Twenty-Seventh Post, Kagoshima Trip/New Yearsお正月🎍

January 2, 2019

I went to USJ again for the last time, just after Christmas. It was still Christmas themed, and my friends and I tried new rides! It was very cold. We left for Kagoshima in the evening. It was very cold in Kyoto, and at a nearby convenience store it started snowing heavily. We only got to enjoy looking at it for a few moments before we started driving the long route to Kagoshima, which by car is around 15 hours! When we woke up, we were still driving but almost there. We saw Kagoshima’s famous active volcano, Sakurajima! It is so big and there’s smoke coming out from the peak of it. 

My host family was greeted by my host moms sister and family, and we stayed at their house for a while while playing board games and talking. Next we left to my host mom’s parent’s house, where we’d be staying for the rest of the visit. It’s a warm big house, on top of an acupuncture office and workplace because her brother is an acupuncturist. 

The next day, we went for a drive up a mountain to a very rich and beautiful hotel. It had a beautiful view of the skyline and Sakurajima. 

We were all in formal clothing so we could take some formal pictures, and my host family was very nice and they included me in some of the photos! We walked around, and afterwards went shopping. 

The following day, we went shopping (again) but for some souvenirs with my host mom and sister. We posed by statues and took lots of photos! There’s a big Ferris wheel ‘kanransha-観覧車’ in Japanese, and it was cool to see! We tried some shaved ice cream, called polar bear ice (I think) and it had fruits, syrups, and cereal in it. It was delicious! I thought it was very busy for winter, but apparently it is a New Years treat in Kagoshima, so no wonder. 

On New Year’s Eve, we prepared for a dinner and had a lot of family over at the house. We talked and ate dinner (which was only Japanese food, of course) and everyone left and went to bed before midnight. No one did a count down, and I’m sure a lot of the reason was because there were young children- but also since the next day would be busy. 

The next day was busy. We woke up and got ready to go to my host moms grandmothers house, where all of the family would meet. We had a meal, and then I got to try a natural outdoor sand bath! I heard it is a specialty in Kagoshima only. Maybe two others in all of japan but I’m so lucky I got to try it! After I went to an onsen for the first time. It was a really cool experience, but I had researched about it before I came to Japan so I wasn’t shocked about not wearing clothing(!) the children (including me) received money お金on New Years, as it’s a tradition in japan! 

Now it is the last day in Kagoshima, tomorrow we will drive back to Kyoto. Then I have two days to pack and go back to Canada! 

Information

There will be a second post for pictures of my time in Kagoshima 

I will probably do two more posts for my blog ~~ 

Thank you