Vehicular Recon

This past Monday, I returned to Hachinohe to pick up Tackawanna from the repair shop. I had received the call on Saturday saying that she was ready to come home, but it was too late in the day to go up, and I was especially feeling nautious that day. I ended up taking the shinkansen up to Hachinohe, this time having a reserved seat to sit in.

To be more accurate, the auto shop that housed my car wasn't in Hachinohe, but in the general area. The workshop was actually in Misawa. (For those of you that are or were in the US military at some point, the answer to your question is yes, that Misawa.) I had to connect onto a local train to get to the station, and I knew I picked the right one when I saw the American military personnel on it with their suitcases. They looked like they were returning from vacation, and some were greeted by families and other military personnel in full uniform.

The plane is apparently a city mascot, as there were some references of it around the area.

The mechanic, Kubo-san, came to pick me up at the station in his modified Subaru Outback. This is the same mechanic that towed me when Tackawanna originally broke down. On the way there, we exchanged plesantries, and he gave me the usual you're-crazy-to-have-travelled-that-far-in-such-an-old-car speech. I didn't fight back on that; I just wanted to get Tackawanna and go home.

Kubo-san explained the repair job to me. As it had turned out, the actual radiator had a burst in its upper tank. He showed me the old radiator, and it looked pretty old and worn. Fantastic, I thought. Tackawanna's now all better, and I can take her home.

But he didn't stop there.

He took me out to Tackawanna and opened the hood so that I could see the work. There was, in fact, a new radiator. But alongside the new radiator, he had to make two modifications. The first was that he removed the thermostat from its gasket without replacing it. The second was that he put on a new radiator cap, but took off one of the rubber stoppers to alleviate pressure. As it turned out, Kubo-san was concerned that what had caused the rupture was either a gasket or a piston. If either were warped, it could've built up extra pressure in the cooling system, which could've caused the rupture. Putting back the original cap and thermostat would then have the effect of pressure building up in the system again, and then I'd have to get another new radiator.

Reeling from the shock, I went inside and paid for the repair. $400. Compared with the train ticket prices both ways, this vacation was already too expensive.

Before I left, he recommended that even though Tackawanna was tested on the express roads, I should first stick to driving back on regular roads (in this case, National Route 4), and then get on the express road around Morioka if there were no further issues. He then warned me that the passenger-side window switch was broken. The window could go down, but not up. I told him that I'd look at both issues as soon as I got back to Aizu. I set off.

Of course, being the total idiot that I am, I tried operating the switch while driving. The window, as he had said, would go down, but not up. I now had that window stuck at two-thirds of the way up. To make matters worse, I couldn't move the window back up manually at a gas station with the help of an attendant. And, there was a typhoon scheduled to hit the Tohoku region that evening.

JUST.

With no other choice but to maintain constant driving to prevent rainwater from seeping in, I set off on the express roads after the gas station stop and drove back to Aizu. I ended up making contact with the typhoon about 40 miles north of Sendai. I was passing through different intensities as I drove further south. The storm would get bad, and then it would lighten up, and then it would get worse, and then less worse, and then at some point between bad and worse, before lightening up again.

I arrived back on campus just as the rain started picking up again. I had to go outside and use plastic garbage bags, some flimsy tape, and two frying pans to cover the window, which did the job of keeping the excess water out. I also lost two small pieces of paint removing some of the tape used to cover the window the next morning. As of yet, I have not fixed those spots. (Tackawanna was never really a looker, anyway.)

There was a bit of a silver lining, though. Tackawanna did not break down, or have any hiccups, or show any signs of engine issues on the way back. I also spent that same morning and part of the afternoon removing and cleaning out the window switch for Tackawanna. As it had turned out, the contacts were full of crud, and cleaning them off got the window working properly again. That was a great reprieve for an otherwise sucky weekend.

But today, we dove right back into uncertain waters. I brought Tackawanna to Saito-san, and explained my situation to him. His current theory is a warped piston, but until the tests are ran and the engine inspected, he has no idea what the problem is or what it will take to fix it. He promised to try and keep everything cheap, even in the case of a head gasket, but he did tell me, however, that if my block is cracked, I'm essentially fucked. I'll get the results on Tuesday.

