Four students in our program visited Kinosaki-onsen (hot spring) and Amanohashidate with students from Monash university in the Frontier Human Science Program on January 13th and 14th, 2017.

 

 

Before going to Kinosaki, we made Soba noodles with a soba master in Izushi.

 

We used a special knife to cut the noodles.

 

The Izushi-soba noodles are local special noodles served on small plates. We ate our handmade noodles for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed at Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn)  at Kinosaki. Kinosaki is a historical hot spring town and famous for the seven hot springs in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We strolled around the town in yukata (casual kimono) and enjoyed hot springs. It was snowing heavily and very cold, but hot springs warmed us up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day, we made our way from Kinosaki to Amanohashidate, that is one of the three most scenic views in Japan. It snowed heavily there as well, and we hardly saw a pathway called the bridge in heaven. However we enjoyed playing in the snow.

We gave up visiting a temple at Amanohashidate because of the storm warning for the heavy snow and went back to Osaka.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone enjoyed the sights of Japan and experiences of Japanese cultures.