Arima Onsen, Kobe, Japan

I love Onsen, - "Hot Spring." There are a lot of great hot spring locations in Japan.

My home city, Kobe, in Japan, is also famous for Arima Hot Spring.

When I went to Arima at frist time with my father, I was like 6 or 7 years old. I still remember the brown colored and salty taste hot spring there. Becuase of its color of the hot spring, it is called "Kinnoyu" which means golden water. I was the child runing around all over the place at the hot spring in Arima, so I slipped and felt down very easily since the floor was really slippery due to the incrustations of the Arima hot spring.

After I take Kinnoyu, my body always warm for a while and helped me sleep well. Also, the quality of the water helps my skin clear, smooth and soft.

If you are planning to come to Japan and want to try good hot spring, check it out my memorable Arima Hot Spring. Here is the good information which I found at YouTube!

Special Thanks to my teacher

Today, I finished my social media & web2.0 class. I started my blog because it was part of my assignment...Mmmm yes it was the reason at the beginning of the class.

As time passed, I began to realize how valuable knowledge I was learning from the class.

Peter, one of my influential & greatest teachers in my life, made always me laugh (in a good way) and learn so many interesting stuff during his class.

Because of him, I have started my new exciting jouney - "blog." Also, I have started thinking what I can do for my future as I use this web 2.0 and social media technology.

Again, Thank you Peter... I will try to keep up with my blog.

Keep in touch.

Kimono + dress

I love kimono because I have dreamed about it since I was a kid, but how about people from other countries? Do they like them? Are they even interested in trying to wear kimono?

Although they are interested in Kimono, most of them probably will never try in their lives... but Why not? No chance? Too expensive? Hard to find? Difficult to wear? ....

I understand that some people don't care about wearing kimono because maybe Kimono is too JAPANESE...

Well, Ok, so if those are the reasons, here is the great news!
There is "Kimono-dress" instead.

Kimono has been influencing the dress designs in fashion industry these days.



Some famous celebrities also wear kimono-dresses , and they look much sexier and feminine.










There are also the shoes made of Kimono fabric.

Although kimono itself could be too cultural for some people, the spirits of Kimono might already have been spreading out and accepted worldwide without cultural boundaries.

* Pictures are from Google images.

Kimono + dog

In Japan, dogs also wear kimono!!

I also bought the cute little yukata for Ai, my dog, of course.

When I went to the summer firework festival, I saw several gods wearing cute little kimono like their owners. Dogs wearing kimono were amazingly cute!

Well, here is the cute example...



(Oh... I miss my dog...)

You can buy dog's kimono at any pet stores in Japan or from online store.

For more information about dog kimono...
http://www.gramercypet.com/DogKimono-JapaneseTraditional.html


* Pictures are from Google image
* Video from YouTube

kimono + kids

There is special years for Japanese kids to enjoy wearing kimono.















We call the children's event as "Shichi-Go-San" in Japanese.

It is a traditional festival cerebrating three and seven year-old girls and five year-old boys.

Parents drees their kids with colorful kimono and take them to the shrines to play for kids' good future health.

I remember that I wore the sky blue kimono with flower prints for my seven year-old cerebration. I felt so proud of myself wearing the kimono, but I still remember that my special Japanese wooden flip flap, called "Geta," was very tiny and hurt my feet. It was cute flip flap, though.

Other than wearing kimono, I also looked forward to eating "Chitose-Ame" which given at a shrine on Shichi-Go-San.

Chitose-Ame is long, thin red and white candy, which symbolizes healthy growth and longevity. The special candy is given in a bag on which has the picture of a crane and a turtle, which represent the symbol of long life.

The candy was only for kids, so I don't remember the taste. However, I still remember that it was irresistible tasty...I believe that still many Japanese kids love eating "Chitose-Ame" at their cerebration.

Shichi-Go-San is one of the cutest children's cerebration in Japan.


More information, you can access to the following line;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichi-Go-San


*Pictures are from Google image

kimono + Green tea Part II

Have you ever seen Wagashi, also called "Neri-mono" before? You can eat it, but before putting it into your mouth, I highly recommend to enjoy the beauty its detailed figures and color!!! You will be amazed!!!

Of course, my most interest part of the Japanese tea ceremony is eating "Neri-mono" which usually comes with Matcha!!!

"Neri-mono" is a traditional Japanese snack, often served with tea. It is made of natural ingredient mochi rice, red bean paste, and sometimes fruits.

"Neri-mono" can be any shapes... such as flowers, animal and gold fish in the water( like th epicture below)??? ...etc

The tastes is not too sweat but delicate. Perhaps, I would like to say that it tastes like "Japanese." You can eat "Neri-mono" anywhere, but especially in Kyoto. I would like to enjoy eating "Neri-mono" with Matcha at the outside in Kyoto.

I belieave that Wagashi refrects the part of Japanese culture and beauty.

There is more information about wagashi here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagashi

*Picture is from google image.

Kimono + Green tea (抹茶)

The Japanese tea ceremony is very famous part of Japanese culture!

Unfortunately, unlike my mother, I haven't had chance to learned the traditional tea ceremony. Although I don't know the tea ceremony etiquette, I have enjoyed its rich and bitter taste of "Matcha,"powdered green tea, since I was a kid.

In Japan, I used to drink "Matcha" at a Japanese restaurant. These day, people can enjoy Matcha anywhere. Well, perhaps it would be better if I could drink Matcha at the special tea ceremony room, though. Well, maybe someday... when I go to Kyoto in Japan.

By the way, the Japanese tea ceremony is also called sadō or chadō, or chanoyu, meaning "hot water for tea" in Japanese. It is a multifaceted traditional activity in which matcha is ceremonially prepared and served.

The Wearing of kimono is associated with many of the movements and components of tea ceremony. Although today it is not uncommon for students to wear western clothes for practice, most will practice in kimono at least some of the time because it is essential to learn the prescribed motions properly.

Reese Witherspoon, my one of the favorite actresses, also enjoyed the Japanese tea ceremony as she wore beautiful kimono on her visit in Japan!

More detail information about the Japanese tea ceremony, here is the web site...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony

*Pictures are from Google image, respectively.