Of course, there is the chance that the radiator was just old after all and the engine was fine. The engine did not show any signs of failure until I hit that rough patch of road, and there were no engine problems with the car coming back. Tackawanna also still runs and drives fine, apart from having no thermostat, which is used to optimize coolant flow and efficiency. And as much as getting another car sounds like an easier solution, it's not. Tackawanna has 9 months of road taxes and 21 months of shaken left. If I get another car, I'll have to go through that whole car-buying process again. And I'd still end up with an older car which could have a similar problem.

But not having a car would be an even worse decision. Aizu is a big place, and it can be especially hot during the summer. Walking or bicycling is going to be impossible for me, even as I have started going to the gym. And as a car enthusiast, it would absolutely kill me to be in one of the most unique car places on the planet with no car.

So at this point, I just have to sit here and wait for the verdict. I've probably used up all of my luck between the trip home and fixing the window, so I'm not holding my breath. If the repair bill is too high, then the plan will be to just drive Tackawanna until the engine gives in for good. I can still use her around town, and maybe take an occasional hop to Koriyama or Fukushima City, but either way, I'm not taking any more expeditions like I did this month. As much as it pains me to say, there's a train for that.

-wp

八戸 4

Not how I wanted to end my vacation

The JR station I mentioned in my last post was about a five minute walk away from the hotel, which was convenient. There, I could wait for the phone call from my insurance company to find out what the story was with the available mechanics. There was also a hotel next door to the train station, and while it would be a long shot to see if there were any rooms available, I still had a little bit of hope.

But I was about to lose it all.

The insurance company called again at around 1100 hrs. It was the same translator from the day before. She said that she found a garage in Hachinohe that would be able to take Tackawanna. In addition, one of the mechanics spoke English, and I could pay for the repair by credit card. The garage would be open on Wednesday.

Wednesday. Yesterday was Monday. That meant that I'd have to wait in Hachinohe for two days, with no car and the parts of the city that I wanted to see already seen. They gave me the name of the garage, but they couldn't send me an e-mail with the garage's information for some stupid fucking reason, so they said that I would have to wait for the garage to send me an e-mail.

I was desperate at this point. I begged the translator to keep looking. Expand the search to within 100 km if she had to. If she could find a place open today or tomorrow, I would get there somehow. She said that she'd look into it. I went back to waiting in the waiting room by the entrance.

At around 1315 hrs, I decided to call back and see what they'd found. Someone else answered the phone, but I explained to them my situation, and is there anything that they could do? They said that they'd call me back in 10 minutes. I hung up and waited.

15 minutes later, I got a phone call again, this time from the translator. There was no one available within 100 km, and they really meant it this time. At this point, I gave up. I had to be back at school on Wednesday, so I told them that I'd be going home by train, and that I'd have to come back for Tackawanna later. I then went inside, and booked a one-way ticket back to Aizu.

I ended up having to stand up for most of the ride, as the trains were apparently overbooked due to the holiday. It wasn't really a comfortable ride. However, there was a section on the ride from Sendai where I could have a seat and rest a while. It was at this point that my fate got worse. I received an e-mail from a professor of a seminar that I had to attend. He had assigned three new hour-long seminars for us to attend.

On Wednesday through Friday. At 1000 hrs.

JUST.

It took me six hours to get back to Aizu through the JR network. (It may have taken less time had it not been for that magnitude-4 earthquake that decided to occur while I was on the shinkansen.) I was exhausted from travelling when I got back, and I felt defeated and stressed. I was supposed to go on vacation to relax and unwind. The car troubles over the past two days, however, had undone all of my relaxation and replaced it with even more stress than I had left with. Now, I have to take one of the days after the seminar to travel 11 hours roundtrip to get Tackawanna and bring her back to AIzuwakamatsu.

To be honest, it's my fault for wanting to take the trip at all. It was too far away, it's now going to cost too much money, and the amount of shit that's going on at school was conflicting with my available vacation time. (Seriously, two day's notice for a seminar? Not even a week's notice?) I know that I am here to study and all, but there's still other things to do other than study at work. Even my advisor wants me to relax more. But at this point, I'm going to have to struggle to do so.

So, Hachinohe. Very nice city, and you could probably see most of the attractions in a day like I did. However, I won't be back. Or going anywhere else for a very long while.

Back to work.

