We started our day with luck. On our way to where Google Maps said the ferry pier was, we stumbled upon where it actually is: about 1km nearer than expected. I’ll grant you it’s not just luck, as in a city the size of Ishinomaki, but there aren't that many roads one can take to reach the port. There’s really the one.
Karine noticed a sign with cats on it. We assumed it was either someone pointing the way to return his or her car or a sign for the ferry. Google Translate is good with one or two symbols (like on a remote), not so much for complete sentences. The sign led us to a boat, but there was no ticket office. As we were likely not the only couple of tourists wandering a pier in search of tickets, someone spotted us and guided us to what looked like a condo quickly set up as a ticket office.
In the end, we made it to Cat Island. I wouldn't say it’s full of cats, but you don’t have to look far to find a few. Some of them seem healthy, others not so much. It’s not uncommon to see cats with missing tails or eye infections. They all know that humans have food, just as well as the residents of the island, who implore you by putting signs on every flat surface to “not feed the cats. They are already fed cat food; human food can be bad for them. At least we know the cats are being cared for somewhat. Nevertheless, Karine and I enjoyed visiting the cats.
The island is minuscule. You can walk from one end to the other in about 30 minutes, an hour if you stop to say hello to the cats on the way :-) The number of ferries is limited, so if you visit, you can spend either two or four hours on the island. Technically, you can sleep over, but I wouldn’t recommend it. After an hour and a half, we were done.
We decided that playing “let’s figure out where we have a chance of eating tonight” was fun only the first night in Ishinomaki. The place is not well geared for people who do not speak Japanese. Also, our hotel was a 30-minute walk from the city center. Granted, it’s a couple of streets, but that’s where you’ll find the food you don’t have to cook yourself. We decided to do half of our trip to Hakone tonight and journey all the way to Tokyo. Returning from the island, we sprinted back to the hotel and made our way back through the tiny streets and tinier train station to get to Sendai, the larger city, about an hour away, and hop on a Shinkansen to Tokyo.
This morning, there was really nothing open in time to get us breakfast before we hopped on the boat. You would think that we must have gotten up really early, but you would think wrong. We are on Sunday, and most restaurants open around 11:00. Some cafes offer breakfast, but nothing we would feel confident is nut-free. Our boat was at 12:30, and with the distance from the city center, we didn’t have time for a sit-down meal. So we ended up eating convenience-store food (nuts for Karine, peanuts for me). Since we had to sprint to catch the train out of Ishinomaki (again, Sunday meant fewer trains), we factored the day of the week into our vacation plans. You cannot imagine how happy we were when we made it to Sendai around 19:00, with just over an hour to catch our connection. It meant we had time for ramen!
The thing about eating ramen at different places is that you never get the same version of ramen. We have yet to eat the same thing twice. The noodles, meat, broth and seasoning change. It feels a little bit like saying you’re eating pasta in Italy. You’ll likely never have the same thing if you can’t read Italian or Western characters. You can imagine that, at the moment, we’re not capable of remembering what’s written next to the ramen and comparing it to what’s written on the following menu we meet. So it’s a noodle surprise every time. The good news is that it’s always been tasty.
Tomorrow we’re making our way to Hakone (next to Mount Fuji) for some hiking if the weather permits, or some reading if we get the rain that’s forecasted at the moment.