A trip to Kinugawa Onsen

At the beginning of my winter break back in December, my girlfriend and I went to Kinugawa Onsen. As you may be able to tell by the name, it is a hot spring resort which is located in Nikko in Tochigi prefecture. To give you an idea, it is about a two-hour train trip from Tokyo. 

This place is a hot spring town, but the sad thing about Kinugawa Onsen is that it used to be much livelier compared to now. Back in the economic boom in the 80s, money was flowing to the extent that even the middle class could afford to spend on luxury - until the 90s hit. Unfortunately, it hit Kinugawa Onsen hard.

While it is not obvious from the central area, you can see many abandoned hotels and buildings as you head away from the city center, and as my girlfriend and I walked from our hotel to the convenience store, you could see them. I was very fascinated about them and wanted to take pictures, but my girlfriend would not let me, citing it was dangerous.

However, from what I have read at the Curious Atlas,  it's not that hard to enter the abandoned hotels, with at least a few people having apparently entered inside to explore Kinugawa Onsen's abandoned buildings.

As I said before, it is about a two hour train trip from Tokyo, and it's not like there aren't other hot springs that are much closer, more popular, or still thriving. However, Kinugawa has many scenic views, and from our hotel room, we had a really nice view of the river. The hotel we were staying had a public onsen, and private baths available for booking. While my girlfriend went to the public onsen first, we booked for the private bath for later in the evening.

The next day, we checked out of our hotel, and had a look around the city center to buy some souvenirs and get some lunch before we headed back to Tokyo. 

I did enjoy the quietness and scenery, and it was nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle of office life in Tokyo, but I can't help but wonder how people can live out there. There were a few convenience stores around, but I could not spot a single supermarket, so I can only assume that people drive the next city over. Being a rural area, if you did plan to live in Kinugawa Onsen, you would definitely need a car to get around. 

If you ever do have a chance to head out to Nikko, I would recommend a one night stay out in Kinugawa Onsen. It is a great change of pace compared to the city of life.

 

Japan extending the Winter Break

I came across this article recently.

Naturally there are pros and cons for this. One of the pros being long break time during Christmas and New Year instead of the usual few days most people get during that time. Also, the theory is that by extending the holiday period, the crowds will be smaller and scattered around all the major locations associated with the New Year festivities (such as shrines and temples) over a longer period of time, reducing the spread of the virus.
However, the con for this is that while in theory the scattered crowds could work, the flip side is that there could possibly be big crowds but rather than being scattered, it will be big crowds everyday, increasing the risk of spreading the virus (not to mention the flu during this period). Another con is that for many people who are on contracts and only get paid for days they work (people like me), it means we get less pay than normal. This especially irks me, because I get paid a handsome amount, as any unused paid leave days at the end of the year will be added to my December paycheck. 

I am torn on this, as I would like a little more time off, as I only got two weeks off during the summer break (though I did like getting paid for August for once), so two weeks in December/January would be a nice change. On the other hand, I also like getting paid more than normal during this time. Admittedly though, due to this pandemic, my options on where to go and what to do are limited. I am still hesitant to go to Tokyo during this time, even if my girlfriend goes there once a week for work. Though it would be a good opportunity to check out some of the shrines around my city, especially one that is literally right next to one of my junior high schools.

あけましておめでとうございます！

遅れてしまいましたけど、あけましておめでとうございます！ (A bit late, but Happy New Year!)

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted. I will briefly talked about what's been happening, and (hopefully) go into more detail in future posts.

During December, I attended two kindergartens for Christmas-related activities. More specifically, I dressed up as Santa and played with the children. It was a bit daunting at first, but fortunately it was not that hard at all. I went there early with another staff member from my company and met some of the kindergarten staff and principal, and talked about a variety of topics, before getting briefing on what would be happening during the Christmas activities. After the briefing, I finally got into my Santa costume, and got to meet the children at the assembly where I participated in a song with the teachers, helped give out presents, and finally took pictures with all the children. At one of the kindergartens, I was treated to morning tea with some of the staff after finishing the activities, before they gave another gift bag full of snacks and sweets. Since the visit was only for the morning, I went back to my usual elementary schools to resume lessons for the remainder of the day.
In addition, it was winter break from the 23rd of December until the 9th of January. I took this chance to go to Kyoto to visit my girlfriend and spend time with her for Christmas and New Year. Having been 4 months since I last saw her, it was great to spend time together, even if only for less than 2 weeks.

The other bit of news that has happened is that due to my employer not winning the contract for Kamisu, all the company's Kamisu ALTs will have to move out at the end of the semester. I am trying to weigh up my options at the moment, between staying on with the company and seeing what other city they will offer me; or jump ship and apply for the company that won the Kamisu contract to stay in Kamisu and hope that I will be allowed to continue working at my current schools. At the moment, my coordinator is checking on other positions available, after knocking back a position in Kitaibaraki (after finding out it's right next to Fukushima). It seems that whatever I decide to choose, I will at least have a new 1 year contract with a company, so I don't have to worry about uncertainty of employment.

I hope to go into greater detail for my time in Kyoto, and about my future in Kamisu in a future post. Until then, at least you know that I am still alive (laughs).