Sunday we ended up driving around Hachinohe for a little while looking for an outdoor store that we had heard about.
The driving here can be a little scary. The roads are narrow, even in a busy downtown area, and it's hard to remember to look on the left side of the road for stop signs and traffic lights. Also, it is perfectly acceptable to put on your hazard lights and stop in the middle of the road if you get a cell phone call that you need to answer. Oftentimes traffic can be backed up just because someone is taking a call. Luckily (although it is annoying at times) people drive really, really slow here. The speed limits just about everywhere are 40 km/hour. That's just under 25 mph. On the outskirts of town, where there are just fields and open roads, the speed limit jumps to a mind boggling 60 km/hour - still only about 35 mph! If you really want to get up some speed, you have to use the toll roads. There you can drive 70 km/hour (42 mph). It's practically like driving on the autobahn!
Lots of people ride their bikes around town. It doesn't stop them from sporting the latest fashions though... It's not uncommon to see a lady like this one - brand name clothes, high heels, Coach purse, juggling an umbrella and riding a bicycle through the rain. Everyone here always seems to manage to pull off the latest looks, no matter what they are doing. Running, bicycling, dining at a restaurant, grocery shopping... it doesn't matter. It's almost guaranteed that they will look good. If you see somebody in just jeans and a t-shirt, they're probably not Japanese.
We finally did find the store we were looking for, in spite of the fact that there are no street names anywhere here. The store was called the Greenhouse, and it was great! All kinds of backpacking, rock climbing, hiking, biking, snowshoeing and camping gear and all the companies and brands that we're familiar with in the states (North Face, Patagonia, Colombia, Marmot, MSR, Jet Boil, etc.). There were also a few items that we had never seen before - like the ultralight chopsticks for backpacking. Of course, they only stock shoes up to size 9, so Chris is out of luck, but there is always online ordering!
LOL about the shoes. Man, the driving here is the exact opposite. If you go the speed limit, or even 10km over, people still pass you like you're standing still, and that's on these CRAZY, curvy, incredibly narrow country roads, usually with road bikers on the "side" (more like the middle) of the road. It's nuts.
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