Peachy Keen

Due to laziness and busy-ness, a fellow Peach lady and I didn't go to Korea as planned, so instead we did the next best thing after New Years: onsen in onsen towns Beppu and Yufuin!!  The theme of the trip: ゆっくり, or just taking it slow.


Day 1


The day was spent at Takegawara Onsen for our first sand bath, seeing the lame Beppu Tower, and finding a ramen truck.

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Labels: 2012, friends, Kyushu, newyears, vacation

I spent New Years in one of my (now) favorite cities in Japan: Yokohama! Not sure why I have this love for cities in the bay, but there it is. I left from Fukuyama station and I was able to take one of the new shinkansen trains, Sakura! The Sakura runs from Kagoshima in Kyushu to Shin-Osaka so I had to transfer, but it was *so* worth the hour to ride it. Unlike the other trains, the Sakura only has reserved and un-reserved (no green car). The reserved has 2 seats to an aisle so it's very spacious and comfy. I really wish it ran all the way to Tokyo.

The day I arrived was a reunion/alumni meeting/end-of-the-year-party (忘年会 or bounenkai). My friends and I were able to meet with one of our Japanese professors!! It was so amazing to see her (and my friends) in Japan; she's one of the reasons why I'm here in Japan today.

At a cafe in Shibuya for alumni meeting
Us: What would you like to drink, sensei? There's coffee and juice, etc.
BAMF  Sensei: I'll start with beer.

All in all, our bounenkai was fun! My friend chose a really nice place with good food and we ended with karaoke (as all things should end with).

The rest of my New Years consisted of me stuffing my face with tasty things and occasionally walking, taking the train to said tasty things. My only regret was that Robeks (a smoothie shop in CA, I MISS SMOOTHIES/JAMBA JUICE SO BAD) was closed for the holidays! Yes, things get pretty quiet in Japan over New Years since this is a time where people travel to their hometowns and spend time with their families.

New Years Eve I spent under a kotatsu, eating soy milk nabe and flipping channels between Gaki no Tsukai and Kouhaku Uta Gassen. Gaki no Tsukai is a (usually) hilarious show where a group of comedians are taken for 24 hours, but they must not laugh. Otherwise they get punished. This year was a smack to the bootie, but there was one year where the punishers used a blow dart on the comedians.


Harsh! On the other end of the spectrum, Kouhaku is a singing competition that`s comprised of the red team (female artists/groups) and the white team (boys) hence the name Kouhaku 紅白. I`m not really sure how they judge which groups wins, but this year the white team won which was a surprise. The boys usually win.

The rest of my New Years was pretty chill.

Stuffing my face Hatsumode in Kamakura at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. When you reach the top of the stairs, you can see a nice view all the way to the water. Kamakura is one of the most popular places to do Hatsumode, so I wasn't able to explore a lot, but I would definitely go back to see the great Buddha, the ocean, and taste all the yummy foods in the shopping street, like German curry sausages...I'm not sure why German sausages are famous there, but there was a variety of them. The herb one was *delicious*.

I also went to the new Wendy`s in Omotesando.


Nothing too crazy, but I was able to see friends in Tokyo and Yokohama. I have no complaints. Hopefully soon I'll post the next half of my winter vacation spent in Beppu, Kyushu!

Tasty of the day:

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Labels: 2011, 2012, Japan, newyears, vacation, yokohama

Funny what you can accomplish when you're sick: a blog post! I think I'll be switching to this blog for my living-in-Japan experience, then going back over to LJ for my otaku tendencies. Hehe~

I won't cover everything I did during my holidays, but to sum it up from Dec. 17-23 I was back in the states for my sister Niki's catillion and spent Christmas weekend in Tokyo and visited friends. I'm so glad I spent a few days in Tokyo with my friends who I haven't seen in FOREVER. I think it helped me adjust to me being in Japan again and helped me lose my homesickness. I guess I didn't feel so alone? Something like that.

I tried to do a stereotypical New Years in Japan. First I spent New Years Eve by going to my first sento with Jessi (another Okayama JET), eating toshikoshi soba (end-of-the-year noodles), and watching Kouhaku Uta Gassen, or the red vs. white singing competition until the countdown.

New Years Day Jessi, Caroline and I spent the day shrine hunting for Hatsumode, or the first shrine visits in the New Year.

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Labels: friends, newyears