A day out with hubby

On the morning of November 21st, hubby and I visited Michikawa Beach in Akita prefecture. Michikawa Beach is known for beautiful sandy beach with clean fine white sand and green pine trees that faces the Sea of Japan. The beach has highly transparent shallow water. It is a popular spot to observe sunset over the Sea of Japan. The beach is open from mid-July to mid-August.

Michikawa Beach is located about 21 kilometers north of our home and it took us 30 minutes to reach there by our car. Since the beach was already closed for the winter, no one was around. Hubby and I took a long walk along the beach. The beach was so serene, beautiful, and peaceful. We loved the vast empty beach. Hubby practiced baseball pitching with pebbles for some time. We stayed at the beach for almost two hours. Afterwards hubby’s shoes were full of fine sand and water, and he had a tough time removing the sand particles.

Michikawa Beach and the Sea of Japan

Highly transparent sea water

I am standing at the beach

I am enjoying the clear water of the beach

Hubby standing at the beach

Hubby practicing baseball pitching with pebbles

Hubby standing at the beach

A compiled video of hubby enjoying at the beach

Hubby removing sand from his shoes

In the afternoon we went to a public golf practice driving range named Akita Greenhill in Akita city. Public driving ranges are very popular in Japan where golf lovers can practice their swing without worrying about the extraordinarily high golf membership fees for usual golf courses. These golf practice ranges are known as gorufu renshu-jyo and are commonly called uchippanashi which means ‘just hit it’. The driving ranges are big constructions that are wrapped in large green nets and often have two or more floors in order to allow a greater number of players to practice at the same time. Akita Greenhill golf practice range is relatively small in size. There was a big dispenser machine where golf balls could be purchased. Hubby swiped an electronic money card and balls fell out of a slot in the machine, which were collected into a basket placed near the slot. These balls were then put into a small automated dispenser box near the Astroturf mat at the tee station where hubby practiced his shots. When a button in the small dispenser box was switched on, an arm carrying a ball came out of the box and automatically placed the ball right on the top of the golf tee that was fixed to the Astroturf matting, and then the arm retracted back into the box. After every hit, the arm came out and placed the ball exactly on the top of the tee. Hubby practiced golf shots using clubs like pitching wedge and driver shots. It was fun to watch hubby practicing golf and I compiled a video of it.

Hubby practicing golf at the driving range

A compiled video of hubby practicing golf at the driving range