A day trip

I went to birthplace of a friend of mine. It's located at Noda county in Chiba prefecture in Japan. I always wonder how the person's characteristic is cultivated through their life. It may be environment surrounding him or her. If so, I really want to see their environment where they grow their identities. This day trip gave me one of the answers for my question.

I used Toei Shinjuku line, JR, and Tobu Noda line.
It took me one and a half hour in a whole trip.

I was reading a book, checking an email, and thinking about what I will see in the trip.

The destination is a very quiet station. It's a little remote place from Tokyo and I really feel comfortable there.

Just beside of the station, I found this mark on the road. It's written in Japanese but you may find its meaning easily. The road is very narrow and people have to walk here.

The Noda is quite different from Tokyo and I enjoyed the feeling of free from the noise of Tokyo. The Noda has vast land and wide view, which is not for Tokyo.

While walking on the dike, we found a small park and spent some time there.

The park is very arranged and kept by one of Japanese companies whose building is leftside of this picture.

The text on the road saying, "GOAL".

This signboard shows how to use the playground equipments in the park. There are so many different equipments and all of them are very unique.

This is one of them and I tried it. I'm walking and rolling the ball beneath me. I dunno what this activity impact me...but it was fun.

"Don't throw garbage into the river and keep it clean".

The river along the dike is very beautiful.

This is a memorial stone monument of building the dike.

They are daemon for the dike.

The Noda has many old Japanese traditional building. This is one of them.

This building is the place where the "MISO" is produced.

Two shadow on the scene.

We found one small shrine.

On the way to the friend's house, I found the Japanese vending machine. It's a KIRIN brand one.

We had a lunch here. It's RAMEN. You should try when you get a chance to visit Japan. Our ramen is one of best foods in the world.

Japanese road is very narrow compared to the one in North America. I had to care about the cars crossing me just a couple of steps away.

This signboard is saying, "Limit the speed". I understand it. It's so dangerous here....

I forgot to take the picture of the signboard of the station so I took one when I was going to home.

It was very fun and I really enjoyed the whole trip. I'm from Tokyo and didn't have much chance to see the quiet place in Japan. The place shows me a different side of Japan.