Event Report: Ibafornia June 2024

One of my favorite events happened a few weeks ago in Hitachinaka city. This event had so much going on! Food trucks and stalls, craft stalls, coffee stalls, live shows, SUP, all-day yoga, a portable sauna, and a huge outside movie theater screen at night. I love this event and can't wait to go to the next one. This amazing event is Ajigaura's own Ibafornia.

Ibafornia Event

The Ibafornia event or Ibafornia Market, usually happens twice a year at Ajigaura Beach. There is a spring Ibafornia and an autumn Ibafornia. This post is about the last Ibafornia that happened during the first weekend of June.
Iba for Ibaraki, and fornia for California, is a beach event that is easygoing and fun. The main reason for this event is to attract people to Ajigaura Beach and to raise some funds to protect and clean up the beach. If you are interested in what Ibafornia does, they have a main building at the end of the beach. It is called the Ibafornia Base. There you can rent equipment for your beach day, hang out inside to cool off, or you can do a BBQ camp on the second floor. Ibafornia Base also does SUP or paddle boarding events from time to time. If you want to learn more, here is the Ibafornia Base website:
https://www.ibaforniabase.com/

As I stated before, the last Ibafornia was on the first weekend of June. June 1st-2nd. I went on both days, and I had an amazing time during both days.

Food Trucks and Music

There were a lot of different food trucks to pick from this year. Bolilian was at the event selling their amazing fries, Cube was ready to serve some hot sandwiches, And Burger was grilling up their amazing sliders, Ponkey had tasty burritos for everyone, and so much more.
The big white tent in the picture above was the DJ booth/bar. On the right side of the DJ, there was a bar that served different drinks while the DJ played a pretty good selection of music. He played party music at night and relaxing Bossa Nova music during the day.
I was very happy with how the event was shaping up this year. I walked around the market area and saw the many interesting craft and bakery stalls. I also found my good buddy Mutou Kezuribushiten and grabbed one of their amazing rice balls. I walked past the market and checked out a big black tent that was erected near the beach.

Portable Sauna

Ibafornia collaborated with North Sauna Ibaraki to bring portable saunas to Ibafornia. This sauna was available on Saturday and it fits quite a lot of people. I saw about ten people in that sauna. If I am not mistaken, the deal was you paid around 2000 yen and got to use the sauna for up to two hours. A lot of sauna goers would stay in the sauna for a few minutes, dive in the ocean to cool off, and then head back in. I did not get to enjoy this huge sauna, instead I experienced a smaller sauna on the Sunday event.
The smaller sauna was a tent that fit up to four people max. My group was supposed to have an early morning yoga lesson and then spend the rest of the morning enjoying the sauna. Unfortunately, the yoga teacher canceled, but we were able to have a nice time in the sauna.
I am not a big sauna guy and can't stay in one for long. This sauna was very relaxing but super hot. The North Sauna Ibaraki staff used a branch with leaves to sprinkle water over the hot stones, which steamed up the sauna and made it hotter. After that, the staff member would gently hit my back with the leaves and it felt incredible. Unfortunately, I could not stand the heat for too long so I kept going in and out of the sauna and diving into the ocean a few times.
I loved my time in the portable sauna and hope to do it again sometime in the near future.
If you want to know more about North Sauna Ibaraki, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/north_sauna_ibaraki/

Live Music and a Movie

I go to Ajigaura Beach all the time during the summer. It is one of my favorite beaches in Ibaraki. During the summer, beach houses line up the sandy parking area of Ajigaura. I always pick one beach house out of all of them. That beach house is called Yamagataya and they have excellent live music shows.
Yamagataya is the place where the Drunken Duck has their summer party every year. During the party, the beer is flowing, live music is playing, and everyone is having a good time. If you want to go for a swim, Yamagatya is a 20-second walk from the water. During Ibafornia, Yamagataya was having an all-day live music event with different artists. There were idols, rock singers, and my personal favorite was a duo that played regular drums with taiko drums. They made amazing music.
Once the sun set, everyone made their way to the big white movie screen to check out the movie that was playing. The movie Ibafornia was showing was the Super Mario Brothers movie. My wife was able to join us after work for a little while and we both watched Mario fight Bowser (in Japanese) while enjoying some beers, tasty fries, and the cool ocean breeze.

