Kinosaki - Day 1 ...

Kinosaki is a famous resort area northeast of Okayama. It is referred to as "Onsen Town" because that's what you do there ... you onsen. The spas use the geothermal resources, or the natural hot springs to fill the baths and Japanese flock from all over making Kinosaki one of the top onsen destinations in all of Japan. I'm always up for an adventure to somewhere new, so いいきましょ！ (Let's go!).

The idea that the teacher's from one of the schools organizes this trip as a kind of bonding experience for all of the teacher's outside of school is something I am really hip to. I think it's great and I wish it's something that we did back home. More than Friday's at 4:00 at the Cellar ... although I loved those trips too. :)

This was going to be yet another bus tour, although my first one this year, and I had recently been thinking about how I kind of, maybe missed going on them. So I was excited as I packed my bag and a 'bag of fun' for the bus trip (now that I am a bus tour professional and no longer a freshman I know how to pack for these things) and we were on our way by 7:00am on a Saturday. I don't miss waking up that early for them, that's for sure.

Our first stop was called Ikuno Ginzan. This mountain was as old miner's site for gold and silver way back when. We got to go on a tour (all in Japanese) and learn about the mining process and the lifestyle the miners led. Let me tell you, it's not my thing. The tour and whatnot was actually interesting, despite the creepy replicas of the miners.

Ikuno Ginzan:

The mountain was beautiful ... there were waterfalls and the leaves were so colorful:

But inside was a little creepy ... and cold and really wet ...

Who would have thought there would be so many waterfalls INSIDE the mountain?

Here's a little taste of the Inkuno Ginzan:

And then the kind of scary mannequins ... Miho kept saying this one

was my boyfriend. He is kind of cute, eh?

Miho, myself & Kumi ... taking advantage of the photo op:

This was about 1/4 of the mountain replica showing the inner workings of the mine during it's prime. Definitely not my thing but interesting nonetheless.

The next stop was a traditional Japanese restaurant famous for it's soba (thing Japanese style noodles made from buckwheat flour). I'm still not a HUGE fan of soba, but I ate it. Not all of it, but over half. I'm not 100% Japanese yet.

My lunch ... and I ate almost all of it. Crazy, huh?

Even this weirdo thing.

The small plates of noodles are the soba. Each person got FIVE plates to eat. FIVE!

I ate 4 ... I'm so not Japanese yet.

I think they cook the soba out here ... that's a big maybe though.

Next up - some temple town ... I don't know. Isn't that terrible? I can't remember the name of it, I just know that the nickname in English was 'temple town' and that it was a really, really small area with temples, ice cream, and a castle. I know, I feel bad even mentioning it considering I know nothing about it but the most exciting part was this soba ice cream that we ate. And that wasn't as exciting as it was strange.

The streets of temple town:

The famous landmark I know nothing about ... I'm going to look it up & get back to you.
I feel really bad not knowing.

Our soba ice cream:

Just some Japanese snacks ... some bean cakes & a guy cutting soba noodles:

Daniel, Yumi, Misaki, me, Naoko and Ayaka:Temple town's castle ... temple town-jo? haha

Finally, we arrived at our ryokan (our traditional Japanese style hotel), found our rooms, and got settled in before our enkai. Amanda and I stayed in a ryokan last year when we went on this trip. It's definitely one of the most Japanese things you can do. Tatami rooms, green tea leaves, wearing yukatas, sleeping on futons ... all that Japanese stuff.

Our room:

While we were at the enkai the staff came in and set up our futon beds:

Masami & I modeling our yukatas that the ryokan provided for us:

That night we had an enkai (a Japanese style party) and we ate dinner, drank sake and beer, played games, and had a lot of fun. This was my second big enkai and it was almost as fun as the first. Everyone just lets loose, drinks a little too much and has a great time. It's so much fun to see the people that I work with everyday outside of the school environment and allows you to transition from being coworkers to becoming friends.

What I thought was tea turned out to be soup of some sorts ... moral of the story - always look before you drink:

Part of what seemed like our 37 course meal:

There was a lot of beer drinking ... which is standard for the enkai:

My beautiful friends:

And then we played some games, also standard at the enkai:

This game was called shiritori & was hilarious.

Can you guess my picture?

Now, can you guess Daniel's picture? HAHA

My adorable Misaki in her cute yukata:

After the enkai we took to the streets of Kinosaki to do a little onsening. Literally the whole town has onsens everywhere so you put on your yukata (robe, kind of) and your geita (shoes) and you walk around until you find an onsen that you think looks appealing. You go in, bathe (with your friends of course), and then move on to the next one. The streets are full of everyone with the same purpose. I can honestly say that I have never felt more Japanese than I did in Kinosaki that night. I loved it.

