So I’m finally making an effort to finish all my blog posts in a timely manner. I went to Mie in May and I’m writing about it two months later. That is still considered a timely manner right? =P

For my two day trip to Mie, I went with my dad and my uncle. My uncle had been to Mie before, so I was lucky enough that I didn’t have to do any advance planning for our trip. My uncle was the one playing the tour guide this time. He also conveniently bought our Kintetsu Rail Passes for us in advance. For 5,860 yen you can use it for 5 days to travel between Nagoya, Mie, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. They also give you three vouchers to use on the limited express trains and discounts for some of the attractions. It’s a really good deal if you are not pressed for time because the trains are significantly slower. Technically I’m not even suppose to be using the pass because I live in Japan, but I managed to get away with it because no one checks your passport to confirm. Hehe

Early in the morning we made our way to the station and headed towards Toba. Our first stop that day was Mikimoto Pearl Island. We arrived around 11:00am and headed straight to the Women Divers’ Demonstration. The ama are mostly women divers who are famous for collecting pearls without the use of any scuba gears or air tanks. The ladies came out on a boat dressed completely in white carrying only wooden buckets. Then they all took turns diving under water to collect the oysters. It was quite interesting seeing it in person.

For the remainder of the morning we continued touring the rest of the museum. With the Kintetsu pass you can actually save on the admission price to the museum, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of it. For lunch we stopped by Toba Ichibangai. At one of the restaurants upstairs we had a full seafood feast complete with grilled oysters, scallops, shrimp, ebifry and uni. I think we were in there for over an hour taking our time to finish everything. =D

Later that afternoon we paid a discounted ticket for the ferry to take us to Dolphin Island. We boarded in front of Mikimoto, then the ferry took us to the Main Terminal before heading towards Dolphin Island. Because we got there late in the afternoon, it meant we only had about 30 minutes on the island before we had to catch the last ferry back to the mainland. Dolphin Island wasn’t anything special but we did manage to catch a dolphin show before we left. Mainly we were there just to enjoy the ferry ride to and from the island. =P

After arriving back at Toba Station, we decided to take a bus towards Meoto Iwa, which are the known as the Married Couple Rocks. The rocks are actually a little out of the way, so we basically took the bus, stopped for 30 minutes to take a look around, then hopped back on the next bus to get to the station. But it is worth visiting to see the shrine and for all the photo ops hehe.

Later that evening we arrived in Matsusaka, where we would be staying the night. The only thing I knew prior to going was their famous Matsusaka beef. But otherwise I had no clue what kind of city it was. I found out soon enough that it was basically a deserted town. The entire time we were on the streets I could count the amount of people with one hand. I didn’t think I would see this kind of place in Japan. (@_@)

Since my uncle had visited before, he tried to take us to a shabu shabu restaurant he had gone to before. But once we arrived, we found out they were fully booked that evening. (I was curious if there were actually people in the city to begin with lol.) Anyway, the restaurant owner gave us a map and I tried to navigate towards another restaurant she recommended. After traveling on the deserted streets for another 30 minutes, we finally found the restaurant. We were pretty lucky because the Matsusaka beef we had that night was absolutely delicious. It was a good end to our long day.