(Oct. 12-13, 2024)
Choshi city is at the easternmost point of Chiba, which is just next to highly-populated Tokyo and Kanagawa. Chiba is well-known for Narita Airport, Tokyo Disneyland and beautiful beaches, but since Choshi is at the furthest end of Chiba, I had never been to there.
I found Byobugaura Bay and Former Kashima Naval Air Base Site on the internet, and were fascinated on their photos, so decided to visit them during one long weekend. Indeed, it was better than I imagined. We enjoyed the most relaxing time at Byobugaura Bay, visited many interesting places, and had some fresh seafoods at local restaurants. We also brought our bicycles, so we could ride around and enjoy the view.
Former Kashima Naval Air Base Site
This was a rare former Air Force School and Air Base built in 1938 and used throughout WWII. It is quite a large area, most of the site is free for visitors and used as park, has big free parking lot. Only the main buildings require a small entrance fee, but it includes free tour guide inside the buildings. Also, it is still used frequently for dramas and movies like “Godzilla -1.0”.
It was purely ruins and rusted, broken pieces everywhere, but beautifully blend in with the brushes and weed. Unlike some movie sets which are fake, these are all real. I can still see ancient machinery with barely readable rating plates enclaving 1938 and discontinued manufacturer names. I love visiting ruins, and imagine the past world.
The showrooms were exhibiting various clothing, equipment, photos and documents at that time. Looking at all these young cheerful faces… It is hard to imagine the world 80 years ago. They all look no older than 20 year old. They must have been so proud to graduate from the air force academy. They would not have imagine what kind of fate was waiting for them. Some of them might have sank into the deep ocean together with their planes.
Choshi is a quiet fishing town. The local restaurants only open from 11am to 2pm. At night, there were just a few restaurants open. Fortunately, we found a very good seafood restaurant (Ichiyamaikesu) with indoor spiny lobster pool and reasonable prices. Although onsen and public bath are quite common in Japan, there were only a few open late. After dinner, we had to rush into a local public bath (Matsunoyu) that still looked like Showa style. It was a unique experience, almost like movie setting.
At night, we spent some time in large supermarkets because they open late, then we retreated into 24-hour free parking lot at Choshi Marina Beach for the night. Choshi Marina Beach was beautiful and quiet. Many fishing people, surfers, swimmers parked there and spent the night in the car. The night was quiet and cool. We slept well inside the car. Next morning, the parking lot was full of people chatting and getting ready for their morning swim or surf. It was interesting to see so many active people of all ages.
We woke up to watch the sunrise, then we biked along Byobugaura Bay till the end where the road broke down. It was such a unique view, one side is the quiet beach, another side is endless cliff wall. There were some seabirds standing on the beach, many surfers standing on the water waiting for their waves. It was nothing but relaxing.
After that, we rode around to look for breakfast, but some restaurants did not survive after COVID. The streets were full of empty stores. We passed by a local fishery company (Kawagishiya Suisan), which must have been out of business for a long time. Large factory buildings and yards at both sides of the street, all fenced up, with weeds growing out from the rusted machinery. It did not survive the flow of times. It is so sad.
We rode to visit Kannon station of local Choshi Electric Railway. Choshi Electric Railway is a local train line started in 1923. It only has 10 stations of roughly 6.4km. Kannon station is quite old and a bit out of maintenance, but it still looks very cute with its Swiss design. The trains are still running, mostly for locals and sight-seeing. In fact, Choshi Electric Railway almost bankrupted couple times, only rely on tourism and selling souvenirs to survive. I’m a bit worried that they may not last much longer. Choshi Electric Railway has been in service for over a century, and it represents Chiba prefecture. It so worth reserving.
We headed to passed by Inubōsaki Lighthouse before returning to Choshi Marina Beach parking lot. It was a popular spot, full of tourists, has gift shops, restaurant and terrace. It even has its own white postbox next to the lighthouse. We walked around the lighthouse. There was a little path which could see the black stream.
On the way back to Choshi Marina Beach, we found a local seafood restaurant (Takemaru) specialized at spiny lobster. It was a tiny restaurant, only had a few tables, so we had to wait for over an hour for lunch. Finally when we got a table, the most popular spiny lobster tendon already sold out, but we still tried raw oysters, sashimi and grilled spiny lobster. They were really fresh and tasted good.
Although Choshi was only roughly 3 hours drive from Tokyo, it felt like a totally different world. We had such a good time. There were still many places that we have not been to (the purple spots). Hopefully come again soon.
