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Last weekend, I went to Minakami with two of my co-workers and their Japanese teachers. Actually, I didn’t really know where I was going as I’m useless at remembering new Japanese names/words, so I just turned up at the station at 9:10am on Saturday. But it turned out to be a pretty fab weekend.

The first thing we did was rent a car and drive up to a waterfall. Unfortunately Sawada-sensei who arranged it all couldn’t join us as we needed two cars, but only one of us had a licence!! If only I knew, then I would have taken my licence. Anyway, the waterfall itself was pretty stunning. It kind of carved a valley in the rocks so it was a big waterfall in the middle of the river rather than a typical drop.

I actually loved the walk around the river and a short hike in the mountains. It makes me want to get out of Tokyo every weekend, away from all this concrete, traffic and people.

After the sightseeing trip, back at the hotel Sawada-sensei quickly wrapped me in a Yukata before showing me where the public bath was. It all happened so quickly I couldn’t really say no! She told the guy managing the place that I’m a foreigner and didn’t know what to do. So what does he do? He tells me what to do in Japanese. lolz. I just nodded along before getting naked and proceeded to the cleaning area around the bath. I guess the good thing about looking Japanese is that no one really cares about me and I just blend in. The bath itself wasn’t that hot. Or perhaps it was hot, but the warm water I used to clean myself acclimatised my body before getting in the bath. I sat for a few minutes, before I noticed there was an outdoor bath through the window. So I jumped out and it was quite pleasant to sit there. I’m still not sure if I’m a big fan of onsen’s but I must agree that it does help loosen up the body and help it relax.

After my bath, we had a 9 course (I think) Japanese dinner. This is us eating in our Yukata’s. I look like a Shogun:

It was all very tasty, but there was soo much of it! I wish my stomach was bigger so I could have finished it all! Here’s some nice close ups to make your mouth water.

It was actually quite nice to experience the hot bath followed by the Japanese style dinner. Our entertainment was an old guy singing karaoke next door! All it needed was a geisha performance.

The following day we jumped back into 21st Century mode and went river rafting!! It was pretty awesome as the river was flowing quite fast due to the continuous rainfall. Probably about the same, if not a little less challenging, than the black Lütschine in Switzerland I went to a few years back. It was my third time rafting so I kinda knew what to expect - plus when to pose for the camera!!

Time always goes fast when you’re enjoying yourself so I was a bit disappointed when we were at the end already but we got to get in the water and swim! The key word is swim because the water was flowing pretty fast. Unfortunately for Oi (I guess you could say my line manager), she’s not a swimmer. When she passed where I was standing after I got out of the water she was just lying on her back, almost in a relaxed manner. I signalled to her to swim towards the shore but she just drifted down the river, pass two guys who were rescuing other people. I started to think if I should run down the shore to perhaps help… She went pretty far, almost towards the rapids when the river bends but fortunately someone threw her a rope!! She seemed quite relieved afterwards. I heard she had a nightmare that night!! But I’m sure it was all safe

Huge thanks to Sawada-sensei for organising the whole weekend. Also to Oikawa-sensei for being such a joker and to Murata-sensei for helping me speak Japanese and shooting me:

Photos on Flickr: Minakami