Iwaki Town
From Akita Wiki
Hi! My name is Michael and I am the lone Iwaki ALT.
The best things here are a yearly wine festival (October), a great castle (Actually 4, all in the Kameda neighborhood), a water park with slides, a beautiful park golf course, and the wonderful Lawson. Iwaki sits on the beach and the hi-way 7.
Contents |
Entertainment
The road side station
Michi no Eki is also a nice attraction. The onsen (Iwaki Onsen, Open 9:00-22:00, Tel: 0184-73-3789) looks out over the beach, ocean, and sunset. The main floor tub is against the large windows, while a lower floor tub sits in front of open windows. There is also a sauna. 400 yen for three hours. Outside the onsen are two restaurants and several small food shops with food on sticks or in bowls. There is a campground space for tents and cabins for rent. There is a port that sits in the ocean 300 meters off shore, connected with a bridge where you can drive, bicycle, or walk out to and watch the waves crash or get a good view of Oga peninsula.
Dining
In town there is a bar called Cocoro, a great little coffee shop with dinner called Cruizer, and a sushi shop that is very hard to find because it looks like someone's house. There is a small supermarket, liquor store with barely any liqueur, and a great library next to the train station. The station is "Iwaki-Minato" written in Hiragana. Minato means port. The train is about 20 minutes from Akita station or Honjo station. The price is 400 yen.
The interstate, or toll road goes by Iwaki. There is an Iwaki stop and a Kameda stop. I am not sure if we are two seperate towns, or if we merged into one before we merged into Yurihonjo. In Kameda there is Omasagi-jo, a castle with a garden, art, historic samurai armour, and some funky lights. It is a great 2 hour adventure where you end up at the top of the 4 story look out tower. From the tower you can see Kameda elementry school that has a beuatiful shrine on the west and a castle turned into an art museum on the east side. On top of the hill behind the school is Amasagi winery where they make four types of plum wine. There is also a theme park that I have never seen open.
Kameda also has a very nice local ffestival where all the school children dress up and go on parade. They wear really nice traditional cloths, depending on what grade they are at. It is really a nice sight.
You can zoom all the way into my building /(*^*)\
Festivals
List of all Yurihonjo festivals
- Kyūhan Festival (旧藩祭)
- This festival is at the start of July.
- Sea of Japan Michikawa Firework Display (日本海道川洋上花火大会)
- This firework festival is at the end of July.
- Iwaki Harbour Festival (岩城ふれあい港まつり)
- Takes place at the end of August.
- Amasagi Wine Festival (天鷺ワインまつり)
- An annual wine festival that started back in 1993. Held in October.
Clinics
I have been to one clinic. Clinics in Japan seem better than a hospital. They are faster and smaller and more personal. For things i usually went to a drug store in America for, I would go to a clinic here in Japan. I went in for a cold and paid around 1500 yen for everything, including several prescriptions. It seems like a lot of drugs, but they also seem to be a lower dosage taken over more time, and they seem to be a variety of drugs and herbs. I also went to the clinic for a rash on my shoulders. In America I would of got an over the counter cream for $5, but the cream I got at the kusuri just wasn't strong enough. So i paid 1600 yen at the clinic and got the cream.
The clinic and the pharmacy pair up to make a Japanese clinic. Thats why it is so cheep and the Kusuri dosn't really have any medicine.
Schools
There is one junior high school and two elementary schools in Iwaki.
- Iwaki junior high school (岩城中学校)
- Michikawa elementary school (道川小学校)
- Kameda elementary school (亀田小学校)
