We're in Aizu, Fukushima at Taki No Yu Onsen
Which literally means hot spring waterfall because there's a waterfall right there
That's why it's so noisy
Can you hear us?
Who's that?
Oh, dang, it's Kris
Oh, hey Kris
Hey
So this is our room
It's a traditional ryokan room with a modern twist
Let's go check it out
Who are you talking to?
This suite is huge and beautiful
Starting off with our Japanese style room
Tatami mats, this is where you can take your dinner if you'd like
And then, the sleeping area
Follow me
It's western style
But there are Japanese style rooms as well
But come over here
Check this out
Do you hear that?
Natural nature sounds
I'm going to sleep well tonight
My favorite little part
I get to creep on Kris while he sleeps
This room comes with a TV so obnoxiously big
We have to put a human model next to it for proportion
Everything is nice here
Look at this tea
It's got this cute leaf
There's a toilet
I'm sure you guys know Japanese toilets come with a lot of functions
so it's a toilet menu here
I get really excited for the bathrooms in ryokans because they have so much product
This one has cleansing wash, another cleansing wash, liquid cleansing
moisture lotion, overnight lotion, another moisture lotion
It's like I'm a diva here
Shower
You shower before you take a bath
Private bath, that is
So peaceful
I guess you know you've been living in Japan for some time
if you find it amusing that you can bathe by yourself
Are you tired of sharing your bath with a dozen old men
Now you can just bathe by yourself
There you go, Kris
Thank you, Kris
Our hotel room has this cool roof
And our room is called mizu no ma
which means water of I don't know (Water suite)
Where are we going, Kasia?
We're going to pick out yukatas
What's a yukata?
A yukata is a simplified kimono
First stop on our trip, Tsurugajo Castle
Castles in Japan are similar in architecture
They generally have a few stories with this upturned roofs
This one is different because it has a red roof
It's the only one in Japan with a red roof
Unlike castles in Europe
castles in Japan are rebuilt every so often because they're built out of wood
which makes then susceptible to damage from wars and earthquakes
Do you like matcha?
I like matcha
So I'm going to have some matcha
Some bitter matcha
There's a tea ceremony room in this castle ground
And you can try the traditional matcha
which is like bitter, goes well with the sweets
Okashi (Japanese sweets)
Are you excited for the tea?
I love the tea, it's my favorite part of castle experiences
or temples
Seperately, the tea is very bitter
and the okashi is very sweet
but together, it's (thumbs up)... the perfect combo
There's a lot to be read and researched about Japanese green tea ceremony
It's not only about drinking tea
It's not only about the tea itself
But it's meditation
What's going on?
We're going to go eat sosu katsu
It's this
Fried pork, it's a local specialty on rice with a lot of sauce
We're ordering the restaurants specialty
The specialty that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ate himself
Although his actually looks like this one
Hmm, maybe I ordered the wrong one
Another specialty of this region is basashi
which is horse meat sashimi
So raw horse meat basically
Cheers
Hmm, it's very tender
The specialty of this restaurant is sauce katsu
It's this huge bowl of rice, cabbage, and fried pork
And the pork is nicely grazed in sauce
And it's got a lot of flavor
Which is, not all Japanese dishes have very strong flavors
because Japanese food is usually pretty mild
So it's pretty special
Oh it's so saucy
it's so saucy
This meal was so good
I love raw meat
10/10
I really love owls
I have an owl tattoo
and I just really...
It kind of looks like this one, maybe this one but skinnier
Not a lot of people say they came to Japan to bathe
when asked the question of why they came to Japan
And I think it's a pretty legitimate answer
It would be give how awesome the bathing culture is
This is the first time for me to be trying a rooftop private bath
And it's so nice
I'm lost for words
It's amazing
I've never been in a private rented bath like this
I've only been in the kind that are in your room
It's like a rooftop bath party
This is easily the most luxurious bathing experience I ever had in Japan
And I've bathed in a lot of places
Hey Kris
Hey
Where are you going?
