Footbath

Here comes Nagano. I am pretty sure Nagano is not the one of well-known tourist places for foreigners, so many of you don't know about Nagano. But... I bet you know at least 1 thing of Nagano. Do you remember the year of 1998? in Nagano, Japan? It's a leap year. Winter? Should I give you the answer? haha yes, you must have gotten a right answer: "Nagano Winter Olympics" in 1998. tadaa!!

We did not do anything related to the Olympics there. What we did was ...experiencing a footbath!! I really wanted to do something good for health and beauty. Well, I always want to do. Here is a picture of taking a footbath with hot spring (^U^)

As you may already know, it is great for being relaxed. To add to that, a footbath is good for beauty, health, & metabolism! How? Well, it is basically that the heat goes all over your body and you eventually get sweaty. Getting sweaty is the proof of detoxification and burning calories! woohoo(^0^) Believe me! We got sweaty after taking a footbath like 5 minutes. Plus, hot spring contains natural minerals that make our skin happy.

I really would like to recommend you to take a footbath with hot spring when you come to Japan. "Especially for those of you who don't want to get naked and share a public bath with strangers together, but still want to experience hot springs in Japan (^^) Actually, footbath places are everywhere.

It is called 足湯(ashiyu) in Japanese. I hope you can find one of them!!

A trip with Summer ended after going to Nagano. It is always very sad to say "see you" to my best friend; Summer, but I feel very happy because I had such a wonderful trip with her. This last picture is my favorite place in Japan. If you drive a high way between Nagano and Tokyo, there is a spot where you can see a huge love letter on the mountain. Unfortunately, on the high way, there is no photo spot to stop and take a look at it. Isn't it so lovely?

smile!

:)

Japan Trip : Osaka

Osaka is a prefecture that I had wanted to visit so badly, so we didヽ(◎´∀｀)ﾉMy stereotypes Osaka are friendly, loud, and yummmmyyy!! I wanted to see if my stereotypes were true, and they were true as far as I know. I think people in Tokyo = New Yorkers, people in Osaka = South, people in Nagano = Oregonians, and people in Okinawa = Japanese Hawaiians. It's totally my biased opinion, but do you agree or disagree? Anyway, food in Osaka is just soooo delicious!! For some reasons, we couldn't have a chance to eat many different kinds of food.. I really want you to open your heart and mind to try food there just like Garfy. He is a vegetarian, but he ate meats, sea foods, and so on while Japan trip. He really enjoyed Japanese food sooo much!

Soooooo much fuuuuuuunn!!! THEN, off to Osaka Castle!! Here we come!!

I have been to Kyoto and Nara before, but not Osaka. We spend only a day in Osaka, but it was definitely worth visiting! Because there are just many, many, too many tourists in these places, people speak English. People try to speak English when they don't know any English. It is very thoughtful. Surprisingly, people tried to speak English to Summer and me as well... what can I say? Japan, I love you. You are very kind.ヽ(●´∀｀)○´∀｀)ﾉ
I wish to come back here to eat more food with Garfy some day!

:)

Japan Trip : Nara

Welcome to Nara, amigos! While we were in Kyoto, we took a day trip to Nara. woohoo!!

Where is Nara? What's in Nara?

Nara is one of the prefectures next to Kyoto. I don't remember how long it took us to go to Nara from Kyoto, but it wasn't that far + costed about 800 yen to get there by train. Apparently, Nara has the most UNESCO World Heritage Listings in Japan. (More information of Nara, click HERE).

A serious meeting with the mascot of Nara prefecture.

We first went to Nara park. It's not a normal park that you see nearby your house. What is the difference? It's huuuuugeeee + there are tons of wild deer and people who sell "Shika Senbei;" food / crackers for deer. They are not scared of people at all... They don't care if you go close to them, touch them, pet them,,, etc. 

"Konnichiwa"

However, once you get shika senbei, they DO care about you. They watch you buying shika senbei (-_-)(6_6) THEN, friendly deer become aggressive deer!! GIVE ME, FEED ME, I'll follow you FOREVERRR!

  You just need to experience this!! haha We also visited couple shrines & temples. These pictures are from one of them called; Todaiji. There is a world largest sitting Buddha. How large is it? Oh, his middle finger is a lot taller than I am. I am about 5"2 (155cm) tall. His middle finger is "my height x 2".  ⁽⁽◝( ˙ ꒳ ˙ )◜⁾⁾ I am standing behind the Buddha... oh, Buddha & I can't fit into a picture.

We didn't forget shoppinggg, of course!

(sorry for my face.. I was so done with fighting with the heat & humidity. Every season, there are sooo much to see and enjoy in Japan, but I highly recommend you to go to Japan in Spring or Fall. haha)

:)

Japan Trip : Kyoto 2

Helloooo, amigos! So as I mentioned my previous post, I am writing the 2nd oneee! Check out my previous Kyoto blog post☆ Kyoto city is one of the oldest cities in Japan. Have you heard of Maiko (/Geisha, perhaps)? Have you seen pictures of current Japanese traditional buildings? Probably, these are from Kyoto. It's a very gorgeous city. Of course, Summer and I joined Garfy and his friend to enjoy Kyoto as tourists too (∩´∀｀)∩(∩´∀｀)∩

6oo years old of a Bonsai Tree

We found many people crossing the river in Arashiyama, Kyoto... Can you see them? I don't know why they were doing it at all, but we crossed it tooooo (^0^)!!!

At night, there was one of the well-known Summer festivals in Japan: Daimonji Yaki / Gozan no Okuribi. If you click it, it will show you what Gozan no Okuribi is. We could see 3 letters out of 5 letters. (which is pretty awesome!!) Here is one of them although it's not the best photo. Kyoto is such a pretty place, right?

:)