Good morning guys! Guess where I am today?
I'm super excited because I'm back in Fukushima prefecture.
It's my third time here.
I really really enjoyed my first two trips here,
so I was super excited when Koriyama City invited me to come back and explore the place,
so I'm here at Koriyama eki.
You can see the station behind me here.
I took the shinkansen from Tokyo this morning.
It was just over an hour ride. It wasn't long at all.
I got here super quickly, and I'm super excited to explore the city. We're going to a couple cool places
I'm gonna be staying at a really nice hotel tonight,
and I can't wait to show you guys around, so let's go!
So actually the first spot I want to show you is right here at the station.
They have a really cool looking building behind me here
This is called the "big eye," and it's actually a planetarium,
and it's in the Guinness Book of World Records because apparently
it is the highest planetarium in the world
Koriyama is actually well known as a very musical city.
Several famous Japanese musicians originated here,
probably the most famous being the J-pop band Green.
Maybe you guys have heard of them,
but when I arrived here in the Shinkansen, the train station song
was actually green's most popular song.
I thought that was so cool.
If you come outside in front of the station here, you will see this green door,
and on the ground you'll see the footprints of all the members of Green.
And the members actually went to university here,
and that's where they started their band,
so the door is supposed to be like the start of your success.
You walk through it thinking about your goals for the future, and when you exit,
that's supposed to be like the start of your journey.
All right guys, let's head to the hotel.
I'm super excited to see it because I saw it online -
it looks pretty awesome!
I can't wait to show it to you guys.
We only traveled like 16 minutes and all of a sudden -
Look at the snow! What!
I was not expecting that. It feels quite warm today.
It's gorgeous!
So this is Bandaiatami eki,
and we're heading to the hotel, but first
I heard there's an ashiyu at the station so I want to check that out.
I've only been to one ashiyu before, maybe two,
but I was always wearing tights, so, I couldn't do it.
Today I don't have tights on, so let's go do some ashiyu.
Check it out!
It looks so warm!
There's steam coming off of the water. Okay, let's try it guys.
This is so pretty with the snow in the background.
Ooo, it's so hot.
This one's like a nice, warm temperature,
but this area's freaking hot. This is like a hot tub,
or one of those like, intense onsen where you can barely get in the water.
This is just perfect.
This is so nice!
I could stay here all afternoon. Like bring my laptop do some editing.
This is so relaxing.
From the hot spring area you can see
Marumori hatsudensho,
or, "Marumori power plant,"
which was constructed in 1921,
and has become a modernized heritage building.
I just arrived at the hotel!
So, the name of the place I'm staying is
Hana no Yu.
Wow, it's really big!
I can't believe how gorgeous this city is.
It's so pretty with the snow everywhere! The view is just so pretty, guys.
So this hotel actually has 30 baths that you can go in,
and the website just looked amazing, so I cannot wait to check them out.
We're gonna go inside now and see what kind of baths they have.
So I'm just inside the changing room area right now
So what you do is you take off all your clothes here -
gotta be naked when you go in the onsen.
I'll be wearing a towel today, just for filming purposes,
but when you actually come here and enter the onsen,
gotta be naked.
The air's pretty chilly, so sitting out here
in this nice, warm bath,
looking at the snowy garden, is just perfect.
Ok, I need to show you guys something really cool-
If you're anything like me,
and you don't feel 100% comfortable being naked in front of a bunch of strangers,
and you find it hard to relax, it's okay.
They have something for you here. They have this little
hidden onsen area, where you
can hide away from everybody in your own little private nook,
and not worry too much.
They have an interesting bath behind me here,
It's called "tachi panashi (?) yu,"
and that means you stay standing up, you don't sit down.
And it says you have to be 140 centimeters tall.
Luckily, I make that mark, so let's go in.
It's so deep!
I've never been in an onsen that's this deep.
It feels so strange.
Usually when you sit down it comes up to about this level.
Okay, I'm up on the tenth floor now,
and they actually have an onsen that has a beautiful view from up here.
So we're just gonna go in there and check that one out.
I'm not gonna go inside, but let's go film it.
There's another set of baths over on the other side here.
Oh cool!
Wow!
Oh this is so neat!
Check out these baths, they have little benches in them.
And if getting in the bath with other people is just
totally not your thing, you're not into it,
they also have these private rooms
that you can rent out all by yourself if you like, or with a partner,
or with a couple of your friends - whatever you like
Alright, so I'm just about to have lunch,
and they prepared this amazing meal.
It's huge.
There's a little bit of everything,
and they have my favorite, the yuba and -
let me show it to you guys -
the yuba and konyaku sashimi.
I always look forward to this one when I stay at youkan and hotel.
They always prepare it, and it's so delicious.
After an amazing lunch
I went on a little tour of the area around the hotel,
and we discovered this giant skating rink.
I've never seen such a large skating rink.
It was pretty amazing.
By the time we got back to the hotel,
it was time for dinner, an I got to borrow
this cute little yukata to wear for the rest of the evening.
And then I went downstairs to the dining area for
a huuuge buffet dinner.
There was so much stuff to choose from.
It was all made from fresh, local veggies,
and I really really enjoyed it.
Just getting back to my room now. We just finished dinner
It was so delicious. The vegetables were so fresh,
and crisp, and
it was yummy.
So, tomorrow we need to wake up at 4:00 a.m.,
because, there's this really beautiful lake nearby,
and apparently if you go there before the sun rises,
you can see lots of swans, and it looks very beautiful.
But, they're not there all the time,
so I can't promise that we'll be able to see the swans,
but if we go before the sun rises, that's our best chance,
so we're gonna wake up at 4:00 a.m.
I think we're gonna leave the hotel just after 5:00,
take a little drive over to the lake, and see if we can find some swans.
So, I'm gonna give you guys a quick tour of my room,
show you what it looks like,
and then I'm gonna go to sleep right away. Super early.
So you walk in here and take your shoes off.
To the left we have the washroom,
and over here, they have a completely separate room,
for doing like your makeup in the morning, brushing your teeth.
There's a little fridge right here with some drinks that you can purchase.
Now for the bedroom!
So this is a "washitsu."
Japanese-style room.
So I'll be sleeping on a futon.
They have some extra futon in the closet here.
So if you're like me, and you like a really big, comfy bed,
you can use all your futon, if you like,
and just make like a giant bed for yourself,
so, I might build that later.
Nice full-length mirror. You can check your outfit in the morning.
And,
over here is my favorite part!
I love washitsu because they always come
with this cute little Japanese tea set,
and then they always give you some kind of
traditional sweets to eat with your tea.
It's dark now,
but in the daytime, I had a very beautiful view out the window
of the snowy hills.
So nice.
Unfortunately can't really see much right now,
but I promise you it's beautiful.
There's a closet here to put your clothes
And that's about it.
It's very spacious. The futon is super comfy!
I can't wait to go to sleep.
They also have luxury rooms with massage chairs,
and your own personal, outdoor bath.
And you can also get western style rooms with beds, if that's what you prefer.
Ok I'm gonna say good night here,
and I will see you guys bright and early tomorrow morning.
Good night!