Aizuwakamatsu Washington Hotel

... for about 3 months. Then the rice is pressed and the sake is drained out. The left over rice mash can then be distilled for the hard liquor, shochu. The sake can be of different classes depending on how much polishing was done--the best is the most polished. From the saleswoman, this brewery has dry sake, which was quite smooth, but I confess that I liked the taste of the cheaper sake 1 step lower, as it was bit sweeter. How bourgeoisie, I know. From the brewery, it's a ...

... A ryokan is a traditional guest house. In the ryokan you have to wear special socks that are provided. They take away your shoes just as you walk through the door and only give them back when you leave. When we had got to our room we got given a traditional kimono that we had to wear whenever we were there except for sleeping. We had spas when we were there. We had an outside spa before dinner and an inside spa after dinner ...

... are beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes, and ski areas. We hiked along a popular nature trail, through an area with 11 marshes, lakes, and ponds, called the "Five Colors Lakes" because of the fantastic colors rendered by minerals in the water ... which change dependent on weather conditions. We had a grand time ... happy to have the opportunity to get out and explore the country a bit.

... the parents lounging around the onsen (hot spring) just taking it all in and the kids running havoc it is v funny. On the way out I saw two young monkies fighting, I had to take a video of a monkey fight...... but as I got a little bit closer one of the monkies jumped on me and turned the camera off ........ I couldn't stop laughing. And then the snow started ....... we headed for Tokyo

... in a cab. We were lucky enough to get reservations at the Nikko Kanaya Hotel, one of the first Western style hotels built in Japan. The owner built it after his friend- the guy who first translated Japanese into Roman letters- encouraged him to do so. The hotel was walking distance from the train station but we didn't want to waste 20 minutes walking and likely getting lost as well- the cab ride was about $5. The hotel was very charming ...

... played a weird coin drop game, with no clear cut point and objective. But you are given bonus rounds and coins come shooting out of the machine. It was confusing and SO MUCH FUN. We played for quite a bit on our free coins. Then got a free go at one of the claw machines that win little stuffed animals... all of us lost :( (Especially Jason, since Amy and I used the games up before realizing he didn't get his go... wah-wah. We'll make it up to you ...

So we get to one of our first relaxing places from the outside bandai-atami doesnt look that nice, probably due to its heyday being 15 years ago! The hotel we stayed at was called Kirakuya Inn not much from the outside but once inside it was really nice, it has 2 public onsens for men and women with many different baths and a sauna, and two private baths on the top floor observing the mountains surounding bandai. It was really nice, Michelle`s bag broke (also her hair drier blew up, we ...

... Their reactions revealed that they didn't trust the sweets either. The next day while on route to the samurai estate, some old ladies passing by suddenly pointed at me and said "AH. OOSUTORARIA-JIN!". I was nowhere near Mike at the time so I was thinking "Gee, is it that obvious that I'm Aussie?", until I realised that it was the same ladies from the day before. After a bit of overzealous shopping, we had a 7-eleven lunch (curry cup noodle) and decided to stuff Bandai-san. The weather ...

... Mike, and we ended up charging off in the wrong direction. Back to Kitakata. Yamaguchi-san was kind enough to give us a lift in from the YH. Dave and I sat in the back of the car with his 1 year old grandson who was giving his lungs a good going throughout the whole trip. It soon occurred to us that to open our mouths to say something led to an outburst of crying and screaming. Probably seeing gaijin for the first time in his life was too much for him. After thanking Yamaguchi ...

... Yamaguchi-san said, even though the bigger powers defeated the Aizu samurai during the Meiji Restoration, the Aizu heart was still strong. Aizu Wakamatsu holds a festival twice a year (April 24, Sept 24) to commemorate the event where 19 young samurai (16-17 years old), committed ritual suicide on a hill overlooking the city after witnessing that Aizu's castle, Tsuruga-jo was in flames. They were called the BYAKKOTAI. So every festival 19 young boys are selected (via ...