Oshima Island

One of my favorite places here in Japan is Oshima Island.  It is located within a reasonable driving distance from our house but it feels a world apart.  It has a slightly Hawaiian feel to it.  The drive along the coast is amazing.  There are a ton of little (and big) islands and palm trees and beaches.  We spent the day there yesterday and did some fun things.

 

First up was strawberry picking. 

 

In Japan, strawberry season is January through April.  The reason is because they grow the strawberries inside of greenhouses.  You can kind of see from the pictures how they do it.

 

The strawberries are beautiful and tasty.  Oh, so tasty!  I don't even like strawberries (at least plain) and straight off the plant they were amazing. 

 

We let the kids all pick a bunch and they got to eat some of them right away.  Grey was being weird about having his picture taken, but you can see how much he enjoyed them!  We took home a bunch of strawberries and I made freezer jam with them today before they spoil. 

 

It made me feel better about the 4400 yen total! 

 

 

After strawberry picking, we headed up the coast to this tiny little aquarium.

The best thing about the aquarium is that they have this room at the back where you can literally get in the water and pet all of the sea creatures they have.

 

Stone and Ollie loved the sharks!  Sharks!  Can you believe they let you pet sharks?!

 

Grover was determined to pet a fish.  He never caught one, but did finally get his hands on a sting ray!

 

 

 

After the aquarium, we went to Aloha Orange.  It is a "Hawaiian-themed" restaurant although I think it definitely is a Japan-infused-Hawaiian.  Delicious burgers and popular steak dish.   

 

 

Great weekend with my favorite people!