Fukushima III

I felt a bit out of sorts and tired today and decided not to go all the way out to Mugenkyo and the Tadami Bridge Viewpoint. Instead, I made my way to Miharu to visit Takashiba Deco-Yashiki. A preserved artisan village where there were people continuing on the practice of their craft to this day. I immediately didn't regret my decision as the vibe here was amazing. I went to the main building to grab some soba for lunch and they gave me a taste of their yaki-niniku as well. The owner put their baby on the tatami as it slept peacefully under a blanket which made for a cute view while eating.

I explored the village a bit more, admiring the unique architecture and all the crafts outside, there were giant tengu masks amongst other things like the daruma and other mythical beings. I followed the path that led me to a shrine above a hill, to my surprise it was a fertility shrine with stone sculptures of a phallus and vulva. There was even a shrine with a tree trunk enshrined in it in the shape of a woman's lower half. Super wild, super interesting. I walked around some more before calling a taxi back to Miharu station where I waited for my train to Kanmata while eating ice cream.

In Kanmata was the Abukuma Cave. A giant limestone cave that was actually super deep, it took about an hour or so at least to fully explore the area. I took the exploration course which made me do several maneuvers just to squeeze through the tight spaces. The formations inside the cave were also very impressive, especially the end. After the caves, I headed to the Observatory to check out some rocks and stuff, ended up getting a ticket to the planetarium show as well since I had nothing else to do and since I was already there. The show was about the vastness of the universe which was pretty typical. It started raining right after but everything turned out fine as I made my way back to KoriyamaLæs mere