Bernie @[email protected]

Goodbye 八丈島 and 八丈小島。
#japan

Today's ride was 17.4km according to Maps. It wasn't a very long ride, but I got plenty of exercise today on those hills.

This island seems small, but the innkeeper mention that it's larger than Manhattan.

A little skeptical, I checked Wikipedia and... it's true! Hachijo-jima is 62.52 km^2, while Manhattan only has 59.1 km^2 of land.

Concluding the izakaya experience with 梅酒 (ume shu) = plum wine.
More than a wine, it's a fruit juice 😝

The sign on the counter reads:
お席を離れる際はマスク着用をお願い致はす。
Please wear a mask when you leave your seat.

This reopens our old discussion on how to best say "please wear a mask", @globalc @Fabimaru @benoit
#japanese

Meanwhile, the izakaya is filling up, but I'm still sitting alone at the bar (which is good; bars packed with people are hubs for #COVID19 spread).

The nice lady at the bar talked me into trying 岩海苔ずし (iwanori zushi), rock seaweed sushi.

I quickly looked it up, and this description convinced me to go ahead and order:
"Iwanori is much more aromatic than nori. I would almost say that it's the veal of nori. It's greener and falls apart in your mouth quicker." 😋
#vegan #japan

Next up, うみかぜ椎茸 (Umikaze Shiitake), another 名物 (famous product) of 八丈島 (Hachijō-jima). 😋
#japanese #japan #vegan

https://mytokyoisland.com/stories/stories-hachijojima/shiitake-mushrooms/

Ashitaba is a famous local product (名物) of Hachijō-jima.
They said it has a pungent smell and taste, but it tastes just like any regular green-leaf plant to me. It's packed with antioxidants.
#japan #vegan
http://ashitabaplant.blogspot.com/2011/06/ashitaba.html?m=1

I started off with a beer and 明日葉天ぷら (ashitaba tempura). The otōshi on the right is also Ashitaba.

Next stop: izakaya.

I wasn't expecting such a large and modern environment. It's also completely empty, perhaps because it's early...
#japan

But this is what I got as a reward for pushing the mamachari all the way up here 😓

I biked uphill all the way to Mt. Hachigata Freesia Field, a landmark which was supposed to look like this:

Many houses are just permanently closed. The population of Hachijō-jima is declining, following the same trend of all small towns in Japan.

The island is cute, but everything is dead, perhaps because today is a holiday:
敬老の日 (keirou no hi) = respect for the elderly day
#japanese #japan

Finally it stopped raining, so I rent a bike and went to see around...

The road is quite hilly, especially for a clunky mamachari.
http://www.tokyobybike.com/2009/06/introducing-mamachari.html?m=1

Homemade traditional breakfast 😋
(#vegetarian version with tamagoyaki)

It's another rainy day, but at least the guesthouse has a really nice lounge 🥰

I still read very slowly... Took me 15 minutes to read all the titles, skipping the ingredients. And since I'm quite hungry, I took the shortcut...

I stopped by a pizzeria on the way to my guest house. They only do take away, and they'll deliver to my guest house.

The menu is 90% Italian words. To decode it, you only need to know katakana and some phonetic rules (and Italian, of course):

ゴルゴンゾーラロッソ -> gorugonsōrarosso -> gorgonzola rosso

I went on a hike to the viewpoint for Hachijo-kojima, but it's barely visible in this weather, and it immediately started raining so I got a free shower on the way back ⛈️😩

So the island which looks like a miniature version of 八丈島 is, unsurprisingly, 八丈小島 (small Hachijo island).