We often think of Japan as beautiful, but there are many places that are truly ugly. People don't seem to notice these and focus, instead, on the spots that are attractive. This picture shows trash along the road. There are few places to stop along this road and it is the only way to get from "here to there". People buy boxed lunches at convenience stores before they start and then, after they eat, they just throw the stuff out the window. The neater people will tie a knot in the bag so that it all stays together until the bag breaks, but the result is the same - an unseemly mess.
At one point we discovered a man by the side of the road selling buntan, a citrus fruit that is very tasty. He called us over and took us to some chairs that he had set out. Picked out the best of the freshly picked buntan from his display. While we ate, he started telling us in Japanese, of course, about his daughter. He had help finance her trip to Canada to learn English and experience the culture. However, she had not wanted to come back. He could not really understand why. He did not get the difference in the freedom that she would have in Canada, compared to that in Japan. Anyway, his long story ended with him happily telling us that he eventually had gotten her back to Japan and safely married off to a good, respectable Japanese husband. Both Ian and I actually felt sorry for the woman. She will probably always be a little unhappy about not staying in Canada.

The sun finally came out and we passed through a fishing port, where we found a cafe and stopped for two cups of coffee. The cafe was decorated with pictures of sumo wrestlers and baseball stars who had stopped there. Unsurprisingly, the owner did not ask us to pose for a picture.

We continued on and reached a larger fishing port. As we walked through the town, we stopped at a super(?) market. It was small but did have a lot of stuff. My hands were becoming very sunburned, so I bought a pair of work gloves. Ian and I both bought bontan flavored candy and chocolate. There were three women running the place. We thought that they were probably a grandmother, a mother, and a teenage daughter. They were quite pleasant and apparently very happy to see us doing the Pilgrimage. We left and started on our way. We had gotten about 50 meters down the road, when the mother came running after us. She had two bottles of milk and said that it had just been delivered and that it was the best milk that you could get. She gave them to us as settai, bowed, and headed back toward the store. Ian and I opened the bottles and drank. The woman was right. The milk was delicious.

After leaving the store, the road turned back toward the ocean and we discovered a nice little port nestled between two steep-sided hills.

A little Shinto shrine at the entrance to the harbor.
Looking back into the harbor, after we had passed it.