Journeys in Japan

Cape Muroto in Early Spring (2x12)

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The destination of this time's journey is Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture, that is based at the southeastern corner of the Shikoku Main Island. Jutting out significantly into the Pacific Ocean, Cape Muroto enjoys a mild climate throughout the year, thanks to the warm Kuroshio Current flowing near the shore. Hawaiian-born Michael Rivas visited Cape Muroto in early March to get the feel of early spring. At first, Michael stops at the rocky area covering the very end of the cape. This area is part the Muroto Anan Kaigan Quasi-National Park which was registered in 1964. Varied configurations of the earth's surfaces and unusually-shaped rocks sticking out from the ground were raised from the seabed over a period of 100 billion years by the dynamic tectonic activity. Michael asks landscape photographer Hakushi Maeda to introduce him the charms of Cape Muroto's local nature. The most active industry on and around Cape Muroto is fishery. The Kuroshio Current flowing off the cape brings a lot of blessings of the sea. Muroto has a wide variety of fish dishes. Among them, Michael finds dried moray eel especially interesting. In fact, the local people have a dietary tradition to eat the grotesque-looking fish also called "the gang of the sea," The area along the coast is a habitat of one of Japan's wild plants called "hamaazami." Michael goes out to the beach to collect hamaazami together with Ms. Nakagawa whom he meets in the Takaoka District. Later, he has a chance to try home-made cuisines using wild hamaazami to enjoy one of the best tastes of spring at Cape Muroto. Finally, Michael reaches Kiragawa Town, which is characterized by beautiful ancient storages finished with plasters. Kiragawa Town was once thrived with a trade of bincho-tan charcoal. The ancient section of the town was designated as one of the country's traditional architectures preservation district in 1997. It holds a grand doll festival on the 3rd of March every year, in which visitors are fre