5 September 2010

After a tough week, Nick really needed to get out of town for the day, so we went to Inamuragasaki. The black sand there was dangerously hot and Emily yelled when she burnt her feet. I too scalded the soles of my feet. It was just about bearable on the sand that had recently been wetted by the waves, so we set up camp there.


Nick and Emily wasted no time in getting into the surf. They had a good timeand Emily loved 'swimming', but Nick got stung on the torso - he thought by sea lice. It left a small red weal that stayed the rest of the day. After he told me I only went in to my hips. The water was very turbulent anyway, due to a sudden sand shelf close to shore.





We had lunch in an unpromising place on the main road that runs right behind the beach, which had sea views and turned out to be wonderful. As it is a bakery as well, for 350 Yen (2.50 pounds) Nick had open access to their interesting selection of home-made breads, which looked delicious (as I am trying to make small concessions in the hope of dropping the 5kg or so I put on in the UK, I gave it a miss though was very envious). Emily, too, filled up on bread, so by the time her pizza came she only picked at it. In any case, she was acting really oddly. She was very quiet and flopping around on my lap looking like she was about to fall asleep, before finally springing back to life as we left the restaurant for another stint on the beach.



We made a sandcastle and scavenged a while



then Nick could not resist the lure of the sea and went in again for a short dip, accompanied by an eager Emily.



Our journey home began with the kitsch little Enoden line. While we waited at the tiny station we noticed a poster which Nick said was for a mens' prostate and urinary clinic; typically Japanese, it was dumbed down to cute level.



Though obviously flagging, we managed to get Emily home without a nap, so she went to bed at 7.30 and we were again able to retire at a semi-reasonable hour.