Onsen!

So last weekend I went to Yunishikawa Onsen (湯西川温泉) in Tochigi Prefecture (栃木県) which is about 160 or so kilometers north (北) of Tokyo. I went with 6 other people, all Japanese, (all are people that went to Canada in the past. I know them through Asako)

Onsen's (hot springs) are WONDERFULLY AMAZING! I think I'm in love. It was extremely fun. This time (as opposed to previous hang-outs with these people), I was able to understand and converse with the other people MUCH more (due to my Japanese skill being much better) and therefore I had a tonne of fun. It went down to -12 or so I think at night... so that made it even better in the outside Onsens. There's nothing like bathing naked outside in the open air under the starry night sky when it's -12 outside haha (oh ya, in Japan, in an Onsen, you do not wear clothes).

Most certainly a new experience. It takes 4 and a bit hours to get from my house to where we went. There was snow, a good deal of it (yay!), so I was quite satisfied. The Ryokan (Traditional Japanese Inn, a must-do for people visiting Japan) that we stayed in... was neat first of all... The dinner and breakfast provided by them was wonderful as well... but a really neat thing is that some of the wood that makes up the building is 800 YEARS OLD. Crazy...

Real Onsen like that one are much better than Hot Tubs... MUCH better... they smell a bit... (due to various minerals in the water, such as sulfer) but you get used to that quickly. They say the BEST Onsen can heal anything except love sickness. I believe them... My back, which had a NASTY knot in it for the past few days, was extrememly sore... However, the INSTANT (no joke) I went in the water, my back felt just fine... Very interesting in deed...

A quick update

Hello everyone again. Just thought I'd update on whats going on here... which currently isn't too much.

However, I did have a job interview as a part time English Teacher at a Childrens school. I had that interview today. However, I have declined the offer as the details of the job did not suit my needs... *sigh * So my search continues for a job.

Next weekend, I and 6 other friends will be heading south from Tokyo on a 2 day relaxation trip... So I'll have a blog for that when that happens as well.

Well that's all really... Not much to talk about when you're job searching...

New Years!

Well, New Years has come and gone, and it was fun here.
First off, I've uploaded more pictures on to my site in the Chiba section, and one in the Tokyo section.

The Chiba pictures that are new are of the first sunrise of the year. We stayed up on the 31st of December until 2AM of course... and then went to sleep... and then woke up at 5AM to go out to see the first sunrise of the year on top of a mountain in Chiba. It was very crowded there... several hundred people. It's apparently very popular for people here to do this. So the pictures were taken from my phone... as I forgot my good camera... So the ground which looks like it's black in those pictures was actually lit... It was cityscape and farm land, with the ocean in the background.

After that, we went back home, and had one of the most wonderful breakfasts ever with Asako's family (Grandpa included this time). It is their tradition to have a special breakfast on New Years.

Later in the day... we went off to Mitaka to spend the night there (Asako's Grandpa's house in case you forgot). The next day, we had a party with Asako's family and cousin/uncle/aunt. That was lots of fun. Had a wonderfully large lunch and drank a decent amount. Lots of fun.

Later Asako and I headed off to a temple in Harajuku. A very large one.... It was RIDICULOUSLY busy. It was busy because it is also tradition to head off to a temple in the New Year to pray for best wishes for the upcoming year, and pray for your family, etc... Even people with no religion do this.

Once the holidays are officially over (the 7th/8th), then I'll be starting a job search extravaganza.

I hope everybody's New Years was good as well and lots of fun!