Our traditional geita ... the top of the shoe looks like a flip flop, but the bottom is all weird shaped wood. I'll have to bring some home:

My Japanese best friend Miho ...

Onsens & more onsens ... almost every building was an onsen.

It was awesome.

Finally, after a full day of everything cultural, it was time to retire. We had to be up early in the morning for another day of adventure ... although day two was definitely going to be more commercial than traditional.

much love,
-tara-
xx

Turning 26 ...

I'm not going to lie ... I was a little (or maybe a lot) freaked out by the idea of turning 26. I know, I know - it's SO young. I've heard it all from everyone. 'You got your whole life ahead of you', 'Wow, you're so young', 'What I would give to be 26 again', etc. Yes, yes, I understand. I don't feel old, I don't think I'm going to die soon and I'm not yet thinking about arthritis. 26 has just always been my 'scary age'. The age by which I thought I would have everything figured out, know all that I needed to know, and have a long term plan that would carry me very happily into my future. As my birthday was approaching I realized that I don't have any of those things.

I started thinking about the uncertainty of my future, questioning decisions that I had made thus far, and reflecting on the past 26 years in general, with a strong focus on the last 5. Am I happy with what I've done so far? Did I do everything that I wanted to do? Were there things that I regretted doing, or not doing for that matter? Oh the questions, and questions, and questions. Thinking about them, trying to answer them, justifying myself to myself, and then thinking some more was making me confused, giving me a headache and making me certain I was going to spend my entire birthday in bed under the covers watching Forest Gump.

It was when I stopped trying to answer the questions, quit asking them, stopped stressing over what I haven't done and the fact that I might not know exactly where I'm going, that I finally slowed down enough to appreciate all that is my life. I am happy. Actually really, really happy. I love my job (almost) every single day, I am in love with Japan, I have the most amazing friends in the entire world, my family is incredible, and there is even this guy that I kind of sort of maybe really like. I have absolutely no reason to not be smiling.

There are a lot of uncertainties. Maybe I don't know exactly what will happen tomorrow, or where I'm going to live in six months, or what I'll be doing in five years, but some things are certain. I do know that for the next 364 days I will be 26 ... and it's not so scary.

much love

-tara-

xx

Holy Crap, It's December ...

Yikes ... what the heck happened to November? Everything is happening just a little too fast and it's the most bittersweet thing I've ever experienced. I am SO happy to be coming home in two and a half weeks and yet I get these twinges of sadness when I think about leaving Japan, even if it's just for three weeks. I really don't know how to describe it.

The entire last month has been a blur. The weekdays just fly by and it seems like there's a plan every weekend so they tend to fly by too. The first Weekend in November I went on a trip to Kinosaki with a group of people that I work with. Kinosaki is known as Japan's "Onsen Town" and, for those of you who remember what an onsen is, I'm sure you're just a little curious about how it was. The trip was awesome and we had SO much fun (emphasis on the so). Who would have thought that bathing with your friends would be so much fun? Of course I'll blog about it (hopefully), but I have limited actual onsen pictures. :)

The following weekend was spent celebrating the election results and the weekend after that consisted of a Trivia Night party (Thursday), a dinner/drinking party for work (Friday), a night of karaoke & a few too many drinks with some amazing friends (Saturday) and an entire day of recovery (Sunday).

The fourth weekend in November Daniel and I went to Tokyo. I am absolutely in love with Tokyo (I've said it a hundred times, I'll say it a hundred more) and the weekend was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I am on a mission to blog about it before I leave to go home. Keep your fingers crossed.

Last weekend was Thanksgiving and Thursday was pretty uneventful. I was lucky enough to get a phone call or two that made me smile, but there wasn't any traditional Thanksgiving anything. Amanda's mom didn't send a microwaveable meal like last year, but I survived. I spent the workday talking about the purpose of Thanksgiving and what it means to different people. We made lists of things we were thankful for and that was that. Back to work. :)

Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend I worked like crazy. Dr. Maryann Manning was in Japan (like she is every year at this time) and everyone was working overtime. There was an open house at one of our nursery schools and I had to observe children lessons and then give feedback and answer questions in front of a large group of teachers, professors, principals, and Dr. Manning. I took a few deep breaths. Sunday was spent at the University participating in a seminar and assisting with two workshops. Being a part of professional development is something that I really, really enjoy so even though it was work, it was a lot of fun.

