Coed Onsen camping trip and sumos

Yabara Camping Trip

I went camping for the first time in AGES, 2 weekends ago in Okayama which is about 3 hours south of Osaka. I went with Charrissa and Mary (new KIS teacher). We joined an organization that puts together camping trips. It was great! Lots of firsts on this trip... first camping trip in Japan, first coed onsen experience and first time I met Jacquie. (Jacquie taught at KIS the year before me, she left right before I arrived in Japan, but heard stories upon stories about her...also an aussie :)

It was just like your typical camping trip...tent, sleeping bag, gas stove and coed baths (oh wait maybe not typical). Ya, this camping trip was not exactly your typical camping trip considering you meet and 6 hours later you were nude with each other (but that Japan for ya). We meet Jacquie and her friends in Osaka and had the best Mexican food in Japan...sooooo good. Then meet Lawerence and the other camper for a 3 hour drive to Yabara in Okayama Prefecture. We arrived at the campsite around 9pm, set up camp, then went to onsen around 11.

This onsen is a traditional coed onsen were men and women, boys and girls bath together. It's a natural hotspring, right next to a river. The water directly below us and seeped into the baths that were made. You could literally sit in the bath until you got too hot, pop into the river to cool off then get back into the hot water (oh and there was a huge hotel right across the river-imagine eating breakfast and looking over and seeing a bunch of naked people-haha).

We were told peak season was over so there shouldn't be too many people there at 11pm at night. So I was thinking oh shouldn't be too bad maybe 5-10 people should be there. But, boy were we shocked when we saw the onsen was packed full of people. I definetly hesitated when I saw how packed it was.

All in all it was a great trip. It was nice to get out of Nagoya for a weekend and visit a prefecture I had never been to before. And experience my first coed onsen...my last?????

Our tents, the grass was tall=soft :)

Sumo visit to school!

Every year at KIS professional sumos visit and give us a sumo demonstration then wrestle with the kids. Its such an amazing experience, not a typical thing to happen in Japan, we have connections through parents :) It's so fun to watch the kids "push" around the sumos, they try try soo hard.

Sumo demonstration...boy, you could hear the thud :)

My boys were all bark and no bite...I love this picture :)

Gambatte Taiki!!! Go Taiki Go!

5 Year Class with the sumos!

We taught them the Macerana!

They came to our closing circle since we are oldest class in the school. They walked in and the class felt 1/2 the size. We voted as a class and decided to teach the sumos the Macerana dance and sing Skidarinky dinky dink. It was a very awesome day!!!

****Next weekend is Saori's wedding!!! I can't believe it. We will be going to Hamamastu for her wedding and stay the night. Jacquie and I will learn how to surf..hmmmm :) So expect a big post on that soon.