Adventures in Gunma

Hey Susie did I tell you that a couple of weeks ago I made a trip out to Gunma?? I thought about you the entire time I was there...Do you know what I was thinking? "How in the world did she live here for TWO YEARS!!" hahaha just kidding, though I thought Iwaki was country, but Gunma, cho inaka ne???? We had dinner in Maebashi, then headed up to a lodge in Minakami to go river rafting. My old co-worker, Chris is now living in Kiryu so we all met up. It was so much fun! I want to go back already!


Jo, Lana, and Karim suckin down the soba while we were jumping trains :)

"Eat, eat, eat!! The train is leaving!!"

We were so tired of jumping trains...I think we had to switch trains like 5 times that day!

Drinking at the cute little bar at our lodge in Minakami

Bunk up!! Our room was the cutest with 3 bunk-beds and tatami mat floors. We felt like we were at camp in elementary school!

What's so funny La?

Lana had heard through a friend that you could go paragliding in Gunma. So I called Chris (who is living in Gunma now), and asked if he had heard anything, so he gave me the contact information about this tour company called Canyons. I booked a room for six people to go canyoning and paragliding. Unfortunately it was raining on Monday so the paragliding was cancelled, but we were able to go rafting instead. As a consolation our accomodation was taken care of! (A total value of 18,000 yen!) Good deal :) It was the first time any of us had worn a wetsuit, goooooooooood times!


So excited!! We're not even in the water yet!





Lana and Chris went overboard!

Rafting was a lot of fun, and our tour guide was hilarious! We even got to do some swimming in the river, and jumped off 20 foot rocks. After rafting we went back to the lodge for lunch (which was also included). Yummy!!! Then it was time for canyoning. None of us really had any idea what canyoning was, but basically it's sliding down waterfalls!! It was SO much fun!! The first drop was 60 feet!!! We had to wear a harness, and were lowered half way down, they take your picture (I can't find my picture, it's somewhere around my apartment, so I'm going to post Lana's instead), then release the rope and you slide all the way down until you hit the water! Then we hit a couple more smaller waterfalls, but we weren't attached to a rope. We slid feet-first, then head first, then backwards, then jumped over the entire waterfall (only about 25 feet). I could've done that all day! The water was freezing, but we were wearing double wetsuits so we were fine.








Me being retarded for the camera :)

Lana and Kim

The first big drop! So much fun!! This is Lana, I'm going to kill myself if I don't find my picture! But this will do for now :)

Our crazy canyoning guides!!! They were so much fun, and they are so lucky! All they do is take people rafting and canyoning everyday, then eat and drink at the lodge everynight. Then when winter comes it's snowboarding and snowshoeing EVERYDAY! Why am I still a teacher?

We were a little bummed out that we couldn't go paragliding because that was the main reason for the trip, but it turned out to be so awesome! We are already planning our return :) But maybe not until next summer because it's FREEZING already!

Field trip to Aizu

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited by Lana and one of her Japanese teachers to come along on a bus tour of Aizu, Fukushima. The bus tour was put on by Koriyama's international association. Koriyama has a large community of foreigners, so their international association puts on these types of events that allows foriegners to interact with the locals. The tour must have an equal number of foreign and Japanese participants (20-20). It was really funny because a lot of people had trouble distinguishing whether or not Lana and I were gaijin, or nihonjin.

Our first stop on the tour was Nunobiki Highland. Nunobiki Highlands is known for their great scenic view, and it has one of the largest wind power generators in Japan. They are also famous for the daikon that grows here. The daikon is HUGE, and is distributed throughout Japan. I bought one just because it was only 100 yen, and so big!


tour group





i love yaki mochi!

After Nunobiki Highland it was straight to Nisshinkan-the Aizu Clan School of the late Edo-period. Nisshinkan used to be a school that trained "byakkotai". Byakkotai were young soldiers that fought during the Boshin Civil War. Here at Nisshinkan they studied calligraphy, astronomy, archery, etiquette, in addition to their regular schooling. Now, it's just a museum for tourists. We got to eat lunch in the dining area, then paint an "akabeko" or red cow that is famous in Aizu, and get to try kyudo or Japanese archery. TANOSHII!


mmmm soba!











Last stop of the day was Keyaki no Mori or the "Woods of Zelkova". This forest which rests at the foot of Mt. Bandaiatami is known for their huge Zelkova trees which are over 300 years old. I don't have any pictures because it started to pour, and they weren't coming out so great. After we walked through the trees, we got to relax in an Ashi-yu (foot onsen). Then we returned to Koriyama. It was a great time, and I met a lot of really nice people. Lana, Fumi (her Japanese teacher), and I really hope to attend the next excursion. Apparently the trip before Aizu was to Iwaki...I was like, what in the world did they tour in Iwaki??? They said they had gone to our marine tower, and kamaboko factory...I was like oh wow...sounds exciting :/ poor guys...haha





Lana and Kim have become my new partners in crime...this was the night before we headed out to Sendai for Jake's concert. Then just this past weekend we all took a journey out to Gunma (Susie's town!)...cho inaka ne! i thought iwaki was country...but NOPE! *pictures coming soon :) mata ne!

Jake!

Jake just finished his crazy annual summer tour here in Japan :) I got to see him a couple of times, but that was good considering he jumped cities practically everyday! He gave me tickets to his show in Iwaki, so I took my manager. We had a great time!! Tottemo tanoshikatta desu!


Satoko (my manager), Me, and Mikako (old co-worker) @ Hawaiians Hotel, Iwaki


backstage pass


backstage w/ Jake and Kaz

Jake's last show was in Sendai last week Monday, so I took Lana and Kim along for the ride :) We had a lot of fun!!! All we did was shop, shop, concert, and gyu-tan!!


Lana, Jake, Kim, Me, and Bruce (Jake's lil' brother) backstage @ Zepp Sendai

Eating gyu-tan after the show :)


His tours get crazier and crazier every year, but it's always so much fun! He was here for the past two months, and next summer he said that he wants to become the first artist to perform in every prefecture in a tour run (there are 47 prefectures)...I think he's gone mental :) Hahaha

Andera and Skimber in Tokyo

For Kim's last few days in Japan we decided to hang-out in Tokyo. I was really lucky because she had booked a room for us at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel for three nights, and now I am having a really hard time staying in hostels or internet cafes...hahaha On Sunday I got to swim laps in the hotel pool, then we did the breakfast buffet at Hapuna, and then we were off to Disneyland :) It was the greatest day...thanks Kim!


Hapuna




sneezy!

toontown

tea cups make me sick :(

No trip to Tokyo would be complete without me taking you to Tsukiji :) It never gets tiring...



maguro!

sushiiii!!!!


saying goodbye at ueno station

It was such a bummer that I couldn't take extra days off while Kim was here. Unfortunately she spent most of her trip in Iwaki wandering around while I was at work, but she said she still had a good time. It was nice having her in my apartment for two weeks, it was almost like having a roommate :) Ima hitori dake desu...dakara sukoshii sabishi desu yo :( hahaha