I am standing in  the iwaki marine tower

which gives you a fantastic view of all the great places  that you can explore while you're here

there is so much to see let's not  waste any time

let's get after it

It's worth noting that Iwaki is only 2.5 hours by car from Tokyo

if you're going to  the top of the iwaki marine tower

going to a dharma festival

perhaps exploring the  local aquarium

you're going to need energy to do all of that

so the first thing we did was hunt  out a delicious cafe at iwaki station

the name of this cafe is Break

and it's quite popular with  the locals

i could see that as soon as i walked in

well frequented

made me really really happy to  see that

it has a few specialties but the one that particularly drew me to it was that it has an  oversized sandwich

which uses 1.5 loaves of bread in its creation

if you can believe that

you think you know how big it's going to be

until it drops on the table

and i think no matter who  you are you're going to be kind of surprised by the size of this thing

you're not going to be  disappointed

now if your eyes felt a little bit bigger than your stomach

once it drops onto your  table

i think there's no shame in sharing this with a friend

although if you're really hungry you  probably crush your way right through to the other side of it

as for the ingredients

lightly toasted  bread

so nice

the vegetables were super fresh

everything was good

i would highly recommend  checking this out if you were to drop in to Break

now the encore that we went with was an oversized  parfait

brimming with many different kinds of fruit

splashed with whipped cream all over

and  of course a delectable cherry on top

no one i think has ever left break feeling hungry

and i say that with great great confidence

i certainly didn't

there's real charm here

the  little lady who was running the store that day was so kind to us

kept coming over making sure  that we were okay

everything was all right

really really nice pleasant laid-back atmosphere

well worth dropping into if you're around the station

with great value for what it is that they're selling

even got a nice little fist bump from that kind little lady at the end

after  being super fueled for the rest of the day

who among us doesn't enjoy getting to be a kid again on some occasion

and that's what i felt when i went to visit the iwaki aquarium

i haven't  been to something like this since i was probably 10 years old

and it was never on the scale  that i found here

also pleasantly surprised to see that they actually had a lot of fuzzy cute  land animals that you could observe

another part of the experience was seeing feeding time in the enclosure

where the caretakers would throw chunks of the food for the day into the water

and then you would watch them the animals rush up to the glass and make off with their delicious lunch

they looked very very happy and i feel like that was indicative of the kind of care that they were getting

the aquarium itself is separated into two buildings

the larger of the sea creatures can  be found in the second building

and before we even went in we commented that it sounded like  there were dinosaurs in there

because of some of the incredible loud sounds that you could hear

it was peaceful watching all the fish swim around

and a real joy to explore because there were so many rooms

that had been modeled after different   parts of specific warmer climates

making it  something of a vacation from the cold

which was very very welcome for me

a definite highlight for  me is when we entered the sea lion enclosure

where at first it was only in my mind that i felt like a  kid

here i actually got to behave like one

playing along with them as they were swimming around

and it started to feel like a little bit of a terrence malek movie actually

again they looked really  really well cared for

happy chubby fat

and the attendance giving them a really really good lunch

lots of different amounts of fish for them to eat

the hottest part of the whole aquarium  would come next

where it was basically tropical inside the building

and i had to take  off my jacket

to not overheat

all the plants the fauna that you saw

and then there were aquariums which were filled with all kinds of fish

what i was not expecting to see was  that actually in some of these aquariums  

near the end of the tour as you were walking  through

you actually saw scuba divers who were maintaining the tanks

looking after them

feeding  the sea anemones

and cleaning all the walls

contributing to this idea that the aquarium is  lovingly attended to

and just the people again making the experience so so wonderful

if i were to return to IWAKI i would go here again

and definitely spend more than the time that we had available to us in this visit

if only i had better luck

i've thought many  times

well japan has an answer for that

in the form of daruma

now rather than me give you an  explanation

because my information is secondhand at best

we got to go to a festival that was  going on in iwaki

where they claim to make the real daruma

the real doll of luck

and we got to sit down for a quick conversation

with a family that's been doing  it for many many generations

and answered all the burning questions  that i had about this particular tradition

well there you have it

whether  you are an aspiring academic

an athlete

or for whatever reason that you  might need a little bit more luck in your life

if you can make it out to the dharma festival  in iwaki

rest assured you will be getting the highest quality luck

provided by a generational  family

who truly knows the business of fortune

i absolutely love seafood

and as a coastal town iwaki is a fantastic place for you to enjoy some of the best that japan has

we are here today at urokoju

and we are going to try some of the  wonderful selections that they have

we got a big order

and if i anticipate correctly  i think it's going to be absolutely delicious

Here is the Big Tendon (Tempura Bowl)

Look so good!

