Shirahama beach

Near the southern tip of the Wakayama, there is a beautiful beach in Shirahama. On Saturday, all the JET participants in Wakayama gathered at the beach for our first “official” get together. There were newbies from group B (I was group A), second, and third year JET’s. Fortunately, I carpooled with my downstairs neighbors, Tori and Issac, who are 3rd years. It was very nice to see everyone again, and meet some new people. The water was absolutely gorgeous and quite warm. I also heard that the white sand at Shirahama, which is how it got it’s name, is imported from Australia. There were a few tiny fish swimming, but luckily no jellyfish yet. Although I was momentarily paralyzed when a plastic bag floated by and touched my arm. Theo rescued me by snatching it away, but than proceeded to threaten to throw it at my head. All the while, there was a storm brewing up in the mountains behind us. There was no rain, but we could hear the thunder and see flashes of lightning. After only about 15 minutes in the water, the lifeguard summoned us out of the water. As I turned to look out at the water, I realized that we were the last ones left. I guess everyone else understood (or were listening) to the first warnings over the loudspeaker or were paying attention to the lifeguards shouting. Since it never ended up raining or striking anyone with lightening, we were allowed to get back in the water. After everyone was done playing, we headed to some guy’s house. That was the least fun of the evening, as it quickly turned into a “frat” like college party. Totally not my scene. So Tina, Theo, and I left to explore the area. We stumbled upon a small festival going on just a little ways away. We wandered through the food booths and saw a large gathering of people all watching something on the field below. There were lots of children (and some adults) gathered in lines. By now it was quite dark, so there were spotlights shining on them. It turns out that they were in formation making letters. Then they switched off the spotlights and all the people on the field turned on their glowing sticks. They spelled out “BEST!” I’m not sure why, but it was very pretty. It was followed by a fireworks show. Then we reluctantly returned to the party.
I will not go into details of the idiotic people at the party, all the drinking, people falling down, and the sewer they called a toilet, but it ended up working out in the end. A friend of Theo’s took he, James and me to his house and we spent the night comfortably in beds with pillows, blankets, and no annoying people. He even went out and got us breakfast in the morning. We tool the train back the next morning.
I am happy that I have my small group of people to hang out with that are genuinely nice and good. The others in the JET program, mostly 2nd and 3rd years, are just not people I want to be associated with. Pictured above are my really great downstairs neighbors Issac and Tori (who is pregnant!), and James, Tina, and Theo. There are two of the beach in Shirahama and one of the “BEST!” foemation.
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