Central Izu

Shuzenji is a temple and hot springs town in the middle of the Izu peninsula. It's a pretty little town with a graceful old temple, its claim to fame that a Minamoto (Noriyori) was held prisoner here many many (Heian period) years ago.
I liked this grouchy fat guy.
Piles of tiles.
And one million soba restaurants, including this soba shack. Wait, shack is too grand a name for this structure. How about soba fort?
There was also a public foot bath, which is always cool. Gave my tootsies a good soak in the super hot hot water. Everyone else had little washcloths to dry off their feet. I'm such a bad J-resident. Though I own a million little washcloths, I only manage to be a proper hand-towel toting lady a small percentage of the time. This was not one of those times.
I let 'em air dry.

This is Joren Falls, one of the many waterfalls in the area.
Have you ever wondered what a wasabi field looks like? I hadn't, but if you had asked me, I woulda kinda thought that it was a mountain-y, forest-y kind of plant. Which I guess it is, but I never thought it would grow in a marsh. Like this.
And expensive, damn. One plant, a root about the size of a fist, was going for about a thousand yen. I like me some wasabi, but at that price... maybe I'll stick with the stuff in the tube.