Golden Water: Arima Onsen

After our lunch at Granite Cafe, my friend and I rode the Rokko Arima Ropeway from Mt. Rokko to Arima Onsen, a rather famous and popular hot spring town located in the mountains. It is over a thousand years old, making the town one of the oldest hot spring resorts. Because of its relatively compact and small size, my friend and I were able to explore most of the town on foot although we didn't stay long. Our main goal was to relax in one of the onsen :) 

We ended up going to Kin no Yu, one of the public onsen, which is known for its golden-colored water and said to be good for muscle ailments. This was my first onsen experience and while I knew the gist of what happens, I was still a little surprised to see how the women and girls had absolutely no hesitation in baring it all before showering and entering the onsen. After a couple of minutes of shyness, I just didn't care and enjoyed myself :) The water was HOT, but felt extremely soothing. The only downside was that my friend and I ended up having to get out after ten minutes because it was a little too hot for us and we retreated to a smaller pool that wasn't as hot. However, once we dried ourselves off and exited the bath house, we felt incredibly relaxed--as if we had just done a session of yoga! 

The ride from the top of the mountain to Arima was about ten minutes long and the view was...STUNNING. Tall, green trees on the mountains with views of the city peeking out as we continued to go lower and lower. 

Entrance to Kin no Yu 

Wisteria?! :)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Granite Cafe

It's always nice to sit down and relax with a good lunch after completing a steep hike and that's what my friend and I did at Mt. Rokko. Granite Cafe offers gorgeous views of Kobe city and we were lucky enough to snag a window seat that overlooked the area. The cafe is a popular spot for couples and we were the only ones who weren't there with a significant other. That didn't stop us from enjoying our lunch (and we got a pretty good deal too!) :) We ordered the season set which came with a soup, salad, bread, cabbage rolls, a dessert and drink for about 1,800 yen. Originally, we were only going to get something small, but changed our minds when we saw the season special and thank goodness we ordered it because it was delicious! 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

Happy Golden Week to my Japan readers! The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge connects Kobe to Awaji Island and is the longest suspension bridge in the world with a length of over 12,000 feet. I didn't stay long as this was my last stop before heading home after my day at Awaji. However, there are a few buildings that visitors can go to such as the Maiko Promenade which offers views of the bridge's interior as well as an observatory hallway, and the Bridge Exhibition Center which provides in-depth information about the planning and construction of the bridge (the information is only in Japanese though). Driving across the bridge to Awaji Island will set you back 2,300 yen as the toll fee is a bit expensive, so I recommend catching one of the buses (500 yen one way) to and from the island :)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week. 

Taste of Kyushu

A new school year has begun, so that means new teachers and new 1st year students in junior high school. It's quite common for teachers in the same grade level to get together for dinner at the beginning of the school year to get to know each other better and this time, the 1st year teachers and I went to a place called Yamauchi Nojo Kosoku. It's a couple of minutes from Nagata Station and specializes in Kyushu cuisine. 

The teacher who planned this dinner ordered the Yakushima course for us. Yakushima is one of the islands belonging to Kagoshima, and is also the inspiration for the forest in Princess Mononoke, a popular Studio Ghibli movie :) This course along with nomihodai (all you can drink) came out to about 5,000 yen per person, but it was definitely worth it. I'm usually still hungry after dinners with my teachers because the food portions are so tiny (a mouthful and a half does not cut it for me....), but I was pleasantly surprised with this dinner! 

One of two mango waters for the night! It was a lot thicker than I thought it would be which was nice :)

Started off with chilled cucumbers and cabbage with two different sauces: one was miso-based and the other was more garlicy. I wasn't a huge fan of the raw cabbage, but ended up eating almost half of the cucumbers with the sauces--super refreshing!

A standard salad was next

Got an apple sort of soda with no alcohol in it and it was yummy~ 

Probably one of my favorite dishes for the night were the gobo chips (behind the fries) and French fries. I've never had gobo chips before, but they were addicting!

