When You're the Only Blonde in Town...

...you tend to get invited to a lot of stuff. Okay, maybe the color of my hair isn't the only reason (and Lord knows that I will not be revealing my natural hair color any time soon) but being one of two foreigners in town really has its perks.


First of all, everyone knows who I am and what I'm doing here. The redhead in town is gone and this blonde chick who is a past Garlic Queen is here now...must be the new CIR. The majority of people in town know my name, where my apartment is and what I eat for meals at home (that's not an exaggeration...they're a very observant people at the grocery store). It isn't uncommon for me to be stopped in the street and have a lengthy conversation that is entirely in Japanese (one thing they have yet to realize is that I still can't speak/understand the language) and in the same conversation be given a gift, usually in the form of some kind of food. Now let me take a moment and remind you that I am not living in Tokyo. This is Takko: the city...eh, town.. of about 7,000 people (depending on where you're getting that information) so we're not talking about a metropolis here. Every CIR for the past 18 years or so has had similar experiences, so I am definitely not alone in this. It is truly like living in a fishbowl; as we swim in circles going about our daily life, people are watching our every move whether we can feel the stares or not and really, they're just curious.


I realize that I have yet to tell you the perks of being a blonde foreigner in the country of brunettes (besides being given omiyage on your way home from the post office). About three weeks ago, there was a change of staff in the Garlic Center (yes, Takko has a Garlic Center...I feel like that deserves a post of its own). One of my new coworkers, five minutes after she met me, told me that her friend wanted to invite me to their cabin for the weekend. My first thought: Wow! That's incredibly nice of them..yet random. Keiko filled me in a bit more and told me that past CIRs and ALTs have spent weekends with this family as well and so I thought, Oh, well that's good. She goes on to say that they enjoy the company of foreigners...women foreigners and so I thought, Um...what? About a week later I received a phone call from an unknown number and spoke with Maiko san, whom I've never met. I found out later that she used to live in Takko, she visited Gilroy 7 years ago during the Garlic Festival and she now works at an elementary school in Gonohe. She gave me the dates of the trip (August 21st and 22nd), told me we'd be going to her family friend's cabin (who turn out to be the town dentist and his wife) and to bring some beer. Excellent. I penciled in the dates and didn't think about it again until a week before.


T-minus two days until departure. I received another phone call with more details: pick up at 3 and 30 minutes; do you have yukata?; bring a towel...we will go to onsen. Oh okay...wait wait wait WHAT? Onsen?? (For those of you not in the know, do not fear. I will not neglect to give you details of my experience) I wouldn't say that I went into panic mode necessarily, but this addition to the agenda did nothing to calm my nerves of spending the weekend with strangers.

Me presenting Janice with
her first place prize
almost one year ago!

The big day finally arrived and at 3 and 40 minutes, my ride knocked and rang the doorbell. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I would not be the only foreign guest this weekend; Maiko san introduced me to Janice, an ALT in Gonohe (a town not that far from Takko). As the only people there that spoke fluent English, we learned quite a bit about each other: Janice is from Korea, but lived in the US when she was young and returned there for college. She's about to start her second year of JET and even though she wouldn't say, she's fluent in Japanese. It turns out that not only did she go to last year's Garlic and Beef Festival, but she was the first place winner at Ninniku Sumo (Garlic sumo competition...it was precious) and so we've met before. It was like a little two minute reunion during our car ride to the cabin. The three of us chatted about this and that, but Janice and I were mostly curious about where we were going; all Maiko san had to say was this: "Be selfish. Do not hold back. We are party animals." Well said and point taken.

Cabin no Noriage san

An hour and fifteen minutes later, we arrived in Appi in Iwate-ken (the prefecture southeast of Aomori). I wasn't quite sure what to expect of a Japanese cabin, but this particular one, along with all of its neighbors was definitely the quintessential cabin. It had that feeling of "we're out in the woods but comfort is still our main thing" and I thank God for that.