-wp

八戸 3

Christ, what a day.

I know that that seems like an odd thing to say when you're on vacation. To be honest, yesterday was actually going quite well. Unfortunately, things went south towards the end of the day. But first, let's cover the good things that have happened.

Kabushima Shrine

I started my sightseeing day at Kabushima Shrine, a small island with a small temple at the top, which is apparently a breeding ground for seagulls. I was approached by three high school girls who were apparently volunteering for the day. They gave me a history of the island using scripted, but adequate English and a sketchbook filled with drawings and diagrams about the island.

Apparently, a few years after the island was connected to the mainland by a bridge, seagulls started coming to the island to breed. The seagull mating and breeding process starts around April and wraps up around early August. That means that I just missed the bulk of the seagulls, but there were still plenty of them around on the island. Unfortunately, the temple burned down last fall, but they're apparently going to rebuild it.

The next stop on my trip was Nejo-jo. It was a reconstructed castle area that housed the head of the Nanbu clan in the early half of the last millennium. Outside the gate, as I was about to go in, I was approached by a volunteer guide who knew very little English, but had an English translation guidebook to go off of. He then gave me a tour of the castle and the grounds around it.

Nejo-jo

This castle was different from Nijo-jo in Kyoto. It was less centralized, with more external houses and buildings handling trade and crafting. It took the city twenty years to reconstruct the entire castle, and there are still areas on the grounds that they don't know about.

This was the second smallest doorway I had to pass through.

After that, I went to the Kushihiki Hachimangu shrine, a shrine dating back to the 12th century. This place had more of a local feel to it, although some things there were translated to English or Engrish. The grounds were covered by very tall trees, which was striking compared to the surrounding area. It felt relieving to be in such a shady place, away from the beating sun.

Kushihiki Hachimangu

There was also a very small museum on the shrine grounds. Admission was a bit steep given the museum's size, but it was worth it when you stepped inside. The museum housed a bunch of climate-controlled displays of 13th-century relics, including original 13th-century samurai armor. Everything in that museum (well, it was actually one big room) was important cultural property on some level, be it national, prefectural, or local, and before every description of an item, they made sure to remind you that that was the case. The displays had audio narration, which was also available in English.

It was absolutely stunning to see the original armor in such a good condition. The details on it were so intricate. It must have taken a lot of work to make a good set of armor like that. Apparently, an American millionaire was so impressed by one of the sets of armor that he offered the temple $50 million for it. Of course, there was no deal, because, you know, important cultural property.

Two sets of armor dating back to the 13th century

The shrine also sold a bunch of various charms and trinkets. I ended up buying a pair of horse figurines for some of my younger relatives back in the states. I know it seems odd that an atheist would shell out the kind of money he did ($10/horse the size of my palm) to support a religious institution, but at the same time, it was a very historical place, and I like history more than I despise religion.

I then went to the Tanesashi Coast, which is a chain of rocky beaches along the coastline with huge rock formations. I was able to walk up and down the coastline a ways to take in the sights. It was a very beautiful place. I went out on some of the rocks, which were actually jagged and worn by tens of thousands of years of coastal erosion. I had never seen such a pattern like that where I'm from. Then again, Old Saybrook's shoreline was against a sound and not actual ocean. I guess there's a difference when the shoreline is up against an actual ocean.

Taking a mid-sized shell as "booty," I returned to where I parked, which was next to a local food stand, and had lunch. While I was eating, I decided to figure out where I was going to purchase souvenirs. The Internet suggested an Aeon Mall just north of Hachinohe. I decided to head there, but not before taking a brief coastal drive south along Aomori Prefecture Route 1.

At this point in the day, in hindsight, I should've given up and gone back to my hotel. I was originally skeptical of going so far for souvenirs, but I figured that there had to be something in that mall for me to pick up. I travelled the half hour up towards the mall, trying to think about the various people that I had to buy souvenirs for and what I should get them.

And then I hit a rough patch of road.

A liquid was briefly splashed across my windshield. I found it odd, as there were no puddles nearby on a hot summer day with a dry road. Then, I noticed Tackawanna's temperature gauge start to climb. At this point, the panic started to kick in. I was only a kilometer away from the mall, and luckily, I was able to make it without anything failing or catching fire.

