Trip to Fukushima

On October 4th and 5th of 2021, I went to a trip to Fukushima with my husband, two kids, and my parents. 

It was just an overnight trip, but it was such an amazing trip!

Toh no Hetsuri 

I live in Ibaraki, and took us 3 and half hours driving with a local road (not high way).

There are free parking. 

They are all free but the ones closer to the bridge are by souvenir shops but they require a purchase. 

It is a Japanese culture to give a way souvenir to neighbors and coworkers etc. so for Japanese, there is no problem. 

My kids are 2 and 3 years old so it was convenient to park close by. 

For those of you who have no cars, there is a train station close by (3 minutes on foot).

It was so beautiful. 

Leaves started to change color. 

You can clime the cliff but there is no fence so you need to be careful. 

For 2 and 3 years old, it was too dangerous, so we did not go that far. 

And what I got surprised was they sell vipers soaked in a sake jar at souvenir shops. 

In Japan, it is said it's good for your health and stuff but they were still alive😱

Ouchi-juku

There is a parking lot close by and it cost 500 yen. 

It felt very good just walking by the street. 

There are many restaurants, souvenir shops, and street food. 

I wanted to try the soba with a leek, which is a famous dish in here, but we ate lunch already and it was almost time for dinner, so I just bought a drink.

At the end of the street, there is stairs and slopes. 

When you go on top, you can see a bigger picture of the entire village. 

We stayed here for about an hour. 

After that, we went to our hotel. 

This is a typical Japanese hotel with hot spring. 

In a room, my parents, my husband, two kids, and I all stay here. 

And we ate dinner and breakfast in the hotel as well. 

They were buffet style and if you have kids, it is better that way. 

The sunset we could see from our room was so beautiful. 

I could also see a castle. 

Aizu Bukeyashiki

Aizu Bukeyashiki is a historical site of reconstructed samurai residences of the Edo period.(Travel to Tohoku)

After we checked out from the hotel, we headed to Aizu bukeyashiki. 

Admission is 850 yen per adult, but we used a couple from the hotel, so it was 750 yen.

Kids under 6 years old are free. 

There was a place where you can experience Japanese archery. 

4 try for 200 yen, and my husband tried it.

He aimed to the target, and he managed to hit one out of four!

As a reward, he got a keychain which has sword shape. 

You can actually go inside of the samurai residence, so it was very cool experience. 

After that, we drove around 1 and half hour to Bandai-san skyline. 

It goes all the way up to the mountain by car. 

The color of leaves just started to change and it was so pretty. 

Mt. Azuma-Kofuji

There is a huge parking lot on a side. 

Almost all parking lots are free of charge at skyline except here. 

You pay 500 yen at the entrance, and park your car. 

There are steps to the top of the mountain.

On the top, there is a huge crater and it is super windy!

I noticed there are people walking around the edge, so we decided to go for a quick walk.

But actually, it was a quite exercise.

There are huge rocks and many ups and downs. 

People were wearing mountain gears and on the website, it said it is 1 hour walk. 

I thought I could walk in 20 minutes😅 

I was exhausted but the view was awesome!

After that, we went back home straight. 

It was a short trip but I had good time!

 

Thank you so much!

So, I decided to start writing again. 

First of all, I would like to update on what I have been doing. 

I quit my job and came back to Japan in 2014. 

And I met my husband and got married on 2015. 

Now I have two sons, one is 4 years old, and the other one is 2 years old. 

My husband and I are self-employed. 

My income went down compared to when I was working in the US, but it is less stressful and more time to spend with my family, so I am content. 

I am hoping to introduce about Japan through this blog.

The picture above is Ouchi-juku which is an old village in Fukushima.

My family and I went there in summer.