Our digs for the weekend

We had barely set our things down before we were rushed off to the onsen. I was instructed to bring a towel and 500円...and that was it. We entered the changing room where we were to disrobe and leave our things. I did as I was told, utilizing my trusty dorm skills of changing with a towel wrapped around me but before I could skip into the onsen room, I was told no towels. It was time to bare it all. Getting that over with as soon as I could, I quickly ran into my next hurdle while rinsing off. Before entering the hot spring bath, you must wash your body so you don't infect the water, since it's all shared. So essentially I was to take a shower. My issue was that I didn't want to wash my hair...I had already washed it that day and quite frankly, I didn't want to have to deal with blow drying it again. After going back and forth about it a million times during my repetitive body washing, I decided to throw it up in a high bun and not let it touch the water.


And finally, the moment arrived. We went to the outside onsen and soaked in the mineral water which, by the way, is very good for your skin and important for beauty. Oh damn...how have I been able to manage all these years in the US? ;) I kid, I kid...it was very nice and relaxing but seeing that it was still rather warm and humid outside in general, sitting in the hot spring for too long would no longer be enjoyable. As Janice said, don't go too hardcore on your first time.

Left to right: Me, Janice, Maiko,
Noriage san and another guest

After another rinse off (this time using the soap made from the minerals in the water), we headed back to the cabin for Japanese barbecue and lots of beer. Maiko san is very skilled in the art of kimono and was sweet enough to not only put our yukatas on for us, but she also showed us how to properly fold them when we weren't wearing them. Janice got an obi sash lesson, but Maiko san said that I could "learn next time"...yea, I don't want to overwhelm myself. Have you seen those obi sashes??

Beer, wine, beef...oishiiii

After a very filling dinner of beer and wine with a side of food, we headed to the resort down the road to catch the end of the hanabi (firework) show. We literally caught the end of it...it finished as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, but of what we saw, it was pretty impressive. I believe they told us that they shoot off 1,000 fireworks every night, but if they're going at a continuous rate, 1K doesn't last that long.

Chairo chan...sweet pupper-roo!

Throughout dinner, everyone got to know each other. Well, they mostly got to know me...what do I do for fun? What's my favorite Japanese food? Do I like beer? Well, I'm sure that was a rhetorical question. Anyway, they got the scoop on my interests, my life in America, my love life..everything. Due to my lack of Japanese language abilities, I was unable to reciprocate my curiosity in the interest of keeping Janice sane...I didn't need her translating the ENTIRE time. What I learned of Noriage san (the people whose cabin we were staying in) through my limited Japanese and a bit of translation: he is the town dentist and if I were to ever run into a tooth emergency, he's my guy; she is a medical doctor...literally, Maiko san continued to call her "medical sensei"; they are very generous people that enjoy the company of foreigners (past guests of theirs include past CIRs Sarah and Patrick and past ALT Lindsay, I'm sure among others); and they have a fabulous dog: Chairo chan.

Add 3-4 feet of snow and I'd
be able to reach the counter!

Beware of KUMAS!

We returned to the Appi resort area the next day to walk around and experience "green season". The area is most popular as a ski resort and after seeing pictures of it with snow, I understand why! After taking a gondola ride to the peak of the mountain, we had a chance to see the absolutely breathtaking panoramic views of the entire area.

Appi Resort...for all seasons!

Imagine this covered in snow...
can't wait!

Looking towards the East...
hello America!

A gondola ride back down the mountain later, we took a short walk to the Appi Ranch (where they store the farm animals and give you the chance to partake in voluntary milking....yea, we didn't know either) and then had lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in the hotel. The entire resort reminded me of America circa 1970s...the colors are bold, the cartoon characters are cheesy and there is this warm, friendly air about the place that just screams "I'm on vacation!!!". I couldn't wait to come back for the winter and lucky me, I received an invitation to return whenever I could. Impression well-made, I guess!

Appi Ranch

What the hell you say to me??!

Overall, I had a great time. I made new friends in town and out of town, I saw a completely different side of Japan...the vacation side, and I was out of my apartment the entire weekend. My first onsen experience was nothing less than interesting and now I know what to expect; I'm certainly not opposed to trying it out once again. So with my "happy" weekend in Appi completed, I can only look forward to the first snowfall when I will be able to schwoop schwoop schwoop down the slopes!

I think my new calling in life is to
proofread English text on t-shirts...

In other news, I hit my 2 month mark of living in Japan this weekend. Part of me says "Wow, two months already?" and the other part of me says "How many more days until October??"