I popped the hood to let the engine cool and checked the coolant after a few minutes. There was no pressure in the radiator, and the coolant was gone. That rough patch of road must've been the last straw for a radiator hose. Feeling resigned to my fate, I decided to go inside the mall to shop around for souvenirs while Tackawanna was cooling off. Apparently, the trip was for nothing. There wasn't a souvenir store in the mall; it was all just regular mall-like stores. I came all this way, now with a broken-down car, for nothing.

I went back to the car and called my insurance company, which also offers roadside assistance. I was connected to an agent who knew no English, so she got a translator on the phone. The conversation went something like this: (their words are italicized)

I'm in Hachinohe, but live in Fukushima, and one of my radiator hoses has failed. I can't drive the car back in its current condition. How much would a tow truck cost to bring the car back to Fukushima?

Your coverage allows for a free tow up to 100 km. Unfortunately, you are about 500 km away from Fukushima.

Okay, so how much would it cost me?

A very rough estimate would be 300,000 yen. ($3000)

Would you excuse me for a second?

***At this point, I put the phone on mute and vented loudly and angrily. Then I put the phone back on.***

Okay, I'm back. Well, I'd have to get it fixed here in Hachinohe instead. Can you find me a mechanic?

Well, it's going to be hard because there is currently a Japanese holiday going on ri-

Yes, I am aware of what Obon is. I am prepared to wait an extra night if I have to. Just make sure that the mechanic accepts Visa cards.

Okay. We can have the towing company hold onto your vehicle until we find a mechanic near your hotel. We'll call you tomorrow and let you know what your options are.

***And, scene.***

I ended up waiting another hour for the tow truck to come. The good news was that the tow truck driver spoke English very well. I suppose that having an American Air Force base in the city north of there can have an influence in some regard. He even offered to drive me to the local train station.

When I arrived at JR Hachinohe, I found out that Google Maps was wrong about the train schedule. I'd have to wait two hours for the next train to arrive. I wasn't thrilled about that, so I decided to walk the three miles back to my hotel instead. Not only did I walk back, I arrived back at my hotel 45 minutes before that train was supposed to arrive. Gotta get ready for all that exercise when I get back.

I have to check out of my hotel in a few minutes. There's another JR station about a half a kilometer away from me where I can hang out until that phone call comes. If a mechanic can see me today, I'm going right to the shop. If not, I'll find another hotel to wait at. Let's just hope that this vacation doesn't get any worse that it already has.

八戸 2

Today was day two out of four of my trip to Hachinohe. While it wasn't as travel-intensive as yesterday, it was still full of adventure. Here is the general route that I took.

Today, I took a detour onto Iwate Prefecture Route 44, stopping for a break in Fudai, Iwate Prefecture. The road to Fudai was well-built, and ran through steep cliffs and along a beautiful coastline that you had to see to believe. There were some parts of Fudai that were hit, but to be honest, Fudai was actually different from everywhere else I stopped at in that much of the original city is still standing.

Fudai Watergate, from the inside

You see, back in the 1970s, the mayor of Fudai, a village now with around 3,000 people, decided to build a 15.5 m high seawall in two locations: one covering the main village (Otanabe Seawall), and another covering a small hamlet nearby (Fudai Watergate). It took 12 years to build, and cost aroud $30 million dollars in today's money. Needless to say, the price tag did not sit well with the taxpayers at the time, and for about 25 years, they were justified in their displeasure with the wall. But then the tsunami came, and the wall did its job. Only one person in the village died in the tsunami, and that person was not behind the wall's protection. Fudai only suffered from minor flooding as a result of the tsunami, while the surrounding towns and villages got absolutely BTFO.

This marker indicates how high the tsunami got against the wall

I stopped at the Fudai Watergate today, and got out of the car to walk around. The wall was actually pretty high when you stood next to it. Here, I saw the houses looking untouched and rustic, unlike the rest of the coastline in Iwate which was absolutely levelled. I climbed the steps to the seawall, and then climbed the steps to a small shrine shrouded by overgrowth right next to the wall. It was a really scenic, and striking view. On one side of the wall were all of the houses cobbled together like many rural neighborhoods I've seen in Japan. On the other side was a fishing warehouse and some small businesses in temporary housing, with the rest of the area totally clear.

