So we stayed in a hotel that night in Niigata City and headed out the next morning around 8 or 9 am. We took a train to the service area that was marked on our map only to find that... it totally wasn't a service area despite the map saying so. See, service areas are big, theyve go stores, places to eat, places to hang out, and as I said earlier this is a very important quality because it gives potential drivers time to mull over what they think about you. This service area had a bathroom, 2 vending machines, and an ashtray. Probably no more than 20 parking spaces. So, we hiked there from the train station, saw this and tried our best despite knowing we probably wouldn't be getting anywhere anytime soon. And we didn't. 3 or so hours later we said to hell with this and walked to the train station to take a train to Echigo Yuzawa, the town where Naeba Ski Resort is, the town where the ultimate rock festival in the history of rock festivals is held...
About an hour into our trip, I notice that the ocean is on our left.... this is odd because we're on the west coast and if we're heading south like we should be then the ocean should be on our right.... FUCK WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY. Turns out there's another Yuzawa in Akita prefecture, just north of Niigata prefecture, and that is where the search engine on my phone told us to go. So we get off at the next stop, Kuwagawa, and check the time table. 2 hours to kill in the middle of this world's most inaka town - the hell are we going to do?, we think. Well, there was a sushi restaurant right across the street and we hadn't yet eaten, so we dropped in. Turns out to be a pretty rad spot, with the owner/head chef fishing/diving for the fish and shellfish he serves on a daily basis. Lucky for us, he had just gathered some Awabi (abalone) and so we started our meal with a plate of that. Unluckily, he was out of Uni (Sea Urchin), but our meal was quite good - ordered a simple sushi set meal, what's contents were decided by the chef daily, and had some tea. This was all done sitting on tatami over looking the ocean out a window. Good stuff.
We paid after finishing and saw we still had some time left, so we went for a walk down the boardwalk. Ultimately, we discovered a very small shrine situated on a very large rock that was very close to the shore but not actually on the shore. Per the usual, this means there was a red gate marking the opening of a path that ends with the actual shrine. These things are located all over Japan and most are in the most unlikely, or out-of-the-way spots. Really cool, and I'd love to go on an adventure seeking these things out some day. So we climb the rock, take some pictures, head back down, wash our feet off, and get to the station just in time to catch the train. Finally, after a small but not at all unappreciated detour, we are on the last leg of our trip to Naeba...
END PART 2
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