All Day Yoga

There were a lot of yoga classes going on during Ibafornia. All classes took place near the water and with different yoga teachers.
I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I am a yoga practitioner. When I heard that there would be yoga at Ibafornia, I was excited. When I heard that my yoga teacher, Yuka sensei, would be doing her class at Ibafornia, I signed up immediately. I practice yoga in Tsuchiura City at a place called Yoga Space Lila. Lila does a bunch of different yoga classes like relaxation yoga, power yoga, flow yoga, and more.
On Sunday, I joined Yuka sensei's class and we did a chakra-opening yoga class that was fantastic. It is hard to describe the incredible feeling of holding a yoga pose while hearing the waves crash on the shore. The picture above shows everyone who participated in the class with Yuka sensei in the orange pants and me in the green pants.
This all-day yoga event is an amazing idea and I hope Ibafornia does it again in its next event.
If you would like to learn more about my yoga place in Tsuchiura, check out the Yoga Space Lila Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/yoga.space.lila/

I have talked about the different events that happened during Ibafornia, now let's get into the food.

And Burger's Sliders

Do you know who has the best burger sliders in Ibaraki? Only one food truck does. That food truck is called And Burger and they make incredible sliders. You can either order a single slider or a double slider. The picture above is a double slider and it looks glorious. The sliders also come with a cup full of tasty fries.
These sliders are magical and I highly recommend you give them a try. If you see And Burger at an event, hurry and order their sliders. The reason I say hurry is that these sliders usually sell out quickly. Biting into one of these sliders is euphoric. I want one right now while I am typing this.
For more information on And Burger, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/and_burger10/

Bolilian's Spicy Mayo Fries

Are you a big fan of wedge fries? Then you have to try Bolilian. Not only do they make amazing wedge fries, but they also have an array of different toppings for your fries. Like sour cream and onion? No problem. Want some roast beef on your fries? That's on the menu too. Want to go for something more Japanese with your fries? Bolilian has a sea urchin soy sauce topping that is fantastic.
For Ibafornia, I went with something simple which was spicy mayo. Dipping those pipping hot fries in that mayo and putting it in my mouth was extremely satisfying. The kick from the spice was not super spicy but just about right.
If you want tasty fries with excellent toppings, give Bolilian a chance.
For more information on Bolilian, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/foodtruck_bolilian/

Next is dessert!

Magnet House's Caramel Ball Donuts

Donuts are awesome. Ball donuts that have been fried to light crispy perfection with a soft inside covered in caramel are beyond awesome. Magnet House is a ball donut food truck that usually travels around central Ibaraki bringing donut joy to all their customers. They have a bunch of different flavors with their ball donuts. For an extra few yen, they will put in a scoop of vanilla ice cream with your ball donuts, which is divine. The caramel donuts I had were delicious and I got my wife some caramel nuts donuts which she was very happy to receive.
I am always happy to see Magnet House, and I hope to see them again soon.
For more information on Magnet House, check out their Instagram Page:
https://www.instagram.com/_magnethouse_/

I've talked about a lot of food trucks that I know and I love. Here are two new places I tried at Ibafornia which made my taste buds happy.

Cafe Bus Iroha

Cafe Bus Iroha is a crepe food truck that travels around Ibaraki and Chiba (I think). In my opinion, crepe food truck are a dime a dozen. Some have impressed me and some have left me with a sigh of "Yeah it's Ok." So what category does Iroha fall into? It is definitely in the impressed me category.
The crepe I am holding in the picture is the four chocolate cream crepe. That's right. There are four different chocolates in that crepe. Milk chocolate, white chocolate, and two other chocolates that I unfortunately forgot to write down. When I bit into this crepe, all I could think of was how fresh and tasty everything was. This wasn't a day-old crepe, but a crepe that was made that very minute. The cream was delicious and the different flavor chocolates made everything so much better. I can't wait to meet Iroha at another event.
For more information on Iroha, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/cafe.bus.iroha/

Hajimari's Coffee Tonic

One thing Ibafornia was lacking was coffee. There were only two places you could get a cup of coffee. Fika, which I have talked about before on this blog and can be found at the Tsukubanominoichi marlket, and Hajimari Coffee. Hajimari is a coffee and furniture place in Daigo Town. I have not been to their Daigo location yet, but I was able to try their coffee at Ibafornia. I ordered the coffee tonic. It was a carbonated iced coffee which was perfect for the semi-hot weather we were experiencing.
The coffee in the tonic was strong which I like, and the carbonated part was refreshing after my all-morning sauna adventure. I enjoyed my coffee from Hajimari and hope I can visit their Daigo location soon.
For more information on Hajimari, check out their Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/hajimari_ackc/

I had an amazing time at Ibafornia. I got to eat amazing food, do beach yoga, enjoy live music, meet new people, and watch the Mario Movie with my wife. Ibafornia is on my top three events for Ibaraki and I hope it continues for many years to come. The next Ibafornia Market should be sometime in October. I hope they will have a little Halloween celebration and that you can join it. Ibafornia may also have some small events happening throughout the summer. Once I hear about those, I will let you know ASAP.
Until then Ibafornia! As for Ajigaura, I'll be there soon once it is beach season for some sun tanning and a nice swim.

For more information on the Ibafornia Market, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/ibafornia.market/