Eric spent part of a week in northern Honshu with Emma, Tommy, Tommy's dad and some of their friends. Tommy's parents own and operate a rental house located near the beach in a town called Shichigahama. They had an un-rented week so we all went up to relax and explore. It was a plesant stay despite being in a part of Japan that was destroyed by the tsunami a year and a half previously. Yay for Swedes.

On the way from Kumagaya to Shichigahama we stopped in Tochigi where Tommy's parents run a church.

Tommy's drumset inside the church.

At one point the church was only one story. This is a picture of the roof being lifted into place for the second story addition. Crazy!

This was my first encounter with Genki Sushi and their amazing Ebi Pepper. Holy crap.

Emma has SO much food!

Once in Shichigahama this was the first thing I found. I know it's out of focus and it's hard to determine perspective...just trust me that this spider was bigger than spiders should be.

In the morning I had a chance to check out the house we were staying in. This place was amazing!

Years ago a tree had fallen on the house. The insurance money allowed them to build a pretty stunning replacement.

Here's a shot of the living room. Check out those high ceilings! I didn't have to duck all week!

Emma in the kitchen. I can attest to the fact that there are few things as amazing as the product of Emma doing her Swedish magic in a kitchen!

Some of the other houses (or cabins) in the area are not quite as awesome.

Spent some time on the beach.

...avoiding the sun.

...but also went out and played in the waves.

We went to Sendai a couple of evenings. This is a box of pretzel sticks falvored like cow tounge, which is a famous flavor of the city. Oishii?

We hit up a photobooth.

Tommy's dad hit up a video game.

Taco night! And not tako from the sea! Yay!

In the area of devistation near the beach. Scary stuff.

You see more of these than I'd like to see.

Scary.

A section of road that used to exist, but does not now.

A car graveyard.

Back to more cheerful things! Tommy in his awesome wetsuit!

The last night Tommy made yakiniku.

And we shot off fireworks on the beach!

On the way home we passed Fukushima. It was quite pretty from the highway.