Hotel Alpha One Yonezawa

... hump in the top bar. Guess I know which arm to do more bicep curls on. My brother and I mistakenly brought another set of tickets (language barrier alert!) so we foolishly decided to subject ourselves to the Ninja Warrior torture again! I did just about the same the second time. My left arm failed me again on the ring maze! Overall it was a really fun experience. I guess you can say that I kind of survived a Japanese game show!

Apres Sado nous nous sommes diriges vers Yamagata. Ce n'est pas tres loin de Niigata, mais en train c'est plusieurs heures et changements a travers les montagnes (surtout quand on en rate quelques uns au passage !). A Yamagata nous allons dans un hotel type occidental, rien de bien special, mais c'est pres de la gare et il est tard quand nous sommes arrives ! Le lendemain, visite de Yamadera, petit village tres mignon dans une vallee. Sur un des ...

... school staying at the camp - phew. Luckily they did not leave me in charge of any children and I had nice easy jobs like cleaning (not so easy jobs of changing sheets on bunk beds - you bang your head alot) and working in their cafe to help make pizzas in a proper stone oven - lots of fun. The camp is run by a family who really look after their staff; on the second night they took me and the other wwoofers to a traditional soba resturant where i ...

Hi guys. This is the first dairy of my blog. Today, I'm going to write about Sakata which's a part of Yamagata. ---The fascinations of Sakata--- Population --98,599 (as of 2005) Location -- Northwest of Yamagata Speciality -- Beans(called "dadacya mame), cherry, pickles, apple, melon I've stayed in Sakata city for 10 days to get a driver's licence. I have to stay here 5 more days...lol

... 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.

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 ...

... Kelly buy small sweat towels that everyone wears around their necks. Nick, Phil and Anders run/jump down the mountain. Continued driving to Yamagata City. On the way found a pedestrian bridge to nowhere over a deep gorge. Mos Burger (Japanese style burger joint) for lunch. Pretty good quality for fast food standards. Headed up to Yamadera (means mountain temples) but we were too late and it closed. Instead, we went to ...

... on us and gave us natto omelettes. Mike couldn't finish his. I swallowed it quickly so I wouldn't be wasting food. Dave was loving it - mind you his nose was blocked so that he couldn't tell that it smelt like off milk. I gave a meek smile, fighting back the tears when Mike's uneaten natto travelled around the table and landed before me. My half-hearted nodding and less that enthusiastic "OISHII" (delicious) was not lost on them. Yamaguchi-san even said "KAWAISOO" (I pity them). Back ...

This was the day we checked out Kitakata, a city famous for its 120 ramen shops and 200 odd traditional style warehouses. On another topic, I've gotta say the Japanese drivers are the most considerate I've come across (UPDATE: outside Tokyo that is). Not one car can be heard honking its horn; and where else in the world can you find drivers who are backing out of their driveways, but go back in to let pedestrians walk by first. Back home they make you wait (pedestrians being at ...

... 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 ...