Ninjas at a Mie Onsen

Funny/Weird Japan-related Videos

"Can you spot what’s odd about this Japanese classroom?"

From Japan Today, October 23, 2015

So what about this commercial? It looks so normal at first; it’s just a bunch of high school girls hanging out in a classroom, playing a guitar, reading, whatever. But then, right in the middle, something happens. Watch it for yourself and see if you can figure it out before the reveal.

...

In the end this was a SHISEIDO makeup commercial, and they finish with the tagline “anyone can be cute.” Hear that guys? There’s nothing wrong with a little exfoliation/moisturization in your life.



Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/can-you-spot-whats-odd-about-this-japanese-classroom

"Oita lures travelers with wonderful montage of synchronized hot spring bathing"

From Japan Today, October 24, 2015

For prefectures to separate themselves from the rest and showcase what makes them special, they have to do something grand. In Oita Prefecture, this means presenting their world-famous hot springs with a synchronized swimming team in what can only be known as “synchronized bathing”.

Oita is one of the nine prefectures that make up the island of Kyushu and is most famous in Japan for its diversified selection of natural hot springs, or onsen. People around the country travel to Oita and soak in water that is heated by volcanic activity. To show off a number of their its best onsen, Oita recruited the help of a professional synchronized swim team. You’ve definitely never seen hot springs enjoyed quite like this.

The women travel all over the prefecture, stopping at all styles and kinds of hot springs. This includes a visit to Oita’s famous sand baths and mud baths in Beppu.



Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/travel/view/oita-lures-travelers-with-wonderful-montage-of-synchronized-hot-spring-bathing

Work Hard, Play Hard and Relax Hard in Japan

Behind the doors of this simple looking building is pure 

relaxation: an onsen ryokan (hot spring resort).

Once upon a time (actually until last year) at a certain international exchange student program at a certain Japanese university there was a week-long spring break. This break was an integral part of the semester's schedule allowing students and faculty a much needed respite and/or opportunity to travel within Japan or to neighboring parts of Asia. A week off of classes bookended between two weekends allowed for nine days. This year the administration decided to reduce the spring break to two days combined with a weekend. Four days does not constitute a spring break. As a result many students skipped classes before and/or after the official break period missing content and making the normal flow of class difficult. Of course faculty could not skip class and had to make do with the four days.

Japan is famous for its work ethic and thus the first part of this post title is "work hard." Not unrelated is the idea of playing hard to reduce work induced tension. I don't have much opportunity for such hard play these days and so when I had four days off I opted to "relax hard" to reduce stress. An onsen is the perfect place for this hard relaxation.

It's even better when you have your own personal massage chair
 and rotenburo (outside onsen) on the balcony of your room.

We arrived at the onsen in Shiga Prefecture right on Lake Biwa (Japan's largest lake) around 3:00 PM. We were greeted by the proprietor in the lobby and given yuzu tea. Next we were shown to our room on the top floor and given green tea and sweets. I then changed into a yukata and went to the main rotenburo. The weather was beautiful and warm, the scenery stunning and the hot spring water incredibly relieving. Just then a small bird landed on the hand rail and began singing its sweet song. Nirvana. Then it was back to the room for a session in the massage chair. Next, I had an appointment to use the ryokan's ganbanyoku (hot stone spa). The ganbanyoku isn't as hot or humid as a sauna but you still sweat a lot (it's supposed to be good for the skin, blood circulation and serves as a detox). But the sweat mysteriously stops and evaporates after you leave the chamber. After an hour session it was time to go back to the room for dinner. We had a special Shiga beef course that included a beef salad, beef sushi, beef shabu shabu, beef steak and a beef stew. After dinner it was back to the massage chair, back to the rotenburo and finally a dunk in our personal rotenburo before a hard sleep devoid of any stress related dreams. Bliss. After waking up the following morning there was a time for a quick bath before breakfast. After breakfast I had another session in the massage chair followed by a final bath. Check out was 11:00 AM.

I was exhausted after this experience, thus the term "relax hard."

Despite the challenging relaxation-schedule I did have a few moments to capture the scenery that could be seen from our window and balcony. Lake Biwa is beautiful.

I might recommend at least two days at the onsen to take away the "hard" away from the "relax" and not suffer from from post-relax exhaustion...

城崎温泉町...冬に (Kinosaki Hot Spring Town... in Winter)

Over the weekend I was able to visit Kinosaki, a well known hot spring resort area in Toyooka city, Hyogo prefecture. Visiting an onsen (hot spring) is a special treat, especially during the winter. A highlight of the trip was bathing in a rotenburo, or open air hot spring, submerged in hot water with snow and freezing cold wind blowing from above. Kinosaki is also known for crabs, and I was able to eat some very tasty ones indeed. What struck me the most about the trip was the weather - it was really winter, with cold and snow that we have not had in Osaka for some time. Now, my family and friends in in Michigan-Wisconsin-Minnesota will remind me that the cold and snow shown in these photos is nothing compared to the usual winter in the great lakes area. And certainly there has been more snow in other parts of Japan. But it was still an interesting experience seeing winter emerge as the train proceeded closer to Kinosaki. In all the train ride from Osaka to Kinosaki was about three hours. About an hour before reaching Kinosaki the snow started to emerge. At Kinosaki it snowed non-stop; it was enough to remind me why I moved to warmer climates. A challenge of visual anthropology is to share the experience - and I am sure my photos fail to capture the experience of trudging around wet snow and slush while visiting various onsen and my own flashbacks of childhood winters. Still it was a great setting for taking pictures as the snow and lighting provided different shots even of the same scene.

Link to Kinosaki Hot Springs web page:
http://www.kinosaki-hotsprings.com/

Related - "Onsen Blog":
http://japanport.weblogs.jp/onsen/