Sunshine

The Iwaki Sunshine Marathon is an annual race held in Iwaki and usually occurs during the winter season. Because of this, in the past runners have had to endure cold winds, icy roads, and snowy conditions. But this year, it was unusually warm and also quite sunny.

These Taiko drummers were motivating racers at the start line

This year, there were 6000 participants including April. I did not participate because one of my knees is semi-healing from exercising/jumping on it too much. But this gave me the opportunity to be the spectator and take a lot of pictures! The Iwaki Sunshine Marathon is also famous for people dressing up as random characters while they run.

Elvis (he's still alive)

Bunnies

I have no idea

Taking a random shot and hoping I catch some costumes

I wish I caught more of these costumes on camera, but they were constantly moving and it was pretty difficult. I saw a Mario, a guy dressed as a girl (I think), and there was a guy that played a guitar during the entire marathon. I actually saw him cross the finish line and he looked super parched 0_0

I was so proud of April because she beat her previous time by over 30 minutes!

April at the finish line

April said it was the best race she had ever participated in because she heard her named called out at least ten times by students and fellow teachers. Iwaki is a tight community indeed :)

Post-marathon, we ate at a sushi boat place called Sushi-Ro where you purchase sushi off of a conveyor belt for ¥105 (roughly $1.25) each. I love this place because it feels like a buffet but with better quality food.

The one on the left was my favorite. I think it was seared salmon with pesto and cheese. The one on the right is an egg custard thing that is delicious.

The damage

White plates were sushi without wasabi and yellow plates were sushi with wasabi. In Japan sushi chefs usually place a little wasabi between the rish/topper and the rice. Considering that I would usually pay about $20-25 for an alright sushi buffet, I think this place is a steal. I ate 10 plates myself and April had 5 or 6. We also had Udon and it all came out to ~$22 total for the both of us. If you visit me, I'm taking you here :D

As a reward for her efforts in the marathon, I made April breakfast in bed the next morning:

Pancakes, Japanese Sausage with scrambled eggs, freshly cut Fuji apples and bananas. I should note that all apples in Japan are injected with honey to make it a little bit sweeter

Just another weekend in Iwaki!