The New Iwade Onsen & Rinku Town

This past weekend I had some local adventures. On Saturday I traveled by bicycle to the new Iwade onsen. It is massive. They have a massage room, a barber shop, a restaurant, steam rooms, suana, and a gigantic bath area. I had feared checking out the place because it's in my town and I just couldn't bear the idea of seeing students while I was naked. In the end it was fine. I didn't spot any students. I did however get a massage. Overall I like it however it was extremely busy. There were maybe 300 woman bathing at one time. I can't stress how gigantic it is. I still rank Nohan Onsen (another onsen about 30 minutes away by train) as the best just for it's peace and quiet and low attendance level. Pictured above are Hannah (wearing the scarf I made her) and Sarah; enjoying food before the bath. Pictured here is the food that I ordered. They like to sell set meals. This is a tempuradon set. It was yummy and cheap. See the sauce in the middle....you dip the noodles into it. Pretty delish!

On Sunday I ventured to Rinku Town Premium Outlets with Dan from Koyasan. This outlet mall is pretty nice and not very far away. The name "Outlet Mall" is somewhat deceiving though; some of the stores aren't really what we in the states would think of as an outlet. Outlets to me have cheap deals. Many of the stores don't offer any sort of discount, however they do sell American sized clothing. Stores include, The Gap, Bath & Body, Adidas, Kate Spade (not outlet priced), Coach (not outlet priced), BCBG (surprisingly not outlet priced), and Tornado Mart (pictured above). Thought my family in Oklahoma would appreciate that one.

Pictured above are some very lovely shoes being sold in the Sketchers store. You've got to be kidden me! Who would actually wear these? I would love to see someone walk around in these. Dan ducked away when I took this picture, admist many customers. The store was pretty crowded, however I claim gaijin.Pictured (sort of) is the tail end of a Lambroughini. It was bright yellow and had the name, Lucifor, down the entire side. Pretty funny. Overall good weekend staying local.