For dinner
Raw salmon
This sake is made in collaboration between this hotel and a local sake brewer
This here is a kaiseki style meal, kaiseki is a type of Japanese high cuisine
which it's basic foundation is to have a lot of small portions of different dishes
in one meal
So you get to try a lot of flavors
This thing here is koi
which translates to carp
We don't normally eat carp in Japan
This dish is very interesting
Normally when you think sushi, you think fish
But this is a set of sushi with no fish in it
And it's horse meat, raw chicken meat, and beef
Pretty meat (😂)
To add to the night time vibe of this place
they have a storyteller that comes in the evenings
as well as projection mappings
The hoh theatre is located across the river from the ryokan
so you can sit inside the ryokan and watch it
I've never seen a noh theatre like that
It's really super cool
One more thing before I go to sleep
I'm going to enjoy the foot bath
It's really chilly out today, so this is a nice contrast
I had a good sleep, now it's time for breakfast
There's a good selection of Japanese breakfast things
and sausages
and bigos
Is that bigos?
I don't think that's bigos but it looks like bigos
Tiny ramens
Breakfast is buffet style which in Japanese is called viking
There's fresh mochi which you can eat in a selection of four ways
with sesame seed powder, soy powder, red bean paste
That's three sweet ways
and a soup, I actually didn't try the soup one
We're going to go explore the local area
We're going to go see a structure called Sazedo
It's the only wooden structure left from the mid Edo period for mid Edo period enthusiasts
Wow, these trees are so powerful
Good good
There's a bamboo forest
It's the perfect spot for practicing my ninja skills
Oh no, where, where's Kris?
I can't see him
This pogoda is cool
It has character and it looks really... it looks different from other pogodas
It's super funky
So here is the deal with this place
There are two spirals
and they never cross
They just meet at the top
So whoever is going down right now, I won't see them
I wonder who that is
Charly?
Could be Barack Obama
This is the point where the spirals meet
The next one starts right there
I'm really happy I got to see this
I can't remember what they are called but they're these things that don't fall over
I don't know
Do I look good?
Some nice refreshing ramune on this warm day
We're going to go shoots some bows and arrows
Archery, Japanese style
This place is called Nisshinkan
It's an old school for samurai children
for sons of lords
And they came here to get all the samurai skills that they needed
like swordsmanship
spear, archery, Japanese calligraphy, all sorts of stuff
It's really beautiful
(the sound of impressed Japanese)
Nice!
It's cool, it's difficult to aim because you have no sight
so it's just like pfff
I liked it
Iwould say this school is by far the best samurai-themed attraction I've seen
It's a real, old, samurai school
and you get to try the activities
It's really cool
It's not like trying to hard to be cool, it just is
Yeah most of these places in Japan actually try a bit too hard
Ah there are so many fishes
We're going to eat you for Christmas
Let's walk among the samurai land
There are still more baths
The actual public bath
I'm going to go enjoy that now
There's tiny little baths here
It's like I'm cooking in a cup
We loved the sauce katsu don so much today that we wanted to try it again
But we also have another local specialty which is kitakataramen
It's soy based ramen with extra pieces of pork
I just want to point out that this set is called the mini set
This is called mini, this right here
Mini
There is a beautiful lake in the area, it's called Goshiki-numa
Which translates to five colors lake
Have a look why
Can you see all five colors?
I see one...
I see three already, I think
How's the rowing going?
I think we're not moving right now, are we?
We are
You're doing good
Water in this pond is pretty clear
You can see the bottom
Rowing in movies always looks so romantic
But htey always edit out the sound
Kasia, it's a very ro-mantic experience, ey?
It's very ro-mantic.
It's rowwwwwmantic
What's going on?
Everyone here is really excited about the giant koi
To wrap up my stay at this ryokan
I have to say, there are still a ton of amenities I haven't gotten to
Like a doggie bath, which I've literally never seen before
sake tasting, self-serv beer, and there are even waterproof books to read in the onsen
So it's just overall a well-thought out experience
And I loved it
What I specifically like about this place is the sound of the waterfall
that makes you sleep really good
I had a great sleep this night
So this concludes our stay in Taki no Yu
It's a great ryokan in Aizu, in Fukushima Prefecture, highly recommended by The Uwaga Pies
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