Otanabe Seawall

The mayor responsible for building the wall died decades before the tsunami. I imagine that if here were around for it, he would've been the smuggest person in Japan. So the moral of this story, kids, is to never not invest in infrastructure. Some price tags are worth the eventual payoff.

Fun fact: Hachinohe has had a sister city relationship with Forest City, Washington, since 1993

I arrived in Hachinohe at about 1240 hrs. After some lunch at a KFC/Pizza Hut joint (yes, they do exist in Japan!), I decided to kill some time before check-in by going to Hachinohe Park. The park was pretty big, and there were plenty of families there, especially with children. The park also had plenty of rides, but I didn't go on any, although I should've gone on the go-cart rides. I bet I could've drifted one if I tried. Still, there was plenty of shade in the park to stay cool in the summer heat.

The money exhibit

Dinner was at Bon, a hole-in-the-wall bar in Hachinohe's nightlife district. This place was reggae and Indian-themed, and it was very small. I had to duck to get through the door, where there was a small seating area and a bar table long enough for five people, plus a few tables on the second floor. The barkeep, Kappa-san, spoke English very well. He apparently learned English from his days as a world-travelling backpacker. I had the spicy chicken, which apparently he toned down so that I wouldn't end up on the floor with my mouth on fire.

In a tight-kit alley somewhere in Hachinohe...

During dinner, a travelling guitarist came into the bar with his guitar and played some music for the other bar patrons. From what Japanese I knew, I was able to determine that he came from the Kanto area to Hachinohe by shinkansen. He was very good at the guitar and singing, and even got the other bar patrons (myself included) to join in on one of his songs. If you ever end up in Hachinohe, I highly recommend that you go here.

Kappa-san had memorabilia everywhere there wasn't people, even by the door

Tomorrow I'll be doing some sightseeing in Hachinohe. I don't know exactly where I'll be going yet, but there should be enough to do in the city to keep me busy for the day. I also plan to do a lot more walking while I'm here, when and where possible. Gotta get used to it for when I get back to Aizu, because that's when I'm going to seriously start working out.

Hachinohe's red-light district

And with that, it's time for bed.

-wp

八戸 1

Today was the first day out of four of my vacation to Hachinohe. Despite the title, I'm actually not in Hachinohe yet. I am currently in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture. This is the route that I took today. After a brief stop to fill up Tackawanna, we set off at around 0745 hrs.

I've usually had good experiences in Japan when sharing the road with other drivers. Everyone gives each other distance, and uses their blinkers, and avoids doing any sudden maneuvers. I thought that I'd finally escaped that mind of hell that America was really good at offering. Well, folks, I was wrong. Apparently there are asshole drivers here, too. Not as many, but I had to use more than one hand today to count, which is a first. As a matter of fact, while on the Tohoku Expressway this morning, I almost wound up succumbing to one. I was in the outside lane, and a car in front of me signaled onto a local exit ramp while another car was coming up in the passing lane. Because the car in front of me was getting off, I decided to speed up. Then, the driver going to get off the highway decided not to get off, turned off their blinker, and without warning, swerved back into the outside lane past the point where the exit ramp and highway divide. I had to brake and swerve towards the passing lane, but that other car was still coming up and went around me. I was very close to crashing Tackawanna.

I pulled up about 15 miles outside of Sendai to the Zao PA, a small rest stop where I could get out and stretch. A lot of people were on the highways today because of the holiday weekend, so the PA was so crowded that traffic cops were guiding people to where the buses usually park to accommodate more people. I ended up getting directed right next to a bus, where I stopped and got out to stretch and drink some water. At that moment, the occupants of said bus were coming back to board it. They were all college-aged girls.

This is a piece of advice for all the guys reading this. If you're looking to get some with the ladies, you have to get a convertible. It doesn't have to be pretty; in fact, Tackawanna could definitely use a paint job. The convertible will make you look 1000% more attractive, guaranteed. The girls would not stop waving at me and trying to get my attention, even after they got on the bus. One girl opened up one of the windows and stuck her head and arm out, constantly trying to get my attention. I tried to play it off by saying 「俺はカッコいいじゃない。」, but that just made them even more excited. As I pulled out of my space to get back onto the highway, I heard the girl, at this point her torso sticking out the window, yell "I LOVE YOU," in English.

