Oh boy oh boy oh boy! It's been a while! Well for the few weeks after this up until last weekend I wasn't taking as many pictures so hopefully those posts won't take as long to put up! So this is from last month and I'm picking up where I left off: our trip to an onsen. It was our last event with the language school and it was awesome! Of course, I will explain more below!
We met early on a Wednesday morning in Kameido to catch a bus to Tochigi-ken (ken=prefecture). It was a fairly mild day in Tokyo, but fortunately we were warned that we would be heading North so we brought sweaters and jackets to keep warm. Our bus had a tour guide! Which was great except for the part where she talked to us like we were all fluent in Japanese and not at a middle schoolers' or lower understanding of the language. I wish I had been able to understand more of what she was saying. But anywho, I digress.
The first stop on our trip was to Nasu Okashi Heartland where we were able to see sweets being made and ate lunch! Then we were allowed to shop for sweets so I bought some cakes!
The first stop on our trip was to Nasu Okashi Heartland where we were able to see sweets being made and ate lunch! Then we were allowed to shop for sweets so I bought some cakes!
After eating lunch and buying some sweet treats, we hopped back on the bus to go to another part of Nasu. This area I sadly didn't catch the name of but it was really fun!! We went to a farm that as you can see below had snow on the ground!!! We got to eat ice cream made from fresh cream, practice a little archery (I've only shot a bow and arrow once, when I was in elementary school, and a girl scout... and sad to report I'm not a prodigy, but it was still fun!), the boys participated in a snowball fight, and we had discussions about whether or not sheep are racist. All-in-all a great time.
The crazy cats snowball fighting. I used my camera as an excuse to stay out of it ^.^
(I think my Dad has told me enough times in my life that I throw like a girl so I didn't want everyone to see that)
(I think my Dad has told me enough times in my life that I throw like a girl so I didn't want everyone to see that)
After Nasu, we took another trip on the bus to Yunishigawa onsen town for their Kamakura (not the place) festival. Kamakura is the Japanese word for igloo! So we got to see igloos Japanese style and an illumination festival before going to the onsen for the evening!
Onsen Ryokan (温泉旅館): a hot spring that you stay overnight at with two meals included in your fees. We arrived to the onsen in just enough time to take a quick dip in the steaming hot waters before drying off, putting out yukata back on, and heading to dinner which was crazy awesome. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for dinner and breakfast, but you can check the school's facebook album for all the pictures I missed! It was a traditional meal after which a few of us enjoyed some drinks we brought and some karaoke before the machine stopped working. And of course, then we all went back to the onsen.
I can't say anything about the men's onsen because I didn't go anywhere near it, so this will all be about the women's onsen: walking in there are baskets to place anything you brought down in: toothbrush, room key, clothes, etc. So for starters you take off all your clothes and put them in a basket (didn't expect that one from super conservative Japan did you?) you then enter the main room that is inside where you clean yourself off. Either shampoo your hair and then put it up or put it in a shower cap. Then get yourself squeaky clean before getting into the onsen. After that you can take a bucket to slowly start pouring the hot water on your feet, then your legs, then your stomach and back, and then your shoulders to get accustomed to the water. And then? You get into the water and enjoy.
Most onsens have an indoor and an outdoor bath. Taking a steamy hot bath in a pool of big pretty rocks while looking at the night sky and snow on the hills around you? Pure bliss by my standards. Actually, my muscles are aching and I'm looking for the next onsen I want to go to!
I can't say anything about the men's onsen because I didn't go anywhere near it, so this will all be about the women's onsen: walking in there are baskets to place anything you brought down in: toothbrush, room key, clothes, etc. So for starters you take off all your clothes and put them in a basket (didn't expect that one from super conservative Japan did you?) you then enter the main room that is inside where you clean yourself off. Either shampoo your hair and then put it up or put it in a shower cap. Then get yourself squeaky clean before getting into the onsen. After that you can take a bucket to slowly start pouring the hot water on your feet, then your legs, then your stomach and back, and then your shoulders to get accustomed to the water. And then? You get into the water and enjoy.
Most onsens have an indoor and an outdoor bath. Taking a steamy hot bath in a pool of big pretty rocks while looking at the night sky and snow on the hills around you? Pure bliss by my standards. Actually, my muscles are aching and I'm looking for the next onsen I want to go to!
The next morning after a continental, Japanese style breakfast and a nice (paid for) coffee time shared with Tamura-senpai we loaded up on the bus again and headed to Nikko Toshogu. This is a Shinto shrine in honor of Tokugawa Ieyasu and a World Heritage Cultural Site. See pictures below:
After touring the shrine we went to lunch at Bandai and then Joshua, Anthony, and I went to a ceramics shop we saw on the way where I bought my first Kyusu (teapot) and two teacups!! Eventually I will post pictures of my growing tea set.
Then we went to yet another shop, this time one that makes senbei (rice crackers) where we weren't allowed to take pictures, but we were allowed to try a lot of samples! The senbei were really yummy. Some people bought some but I couldn't decide on one I liked enough to buy it.
After tasting rice crackers we got back on the bus for our last destination: a strawberry farm. Let me start with this: strawberries are WAY TOO DARN expensive in Japan so I haven't had many while I have been here, but they are in a lot of shops and very deliciously tempting to my wallet. My forces were almost entirely worn down when I found out we were going to a strawberry park. So let me explain this park/farm thing to you. You pay a fee to the farm and they give you a little cup and put some sweetened condensed milk in it and then they set you loose in one of the areas they are growing strawberries for a certain length of time. And then its a battle between your mind and your stomach until the time runs out.
By the time I left that strawberry farm I felt VERY fat and happy and full of strawberries. Sorry for the lack of photos, I was busy stuffing my face with delicious strawberries; the freshest, juiciest, most wonderful strawberries I have ever had.
After tasting rice crackers we got back on the bus for our last destination: a strawberry farm. Let me start with this: strawberries are WAY TOO DARN expensive in Japan so I haven't had many while I have been here, but they are in a lot of shops and very deliciously tempting to my wallet. My forces were almost entirely worn down when I found out we were going to a strawberry park. So let me explain this park/farm thing to you. You pay a fee to the farm and they give you a little cup and put some sweetened condensed milk in it and then they set you loose in one of the areas they are growing strawberries for a certain length of time. And then its a battle between your mind and your stomach until the time runs out.
By the time I left that strawberry farm I felt VERY fat and happy and full of strawberries. Sorry for the lack of photos, I was busy stuffing my face with delicious strawberries; the freshest, juiciest, most wonderful strawberries I have ever had.
And of course, at last all the photos taken whilst traveling around Tochigi-ken:
Well folks, That's all I've got about that trip. I hope you enjoyed it and consider Tochigi-ken if you ever make it to Japan. It's a beautiful place and it gave me that little dose of winter I needed to remember what time of the year it is.
Please fill out the form on the right, I want to know how many readers I have and all that jazz and... the only person I have gotten a response from so far is my mom!!
I'm also thinking about starting a new thread with lessons I've learned here. For example: how to wear yukata, the way of Japanese everyday green tea, shopping in Japan, etc. If you would like to see this please say NEW THREAD in the
Please fill out the form on the right, I want to know how many readers I have and all that jazz and... the only person I have gotten a response from so far is my mom!!
I'm also thinking about starting a new thread with lessons I've learned here. For example: how to wear yukata, the way of Japanese everyday green tea, shopping in Japan, etc. If you would like to see this please say NEW THREAD in the