Tried a couple of pieces of sashimi and they even had horse too O.o I wasn't able to get a picture, but I tried a piece of horse sashimi..

Tsukune~ these are chicken meatballs that are skewered before they are grilled over charcoal and usually brushed with a sweet shoyu sauce called tare

Pork and chicken are a must :) They carried it out in the cast-iron skillet still sizzling and it smelled AMAZING.

Tonkotsu-based soup. Tonkotsu broth is made from cooking pork bones for a long period of time, breaking down the fat, protein, marrow and other minerals. This gives the broth a very opaque, yet rich and buttery texture. It was very comforting, but I was unable to finish mine despite the small cup size because it was a little too rich for me. 

Onigiri with a miso-based paste with shrimp brushed on top. By this time, some of the teachers had stopped eating because they were full although I'm sure multiple drinks had contributed to that as well :)

Finished it off with some matcha ice cream! A wonderful way to end a great dinner with some great teachers filled with plenty of food and laughter ^^

Thank you so much for reading and I hope  you all have a wonderful week!

Ume: Arrival of Spring

Just a short post today :) I completely missed the ume, or plum blossoms, last year so I made sure to take some photos while my family was here ^^ These were mostly taken in Sannomiya towards the end of my family's visit. We had gone to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine to see them, but had been too early which was a huge bummer. Very thankful that my parents and brother were able to see these before they left! ^^

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! ^^

Ramen: A Bowl of Happiness

After a long day at the Chionji Handicraft Market in Kyoto, my parents and I caught the train back to Kobe, but stopped by a ramen restaurant in Sannomiya for dinner. We hadn't had a proper lunch, focusing our time on the market and other destinations so we starving. A hot, bowl of ramen was the perfect answer to our growling tummies :) My dad got the shoyu pork ramen while my mom and I opted for the miso and veggie ramen. I don't eat ramen a lot, preferring to eat soba, but this bowl was an exceptionally delicious one ^^ 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Minatogawakoen Handicraft Market: Buy Local

I haven't gone to the Minatogawakoen Handicraft Market since summer, but decided to go this past weekend :) It's held on the fourth Saturday of every month and is located literally on top of the station at Minatogawakoen! Just go up the stairs as you exit and you'll find yourself at a large park area with all of the tents. There were some new vendors in addition to some familiar ones as well and I was able to pick up a couple of gifts for my parents there! :D I love supporting local businesses so I asked vendors for their business cards or blog sites if I took pictures of their products. I'll have those sites below in the pictures if they gave me one! ^^Please be sure to check them out :) They would make wonderful gifts and omiyage as well!

This was one of the first vendors that I stopped by and I couldn't decide what I wanted to get so I ended up coming back again :) I'll link the blog in their last picture.

So you can carry your water bottle in style :) It'll be the cutest one out there!

Musubi pouch? Too good to be true :D

Their blog can be found here

I was really tempted to buy more from this vendor! He and his wife were very nice to me while I asked them about a couple of their products. They have a blog so I'll link it at the last picture.

Blog can be found here

The owner was extremely nice to me when I asked her if I could photograph her sweets. She nodded enthusiastically and asked if I could put it on my blog and then gave me her business card as well! ^^ Ended up buying some chicken curry and those cute animal cookies on the right :) 

She also sold an assortment of jams and the yuzu jam looked really tempting to buy! Her blog can be found here and her online site here

More bakery goodness :)

Really liked her setup :)

Blog can be found here

Blog can be found here

Online store can be found here

Site can be found here

One of my favorite vendors. Chatted with him for awhile and he told me that this was his first time selling at a market so he didn't have a blog or site yet, but he encouraged me to take lots of pictures :)

If I had a real-life tree house like this, I wouldn't come out of it :D

This man made clocks out of everyday items!

Blog can be found here

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!