"Love you, too," I yelled as I pulled around the bus.

"Ah, settle down now, maybe if you lucky and everythang..."

Anyways, back to the route. The Tohoku and Sanriku Expressways are connected by a mostly single-lane expressway called the Sendai-Nanbu Road. After that, the Sanriku Expressway is a partial toll road, so I ended up saving some money on the tolls. (Still came to about $51 from the Aizu area.) The Sanriku was also not thoroughly connected to itself. Five years and five months ago, a major tsunami hit this area of Japan, killing 15,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damages. Even after the storm, they were still rebuilding some of the infrastructure. Therefore, I had to get off where the southern portion of the Sanriku ended, which was not where Google Maps thought I should've gotten off. I took another break at a Lawson, where I reformatted my larger SD card to work with my dashcam. Then, I set off again.

As I went down the mountain towards National Route 45, I noticed the construction area for the expressway, which was in the middle of a vast, clear plain, which was a very uncommon sight in Japan for me. As I moved on, I started seeing temporary buildings set up, with businesses running inside them. Once I noticed that even the convenience stores were in temporary housing, I knew exactly where I was.

Even five years later, they're still rebuilding here

Route 45 had plenty of sign markers that would say "Past Tsunami Inundation Area," which represented the areas in which the tsunami swept inland over what little protection that the Japanese coastline had. Driving through it would go like this. You'd see the sign. Then you'd see the piles of wood or steel. Then you'd see some new construction. And finally, an unobstructed view of the harbor. Every tributary, and every river, no matter how small or thin, helped the tsunami work its way inland. It definitely showed in the surrounding landscape.

The August summer day was warm and the sun was intensively beating down on me in Tackawanna. But the Pacific Ocean was a surprisingly darker blue. It was a spectacle with a tragic type of beauty. As I passed through each area, I couldn't stop thinking the same dark thoughts. How many people died in this area? I would think to myself. How much longer will the people here have to rebuild to make everything seem normal again? The saddest part of this area, however, was in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. Right next to Route 45 was the hollowed-out foundation of a middle school. Hanging off various parts of the building were blue motivational banners with black text. One banner read "We will connect our hopes and dreams to the future." Another read "We live here, in this hometown."

Tragedy is not a temporary guest. It is a permanent reminder.

Moving on...

Along the way, I was being tailgated on the shoulder by a man riding a 50cc moped. It looked and sounded like a mini-Harley, and especially had the chopper-like sound to it. Even when there was room for him to get around Tackawanna and the traffic in front of her, Moped Man didn't ride the shoulder, and even let pending traffic onto the road. Moped Man is the type of man who other moped drivers should aspire to be. I bet he also pays his bills on time and helps out with the household chores without his spouse having to nag him. He had black checkered side mirrors.

As I was admiring the sheer brilliance of Moped Man, I realized that the route sign was a different number from the one was that I was originally supposed to be taking. I took another wrong turn. Again. I was beside myself. I was checking my route at every break, and I looked up the route at least four times yesterday, and three before I left. I even switched over to Google Maps, and I still got lost. Luckily, I had only travelled a few miles away from Route 45. Unluckily, I stopped at about ten stoplights on the way back.

I arrived at my hotel, which is also in a Past Tsunami Inundation Area and was rebuilt after the tsunami, and checked in, feeling spent. I was also getty pretty tan, even though I reapplied sunblock on various parts of my body at least twice. I'll have to get more serious from now on with the sunblock. I'll have to practically smear it on every few hours, because that's apparently as long as it works for. SPF 50, my ass.

Dinner was at a local Italian restaurant a few miles up the road. When I got back to the hotel, I couldn't find my camera bag, which also had my camera in it. I fiddled my way around the dark car trying to look for it, but then I remembered that I might have brought it into the restaurant with me. I immediately got back in the car and drove back towards the restaurant. About a mile away from the restaurant, while waiting at a stoplight underneath a street light, I turned to look at my passenger seat.

My camera bag was right there.

JUST.

I need to be way more careful. If I keep getting lost and misplacing things, I may end up in some hot soup somewhere someday. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have more of my act together. It'll be a shorter drive; this one will be three hours of total driving. I may stop somewhere along the way tomorrow, though I don't know where yet.

