Sado Island

Blogging on the open road this time, off on my madcap adventure from one side of Japan to the other--thanks to a 3-week break in work that will inevitably result in a pitiful paycheck, a multi-layer sunburn, and some fantastic experiences.

Starting with Sado island.

Sado is on the west side of Japan; it took me about 6 hours to get here by train. However, this is mostly due to the fact that I refused to take the shinkansen and stuck to small, local trains instead. Say what you will about the value of time and convenience, but there is something particularly stress-free about the smaller train stations, where the only question to ask is whether your next train arrives on platform 1 or 2. And besides, with 3 weeks to go, I've got plenty of time to spare taking the scenic route.

After the trains it was time to board a ferry. They called it a ferry, but it was really more like a cruise ship, complete with multiple levels and cabins. As one of the commoners who refused to dish out extra cash for a cabin, I was relegated to a hold area with all the other cabinless passengers. It hardly mattered, since I spent all of my time on the deck, staring into the sea--I thought the people at Home Depot were lying when they called that paint chip "ocean blue"--and watching flying fish. Primary conclusions: I am definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Sado is known for producing a staggering amount of gold--whole mountains have been ripped in half and left that way once their gold supply had been drained. I visited an old mine with a French couple, Mark & Julie, and our reward for enduring the unsettling robots meant to represent miners was soft-serve ice cream with gold flakes on top.  I tried again and again to taste the gold, but any flavor it might have had was easily overwhelmed by the vanilla in the ice cream. Still, it felt ridiculously decadent and I can't think of a better way to say "vacation" than, "I did something pointless and strange and I really enjoyed it."

Another thing Sado is known for is the taraibune. Sado is surrounded by volcanic rocks in all sorts of odd formations, which make navigation with a normal boat almost impossible. So the locals pragmatically substituted barrels, cut in half and augmented by a small oar strapped to the front of the barrel, which experts (and only experts, it seems) can use by laboriously wiggling them back and forth. This is the taraibune: the most awkward sea vessel in existence. Julie, Mark, and I enlisted a guide, Takayuki, to lead us to taraibune. We got to take a ride in them and even attempt to steer them, which was about as successful as you might expect steering a tub with a stick to be. But way more enjoyable.

Takayuki was also responsible for introducing us to a restaurant in a bus. He said, "If you're hungry, I'll take you somewhere interesting." And interesting it certainly was. He introduced us to a man who converted his junker van/bus into a curry restaurant, barely big enough to fit the four of us and smelling of fried eggs, Japanese curry, and pickled radish. And since I'm sure you're all dying to know: the food was delicious!

Next we went to Akadomari, a port town with a unique  tradition: floating sumo wrestling. They set up a large floating arena in the middle of the port, complete with a judge dressed in official robes, and allow volunteers to try their luck against each other.

Well, really....What did you think I was going to do?

I volunteered immediately, and I dragged Julie along. Equipped with just our swimsuits and those fantastically awkward sumo diaper thongs, we waited for the men to finish throwing, tripping, and rolling each other into the water so we could have our turn. We were told there were only 3 lady contestants, us and one Japanese woman. Even with my less-than-athletic physique, I thought I stood a chance: Julie is slim and petite, and Japanese woman are hardly known for being overbearing presences. But my hopes were dashed almost before they had a chance to grow. Julie, it turns out, excelled in Greek wrestling in school (what kind of things are they teaching in France??) and the Japanese woman, Fuji, was intimidatingly muscular and simply bulldozed all opponents into the water without changing her dour expression once. In the end Fuji was the champion, which sat well with the locals and sat pretty well with Julie & me too, since it meant we got to take refreshing dips in the water (albeit at high velocities).