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Mikuni Sunset Beach in Fukui Opening for the Season!

2018.06.28

Places to visit

I visited Mikuni Sunset Beach in Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture. The beach will be opened for the season on July 1st. Even it was before the beach opening, it was very hot, and many people were in the water swimming.

 

I would like to introduce 3 of my favorite points of the beach.

 

 

Mikuni Sunset Beach

The sunset at the beach is one of my favorite points of the beach.
The name of the beach is “Mikuni Sunset Beach”, so literally, you can see stunning sunset there.

 

 

The sunset at Mikuni Sunset Beach

After 6 p.m., it started getting darker and cooler.
As the sun started going down, the sky turned to orange and it looked beautiful.

 

 

The sunset at Mikuni Sunset Beach

After another half an hour, the sky turned to pinkish color and then the sun went down completely.

 

It is soothing and refreshing just to keep looking at the sky and the ocean at the beach with the sound of waves.

 

 

Mikuni Yua Port

Another favorite point of Mikuni Sunset Beach is that there is a hot spring called “Mikuni Yua Port” next to the beach. Since this is not a hotel, the price is not as expensive as staying at a hotel. It is 500 yen for visitors who are 13 years of age and older, and 200 yen for the ones between 3 years old and 12 years old. There is a footbath outside of the building and it is free of charge.

 

Without making reservation, anyone can enjoy taking a bath in a hot spring. The opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., so the visitors can even enjoy the beautiful sunset and amazing hot spring at the same time.

 

It is only a 5-minute walk from Mikuni Minato Station to “Mikuni Yua Port”.

 

Address:

2-18-1 Shuku, Mikuni Town

Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture 913-0056

 

 

I’m sure that most of the people from Fukui’s favorite point of the beach is to be able to enjoy Minikuni Fireworks Festival closely there. Every August 11th there will be a splendid display of fireworks at Mikuni Sunset Beach. The video above is taken last year (August 11th, 2017). The fireworks hot directly off the water are amazing.

 

If you have a chance to visit Fukui, how about visiting Mikuni Sunset Beach?

 

T.F

Tempura as a dessert, "Tengiku" in Fukui City

2018.06.25

Gourmet


I sometimes go to a tempura restaurant "Tengiku" for lunch, where is located in a corner of so-called Katamachi in the center of Fukui City. I always eat a simple but nice tempura rice bowl which is 800 yen. Tempura of shrimp and "Kakiage", tempura of mixed vegetables and seafoods, are on top of the rice and it is served with some pickles and miso soup of clams .


At the first time, I was surprised that they served even a dessert at the price. The dessert was tempura of "Ohagi", a rice ball coated with bean jam. And after that, I feel like going there when I want to eat the dessert.
T.S

Rimi Natsukawa’s concert | Tour to find songs 2018

2018.06.24

Music, theater and dance

I went to Rimi Natsukawa’s concert held in Heartpia Harue, Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture.

 

 

It was my fourth time to see her concert.
But actually, it was my first time in doors as I only had seen her in open air festivals until now. The theme of the tour is ‘find songs’, which means Ms. Natsukawa composes her concert with songs she really wants to sing now.

 

The concert started with the song “Bashofu”, which is one of famous Okinawan songs.
I like the song very much, too. She sang her big hit “Nadasoso”, and other good songs
including folk songs of Ishigaki Island, where she was born and raised, and ones in Mandarin and in English. She said that occasionally her concert has been held in Taiwan as well these days. She sings any songs perfectly. I don’t think that there are many singers as well as her.

 

Also, she talked that she had sung since she was very young even at mealtimes, so her
family was angry “Are you singing or are you eating? Choose one.” and she went all the way to the main land of Okinawa to enter singing contests because she was not satisfied with ones in Ishigaki Island.

 

She is open-minded, her pleasant talk with Okinawan dialect and dance time were fun.
Until the last song, her transparent high voice echoed around, and it cleared my mind.

 

Of course, she sang this song!
BEGIN, who wrote the song, is also from Ishigaki Island and the song is about the island.
The video was taken in Musikfest Nara in 2016. She sang with Yukito Ara, who is also from Ishigaki Island. （H.S）

Lotus Flower Festival in Fukui -June 30th - August 12th, 2018-

2018.06.22

Festivals and events

Lotus Flower Festival 2018
Lotus Flower Festival 2018

The Lotus Flower Festival at Hanahasu (lotus flower) Park in South Echizen Town in Fukui Prefecture, falling every year in the beginning of summer, showcases 120 different kinds of lotus flowers from around the world. You can even see a rare one from Chiba Prefecture in Japan called “Oga hasu” lotus flowers which have bloomed for the first time in 2,000 years.

 

This year, the festival will be held from June 30th to August 12th, 2018. The park will be filled with beautiful flowers and it will look stunning.

 

Unlike many other flowers, lotus flowers grow in the condition which is surrounded by mud and muck, and by fish and insects. It is a simply dirty, rough condition.

 

Comparing ourselves to lotus flowers, the condition where the lotus flowers grow is like our life which can sometimes be difficult, hard and problematic.

 

Even the lotus flowers grow in the dirty and rough condition, the flowers bloom beautifully. We can say that the lotus flowers are like ourselves that we can become wiser, stronger, happier, more successful, more loving and/or anything better, even if we go through hardship.

 

If you have a chance to visit Fukui and the lotus flower festival, how about enjoying the beauty of the flowers, comparing your life to the mud, and comparing yourself to the flowers? I’m sure you will realize that how you might have overcome hardships in your life and become a better one.

 

T.F

Huge sculptures among the mountains

2018.06.19

Random thoughts

 

 

It's a working stone crushing plant I saw recently in the mountain area of Ono City, Fukui Prefecture.
Of course, it's nice to see a landscape of beautiful modern factories, but I also feel charm in the atmosphere of such rugged structures of rusty iron materials, which are far from the word "precision" or "smart". They look like Tinguely's sculptures, but they are absolutely unknown.
I'm saying only about their appearances, though.
T.S

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