shipwreck Beach  is on the coast of Shimokita Peninsula and a quick hour drive from Misawa.

One of the two shipwrecks giving the beach its name.

The beach is beautiful and serene. The waters are calm, but have a deadly undertow and are filled with jellyfish, so swimming is not recommended.

One of the main draws of the beach is the abundant amount of sea glass. Sea glass is frosted white, brown, or seafoam green in color. I realize that sea glass is merely broken bottles made smooth by the ocean, but it's very fun to hunt for and looks beautiful in clear glass jars.

We combed the beach for almost two hours, putting all of our finds in a small bag. I really wanted to stay until sunset so I could take pictures of the shipwrecks with the sunset, but the puppy was getting tired.

On our drive back, the sun began to set. I begged Mark to pull over and thankfully he did.

Sunset from the side of the road in Noheji.

Once we got home, we started uploading the pictures we took with our good camera. They turned out really well, and with a little Photoshop action, we should have some nice ones to frame. 

Some of sea glass we collected.

My sea glass display.

Directions to Shipwreck Beach (no toll roads):

Coordinates: N 40* 57.292    E 141* 12.794

• Go out the main gate and take a right at the second light.
• Take a right at the third light.
• Go straight past white pole road and make a left at the T intersection
• Take the next right onto 8
• Follow 8 until you get to 4. Merge right to stay on 4.
• Continue for about 2 km. When you pass the Sunkus on the left, veer right onto Route 279 towards Central Noheji.
• Stay on 279 as it winds through Noheji.
• At the flashing light, turn right towards Mutsu.
• Travel on this road for 12.4 km, driving slowly as the entrance is easy to miss.
• You will see a white metal fence on the left side. When it ends there is a small gravel parking lot off the side of the road. Do not drive down to the beach; you may get locked in.
• Once you get out of the car and start walking to the beach, there is a gigantic mountain of shells to your left. If you see this, you made it!
• If you pass over another set of railroad tracks and are next to windmills, you went too far.