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!