Sunday night, after everything was said and done, a group of ten of us (including Daniel, Dr. Manning, principals and professors) went to one of the most amazing (and most expensive) dinners I've ever had in my entire life. I can't even describe it because it just won't do it justice. We drank wine, ate Kobe beef, fine fillets, some strange green plants from Africa, and amazing imported fruit and sorbet for dessert. Mr. Kato had mentioned my birthday and allowed me to select a bottle of wine for the occasion which was extremely nice of him, especially since all of the bottles were in the hundreds of dollars. Apparently the staff overheard (which wasn't too difficult considering that the maximum occupancy of this restaurant was 13. No lie.) because after dinner the lights went down and they brought out a cake and sang and gave me roses and it was perfect. I finally smiled at the thought of my approaching birthday. Flowers have that affect on me.

There's my November in a nutshell. This season, late fall right before winter, is my most favorite time in Japan. Everything is beautiful. The trees in the mountains are changing colors, it's cold but not too cold, the sunsets are gorgeous. It's times like this when I wish everyone could come to Japan because I know they would fall in love with it, just like I have.much love

-tara-

xx

Bunny Island ...

A long time ago (I can't even remember when it was that's how long it's been), a group of us got together and made a trip to Ookunojima, also known as 'Bunny Island'. The island is pretty small but played a big role in World War ll as a manufacturing site for poisonous gas that was used mostly in mainland China. The story is actually a pretty interesting one (and Wikipedia can probably tell it better than I can).

"The island was a cultivated area until the First Sino-Japanese War when ten forts were built to protect it. Because Japan was a signatory on the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning the use of poison gas, the country went to great lengths to assure the secrecy of the building of the poison gas plant begun in 1929, even going so far as to remove records of the island from some maps. The plant, constructed at the beginning of the Showa Era (1928-1945) was home to a poison-gas facility that produced over six kilotons of mustard gas.

The island was chosen for its isolation, conduciveness to security, and because it was far enough from Tokyo and other areas in case of disaster. Under the jurisdiction of the Japanese military, the local fish preservation processor was converted into a poison-gas reactor. Residents and potential employees were not told what the plant was manufacturing and everything was kept secret; working conditions were harsh and many suffered from gas exposure related illnesses.

With the end of the war, documents concerning the plant were burned and Allied Occupation Forces disposed of the gas either by dumping, burning, or burying it. The laboratory animals were set loose - hence the many rabbits today - and people were told to be silent about the project. Several decades later, victims from the plant were given government aid for treatment, and in 1988 the Ōknoshima Poison Gas Museum was opened."

The first thing I noticed about the island was how beautiful the view was. I feel like everywhere you go in Japan has the potential to be breathtakingly beautiful. This island was no different. "The Island now has a congress-hotel, a six-hole golf course and a small camping ground. When the tide is at its maximum or minimum, people can swim in clean water. The whole island looks a little like a petting zoo: this is because the school children who had to care for the rabbits in the laboratories set them free when the factory was demolished. Hunting these creatures is forbidden and dogs and cats may not be taken onto the island. The ruins of the old forts and the gas factory can be found all over the island; entry is prohibited as it is too dangerous. Since it is part of the Inland Sea National Park system of Japan, there is a resource center and across the way is the Ōkunoshima Poison Gas Museum."

The joke golf course. Seriously:

We went to the museum to see what this poison gas business was all about and it was kind of disturbing. The pictures were graphic and the effects of the mustard gas weren't exactly pretty. Getting ideas for a Halloween costume?
Sick, huh?

We trekked around the island and found the ruins of the manufacturing plants and warehouses and gave off a creepy kind of a vibe. There were 'DANGER' signs posted everywhere and I kept my eyes peeled for deformed wildlife, although (thankfully) I never found any. F2, Erik & Daniel ... entering the tunnel of doom:
There was just this kind of eerie vibe everywhere.
Me, Daniel & Erik

F2 & I (his real name is Jukka but I've never called him that):

And then there were the bunnies ... ALL of the bunnies. They were everywhere. All you had to do was sit down and rustle the bag of carrots and they started coming out of the woodwork, or in the case, out of the factory remains.

At first I was kind of creeped out, but they grew on me.

They would just jump right on your lap and chow down. It was kind of nuts.

These crazy ones climbed right in Erik's bag ... and came out with carrots.

Maybe they have super intelligence as a result of mustard gas exposure.

These two were my favorites and I kind of wanted to take them home.

We took the ferry back to the mainland and headed home after a long day of hanging out with rabbits and praying that we weren't ingesting any remnants of mustard gas during the time spent on the island. The thought that some of the gas was 'buried' as a form of disposal is a little unsettling.

Tina & I on the ferry:

I think the sun sets in the most beautiful way in Japan ...
much love

-tara-

xx