Time for bed. おやすみなさい。

-wp

八戸 0.5

Tommorrow is the start of my brief vacation. As I had mentioned in the past, my limited time and budget prevented me from going to Hokkaido as I had wanted. In addition, the ferry costs to and from Sado Island, a spot in Japan known for its good driving roads, ended up disqualifying the Niigata area. However, I did not want to travel further south, as the heat and traffic in the Kanto region would not be that great. So I did some research, and I've determined my holiday destination: Hachinohe.

(That's the name of the city in kanji in the title, BTW.)

Hachinohe is a city located on the southeastern tip of Aomori Prefecture, the northernmost prefecture on the Honshuu (main) island. It has about 231,000 people, and the average high is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Not a bad place to get away to.

I will be taking the trip with Tackawanna. Last weekend, I replaced the only fuel-related issue that is hard to access without jacks that could theoretically fail (fuel filter), and yesterday, the local Super Autobacs did a quick safety inspection and found no immediate issues. The only issue I have is that none of my suitcases fit in the car, and I am still on a budget, so I'll have to use my regular backpack as an anvil my suitcase.

The trip is going to go down as follows, by day:

1. Drive from Aizuwakamatsu to Miyako, Iwate Prefecture. I'll be taking the Tohoku Expressway and connecting to the Sanriku Expressway.
2. Drive from Miyako to Hachinohe via National Route 45, a coastal road.
3. Spend an extra day in Hachinohe doing tourist shit.
4. Drive from Hachinohe directly back to Aizuwakamatsu via the Hachinohe and Tohoku Expressways, and hope to FSM that the typhoon scheduled in the area for Monday pushes out farther east into the ocean and/or weakens.

As you would guess, day four is going to be the most travel intensive day: seven hours of driving total, with plenty of break time. The last time I drove that far for that long was over two years ago, when I had to drive to Maryland to appear in court. The first day will also involve some long driving times, but not necessarily as fast-paced.

So, regarding this blog. I'm going to try to give each day its own blog post. I may not be able to post everyday, however, but I'll try to stay consistent. I also purchased a larger memory card for the dashcam, allowing me to collect video for longer without having to stop and pull off the data to prevent it from being overwritten. I'll make a few videos for TwT 10 when I get back to Aizu.

Back to packing!

-wp

P.S. There was supposed to be a dashcam video in TwT 9, but there wasn't. That's been fixed now.

Fuel Filters and Fireworks Festivals

After a long day, a well-deserved view.

Yesterday was a very long day for me. Although I slept in, I went through a lot of energy that day. It started in the morning, with Tackawanna.

A few days ago, I linked a video to my Facebook wall showing the insides of an original (as in, since the car was first sold) fuel filter. To save you the time of watching it, it was pitch black and disgusting. The fuel filter is the filter in between your gas tank and engine that prevents any dirt, rust, and/or other particulates from getting to your fuel injectors. Without the filter, your injectors get clogged up, and you'll have to keep going into your engine bay to clean them out. The thing is, even fuel filters need to get replaced. A clogged fuel filter increases the wear on other parts of the vehicle, like the fuel pump, which need to work harder to get the same amount of fuel. I'm fairly certain that Andou-san did not touch the fuel filter when Tackawanna was still in Kanagawa, so before I take my road trip to Hachinohe next weekend, I decided to swap the fuel filter myself.

The part itself was around $55. Pricey, but it was a genuine Mazda part. I had to order it at the local Super Autobacs, and it came the next day. I was able to borrow a pair of jack stands from Saito-san from Straight Arrow Motors (for free, BTW), but I had to go to a local hardware store to pick up my own jack for $40. Regardless, I was still saving money doing the swap myself. I found a shady spot on the edge of campus and got to work.

I am now definitely certain that Tackawanna spent most of her life in the southern area of Japan. There was so little rust underneath her. (That will probably change after two Aizu winters, but still.) I was able to get off the screws and the bolt attaching the old fuel filter to the car with some effort. I also had a close call when a few drops of gasoline got near my eye. It was a good thing that I had that large water bottle nearby to flush out my eye.

The installation process was much faster, and I was able to install the new pump, prime the fuel system, and test the engine running all under 15 minutes. (Take that, Mom!) However, the swap definitely wore me out. I was underneath the car, constantly bumping into mechanical parts, having to take constant breaks because I was getting winded. I have no upper body strength at all. After my road trip, I'll be adding in workout times to my schedule.

