Mother Farm/Chiba: 10th July 2015

This was our last full day at Japan. Time really flew when you were enjoying fun fun fun! Today, we made an impromptu decision to rent a car from the nearby Shinjuku Minami Toyota Car Rental Office :) This time, I did not make reservation online. Instead, I tried to make a booking directly at the office haha, hoping that every thing will go fine. 

Our Toyota Ractis Car

One thing different from our car rental experience at Kofu was that we could rent the ETC card to manage the fees at the toll gate at Shinjuku area. maybe this was because we were in the city area where there are many toll gates? But, anyway it was really convenient to have one while zooming thru those tolls. One word of caution, make sure you drop down your speed when approaching these gates to avoid accidents! 

At the Toll Gate

Through the tunnel

To the winding road in the beautiful weather

We picked our car Toyota Ractis, checked that everything was okay, and off we went to Mother Farm!! It was about an hour and a half drive to Chiba where the farm was located. You may also opt to take train to Kimitsu station, then take their designated shuttle bus (free) to the farm. But, you might reach the farm at a later timing due to the fixed timing of the shuttle bus and there was more flexibility if we could drive. So we took the 2nd option! Driving was a pleasant one except the congestion while leaving Shinjuku. Otherwise, it was very smooth through numerous tunnels. Got to salute the Japanese for the well developed road network and the extremely powerful GPS in their car haha 

The weather was amazingly beautiful with wispy clouds and clear blue sky as compared to rainy days before. We entered the farm and what greeted us first were the Alpacas and the sheep. There were many shows planned round the clock, so you could check out the schedule to catch the different highlight! We booked the exclusive farm tour and while waiting for the time, we visited a show performance at the auditorium! 

The show was entertaining with the host introducing the various animals in the farm to the audience. What amazed me was the group of sheep which came into view at an orderly fashion! There were horses, pig, cow, alpacas, and even ostrich which came by to say Hi! 

After 20mins, we took the bus up a valley where the tractor tour began! It was an exciting ride as it moved through the valley that was accompanied by stunning scenery and of course more animals like the Alpacas and the Bisons. 

The tractor tour

Scenery in Mother Farm

The guide was also entertaining as she brought out a really fat but cute rabbit to greet everyone of us! This really excited the kids!

And there was feeding time for the sheep, cow, alpacas! 

After the tour, we went back to the entrance and started attending other shows. Mother Farm occupies really huge area! There are areas for dairy milk production, flower fields, vast land! You could take a leisure walk to explore around or take their shuttle bus that comes with some fees. 

One highlight that must be visited is the pig-race! On that day we visited, many school children also came and they were to participate in this pig race! There was still some time before the race, so we grabbed some yummy lunch at the cafeteria. We also saw these kids having picnic while waiting haha.. 

The race began! Teachers selected some kids for the race while the children raised their hands up, hoping they would be selected. 

You could see their expressions! And there went the little pigs. 

The champion is the one whose pig reaches the finishing line first and there was this boy who did so! Well done!! 

We went to explore an enclosure which had the capybaras. We saw capybara at Manriki Park Zoo too. This time, there was a pair! And as it was really hot, they decided to go for a dip in a nearby pool. We were so happy to catch all these precious moments of interaction! 

We also went to experience carrying hamsters and rabbits. They were quite plump I must say haha.. 

And last but not least, we managed to catch the flying duck show! It was an undescribable moment when we saw all the ducks running across the grass fields towards us! The host of course fed them well and gave instructions to them so that they could move as a whole

i felt this Mother Farm was understandably rated as a top attraction in Chiba Prefecture! There was so many experiences with animal encounters. We really enjoyed our time although we are adults..so you could imagine a kid will also have loads of fun coming here :D Definitely worth your time to plan a daytrip out of Tokyo in your next trip! 

We drove back after all the shows and returned the car safely. phew!! We then headed back to our hotel for a quick shower before meeting my Japanese sensei, whom I met while taking classes at Ikoma some time back. It has been 5 years since we last met! And I MUST say sensei did not change much when I last saw her haha.. She brought us to a very nice place for Izakaya near the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. 

We had a great time catching up, showing my photos to her and enjoying the good food! After dinner, we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building for some night view of the city. This was a free attraction and it was very worthwhile to come by and visit! I remembered coming here in my last trip but in the day. This time was at night haha! Thank you sensei for planning this for us! Hope to see her again in my future trips :)