Relaxing in Kinosaki

My parents arrived on July 28th and since I had to work I had expected to arrive home and find them relaxing in my air-conditioned apartment. Instead, I emerged from the subway to hear wheelie-luggage noises turning the corner. After an ecstatic and tearful greeting we dragged the bags and box upstairs to my apartment. I can't express how good it was to see them.

Above: My mom's bento (let's see...this or McDonald's?)

Because I have gushed about Kinosaki-Onsen constantly since January, my parents were eager to see/experience it. We thought it would be a good first weekend getaway since we could relax, chat, onsen and eat wonderful food, while my parents recovered from the evil jet lag.

I've blogged about the history & onsens in Kinosaki so this post will contain mainly random remarks/info.


Above: The cicadas in Japan are huge and there's none of this 'they come out every 7 years' business. Here they come out every year and they make an absurd amount of noise. They also chase me down the hallway...

Above: Possibly my favourite picture of the weekend.

Below: edamame still attached to the plant! Cool, huh?

Below: While taking a walk around town we stumbled upon the Playground of Death. Old and rusty it was added to the list of super scary playgrounds I've seen in Japan. Poor kids...I still think the one I found in Obu is the most terrifying.



Elspeth got me hooked on taking pictures of Japanese man-hole covers and then I got my dad hooked. I was actually contemplating how to stand in the middle of the street to get a picture of this one...before I found it on a side street. It can be a dangerous hobby - man-hole cover collecting. I feel like Nino from Amelie all of a sudden...


Our very nice ryokan. The people here were really nice and they had two private onsens. They also wrote my dad's name in the entrance.

Below: My dad and I make fun of Aaron before dinner. Model shots anyone?



Kinosaki is famous for crab and even though it's not prime crab season, it was still delicious.



shabu-shabu. swish, swish. yummy, yummy...


The next morning my dad and I got up early and hobbled down the street (Ok, so I hobbled, my dad was fine in his manly wooden geta...the plastic womens' ones shredded my feet) to the large onsen near the station.


It was so early that the whole town was quiet and calm.

Breakfast was amazing. I am a big fan of Japanese breakfasts. Nothing better than a broiled fish, miso soup, cold tofu and hot rice to start the day.

We were going to go to the beach to see the Japan Sea but it started to rain and it was really cloudy so we decided to take an early train back to Kyoto. Goodbye Kinosaki!

Hello, second home away from home, Fushimi Inari. I will never get sick of this place (it's my 4th time here in a year). It always feels calming and tranquil. It's never really crowded and you can just keep walking through the tunnel of red torii.



I've never seen the lights on before! I guess because it was cloudy, they turned them on early. I wonder what it looks like just before dark. Well, I guess I'll be coming back for a 5th visit.

We stopped back at Kyoto Station where we ate fantastic tonkatsu and then I got on the shinkansen back to Nagoya. I'll admit that it was really tough saying goodbye to my parents (they spent the next few days in Kyoto) even though I'd see them later that week.

More stories to come...