Return to Izu Peninsula

This week is Japan’s Golden Week. A few holidays they string together and get the week off work. So it is our last chance to do something big before we go home in July. But Japan just issued another state of emergency for the places we wanted to go. So we had to change our plans.

I actually planned to take an additional week off work after golden week so we could take our time and do the grand tour of Japan. But we decided it was best to just cancel the extra time off and take a small trip instead. So we headed back to Izu Peninsula south of Tokyo for 3 days. The last time we were there, we stayed in a ryokan and never left the property. So we didn’t get to explore Izu. This time we had an awesome Airbnb up on a mountain overlooking the ocean.

Kawazu Seven Waterfalls

Various areas all over the Izu Peninsula are designated as world heritage sites for their geological significance. This area was a lava flow path at one point in history. It was pretty amazing that you could see the different structure of the rocks and actually follow the flow of lava. The hexagonal shapes of dried lava were interesting too. We drove to the lower falls, rode a bus to the upper falls, then walked next to the water flow all the way back to the car. It took about 2 hours total. There were stamp booths at each waterfall. So the kids were super dedicated to collecting all 7.

Then Caroline found a cool lava rock that she wanted to take home. But we made her leave it. She was sad for a little while about that. She loves recognizing the different forms of rocks.

The entire area was so beautiful. Pictures really can’t do it justice. I didn’t really expect to be so blown away by the beauty. And we only passed a handful of people for the first 5 waterfalls since we got there around 9am. By the time we got to the last 2 falls, it was getting crowded though. So we were happy to have experienced it with so few people.

Mt. Omuro Dormant Volcano

Our Airbnb was within walkable distance to Mt. Omuro. But we ended up driving. The whole mountain was nicely covered with thick grass. It wasn’t rocky or volcano-like at all. In the bottom of the caldera was archery lessons. We didn’t do it though. We rode a ski lift up to the top and then walked around the rim. It was really nice up there. You could see the ocean and the mountains. And we could see Mt. Fuji just a little bit in the distance. It was a bit hazy, otherwise Fuji would have been easy to see.

The Dragon Cave

A little further down the coast was a cave with a hole in the top. I don’t know why it was called a dragon cave. But it was the first time I had seen a cave like that. We only spent a few minutes down there because there wasn’t much to do.

Sand Sledding Cove

Right next to the dragon cave was a secluded cove with a pile of sand that gets blown up against the cliff and people go there to sled and snowboard down it. We didn’t bring a sled or snowboard, so we just watch a few other people try it. But we walked around the cove and enjoyed the beauty.

Kisami Beach

We don’t have many pics because we were just hanging out playing the whole time. We went to a nice beach with the biggest waves I’ve ever seen. There were a couple people surfing. The water was freezing, but Caroline didn’t care. Nathan stayed dry from the waist up. Caroline just went all in and got soaked.

The Food

We went to a restaurant simply called “Mexico”, where the kids got spaghetti. They did have tacos, but they were a little sketchy. The whole place was a little sketchy. Not a very successful dinner. Oh well.

We also tried a Spanish restaurant one day. And it was much more successful than “Mexico”. The kids did get spaghetti again though! I got a venison paella that was featured on NHK according to the pictures on the wall. It was really good. We talked to the owners who moved to Izu from Yokohama and had never actually been to Spain. But the guy said he had a lot of Spanish friends, haha. It was yummy and made fresh though so we were happy. And actually the spaghetti was really good. They also had Orange Hi-C in a bottle!