After installing a new shift knob and shift decal in Tackawanna, I took a well-deserved shower and had some leftover tacos for lunch. While there, I checked the various routes to Iwaki. That night, there was going to be a fireworks festival down by the aquarium. 20,000 fireworks were going to be launched, twice the amount of the fireworks launched at the festival in Kitakata that I missed last week. But by the time I had lunch, it was mid-afternoon. Even worse, in order to save money on tolls, the plan was to take the side roads to Iwaki, which would take an hour longer than going by expressway. So after I ate, I took a few minutes to get ready, and then set off.

But first, I had to stop by the ATM to get some money for said tolls, and then I had to stop at Straight Arrow Motors to drop off the jacks. I got to the garage at around 1530 hrs. Saito-san tried offering me to come inside, relax, and have a drink, but I was running late at this point and had to go. I felt kind of bad having to reject the offer in the haste that I was in, because if it were not for that man, Tackawanna would still be sitting in the parking lot with an improperly assembled fuel pump. He's been a real help and a great guy. Still, there was definitely going to be traffic, so I got back on the road and made my way towards Iwaki.

The trip took three and a half hours. I ended up taking National Route 294 to Fukushima Prefecture Route 6 to National Route 49, all at the discontent of Apple Maps, which kept suggesting even after I was south of Lake Inawashiro to turn around and go back towards the Ban-etsu Expressway. As I was getting towards Iwaki, I caved and let Apple Maps command me onto the expressway, where after $5, I was able to cut around the city center and towards the coastline. I turned onto the road blocking off thru traffic just as they were launching the test fireworks.

I was able to find an open parking space nearby, and made my way towards the port, where there was an area where people could watch the fireworks for free. A lot of people were out that night. People were walking down the street, dressed in yukatas. Vendors were set up along the street and in the main area, selling everything from shaved ice to cow tongue. A girl who'd dyed her hair two different colors was standing through the sunroof of a slammed Toyota Crown on her phone trying to locate her friends while the driver was trying to find parking. A man carrying his daughter on his shoulders did a double take when he saw me and openly wondered to his friends if I was taller than the two of them combined. Truly, this was a festival.

The fireworks display followed a structure given by the local radio station, which had speakers outside for the attendees. Each display was numbered, and it went all the way up to around 35. The announcer would announce the number, and then a synth beat would play as she read off the names of all of the sponsors of that particular display. Then she would announce the theme of that particular display, and then it would happen. Some displays only had one firework. Other displays had tons.

About halfway through the event, they stopped to have a break for all of the "love birds" out there. One guy taped a prerecorded message asking his girl to marry him. The whole crowd went "aww." Not sure if she said yes, or was even able to get a word out with a face, I'd assumed, redder than the sun. This particular display had heart-shaped fireworks.

The ending was pretty nice. Everyone did a major countdown, and then a five-minute long display with a classic J-POP song in the background happened. It wasn't as jarring as an American fireworks finish back home, but it was still a stunning display. That video is also on my Facebook wall.

The ride back home on the expressway took $30 and two and a half hours, mainly due to the traffic from all of the people leaving. The expressways here in Japan, though less crowded, have a "speed limit" of about 50 miles an hour. However, no one in their right mind pays attention to those limit signs, not even the NEXCO patrol car. There are also, with the exception of at the insides and immediate exits of tunnels, no lights. And the expressway is in the middle of the country, too, so it's just you and the road. Pretty tranquil stuff.

The upshot is that now, Tackawanna is much more responsive to throttle input. I probably got an additional 10% of power back from changing that filter. And even that night, I was still feeling proud of myself. It was my first major service change by myself, without entirely relying on an auto mechanic. (That is, if you don't count the jack stand rental.) I had watched multiple videos and read multiple instructions in the days leading up to the swap. I spent about three hours doing the whole job, with about two of them getting ready and trying to take out the old part. They say that the Miata/Roadster is an easy car to work on. I can see now what they were getting at.

This week, I'm writing a paper to be published in a journal with an outgoing PhD candidate. I also have to present my thesis progress, and present my [Japanese translated] poster at an open house event. Then, it's off to Hachinohe. Here's to another busy week.

-wp