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