Thank you very much

what's up with this?

beautiful looking presentation

a theme to coming to iwaki can be enjoying the  dekamori food that they have here

which is this quite large style that you get

if you've had  a fantastic day touring around and exploring

and you're very hungry

don't worry you'll  be able to walk out of here full

i'm excited

okay

crispy

light

flaky

everything you want in a  delicious piece of tempura

with a veritable feast laid before us

it was a challenge but a welcome  one to get it all down

and we were lucky enough to actually have the brother of the owner of  the company

give us a little bit of his time

sit down with us

and give us a message for anyone who might be considering coming to visit iwaki

with my belly full of some of the most  amazing seafood i've ever had

i headed down to the peninsula again

because i wanted to see what the views were like as the sun was setting

it was incredible

and definitely a highlight  for me would have to be the lighthouse

that i went to see

and it was so cool to see just as the  shadow would pass over it as the sun went down

but again that meant i burnt off all those calories and needed to eat

so what better place to enjoy but another local izakaya

where they specialized in a lot of great japanese sake from fukushima

we've come to a place that has incredible selection in terms of the Nihonshu that they  have on offer

we've gone for local

we've gone for fukushima

and then within that you have a couple of different flavor profiles

you could go for a little sweeter

you could go for a little dryer

my personal favorite is the dryer

of the  options

and that is what we are going to try now

to migrate honor and surprise

the master of the izakaya actually came out and poured for me

i will never forget this  kindness

so cool

as is customary kanpai

absolutely delicious

it's a gentler flavor  if you've not tried the Nihonshu before

don't be intimidated

it's really easy to  like

almost too easy to like in fact

i'll be definitely having a lot  more of this

sake of course isn't the only reason that locals come to visit the  restaurant

and hang out with the master-san

there's a lot of great food as well

i enjoyed a whole lot of it when i was there

but rather i tell you what it is that they  enjoy

i think it's better if you actually hear from them themselves

why it is that they keep  coming back and why they enjoy it so much here

for our second day we ascended the mountains of  fukushima

to once again do something

experience something

that i never had before since  living in japan

or in fact in my entire life

today we're at abukuma caves

i've never  ever been to a cave before

and this one is quite extensive

with a lot of interesting  features

i think it's going to be a lot of fun

so this cave was first found in 1969

in a quarrying operation

and then they later in the 70s opened it to the public

by 2004 over 19 million people have come to visit the cave

you can imagine then by  now that it's been very very very popular

i think it'd be interesting to come here at all times of the year

but we're getting this very very interesting experience out of winter where

look at all this ice that you're finding

it's giving it a very distinct vibe

there's a whole lot  that's surprising me here

i thought that it was only going to be narrow

and there's great  expanses of space in some areas

i thought it was going to be cold

and it's actually surprisingly  warm

it maintains a temperature of 15 degrees celsius all year round

here we are at where they actually found the first initial entrance to the cave

you can see it was a mining operation when  they busted through

and you can see some of the old equipment and staircase that would have  led down into it

what a day that must have been

once you enter the cave and got in a little bit further

you have two options before you enter the main cavern

one of which is the  exploration course

and one of which is the regular

we're going to take the exploration course

to make it just that much more exciting

let's go

we just passed what was said  to be where you purify your  soul

in the lake

not much of a lake more  like a little pond

but i'll take anywhere i can purify my soul

they're not kidding  when they call this the adventure course

it is low you got to watch your head

i will  say though i'm 6'1 and it's totally doable

so don't be afraid if you're a little bit  taller to get through here

you can do it

no exaggeration that this has some  serious indiana jones-like qualities to it  

and i'm not talking about like kingdom of  the crystal skull letdown

this is more like holy grail or ark of the covenant

cool stuff

we found our way to the main cavern of the whole system

and it is impressive

if you are the sort of family that has some kids who love the jungle  gym

or climbing around cool obstacles

you're gonna have a lot of fun in here