What I Miss Most About Ibaraki: The Sea

Hands down, the thing I miss most about living in Ibaraki Prefecture is the sea. I lived in Mito City, which is only about ten kilometers from Oarai Sun Beach. Back home in Dublin, I grew up even closer to the coast, about five kilometers away, so living in Ibaraki and having the ocean within easy reach always took the edge off being far from home.

I don't have that small solace now, living in a landlocked prefecture, I am miles from the sea and the commute is long. I never took living near the sea for granted in Ibaraki though, because before I moved there, I had lived in another landlocked prefecture: Gunma. But before Gunma I also had the pleasure being within commutable distance of the sea when I lived in Yokohama. The difference between Yokohama and Oarai town, though, is that the latter has a decent beach. 

Apart from visiting Oarai beach, I also visited several other of Ibaraki's beautiful beaches. Many of them which were completely off the beaten path. I mostly went out of beach season, though, because the summer was far too hot to be by the sea for too long. I wasn't there to swim - just to soak up the familiar smells and sounds of the sea, albeit a very different one from the sea I grew up with.