Yabu Weekend Adventure

This post has been a long time coming.  Most of the photos were taken by the tour organizers and graciously mailed to me afterward. As with the last blog I will just be posting highlight photos in the blog, and the whole album at the top here.



Last month on August 22nd and 23rd I ventured out to Hyogo prefecture to the mountain town of Yabu. The city's tourism department had decided to organize a weekend trip bundle, and reached out to JETs to be the guests on the trial run. And what a great trip it was.

The trip itinerary for the weekend.

We started the day by going canyoning. I am surprised I have never heard of it. To go canyoning, you don a wetsuit and hike, climb, slide, and swim down a river. We even got to jump off a few waterfalls during the trek. It was an absolute blast! Definitely near the top of my favorite outdoor activities now.

After canyoning we stopped for a quick and delicious lunch of hamburger steak. Much like how we Americanize food from Italy and China, Japan changes American food quite a bit themselves. Hamburger steak is a very common meal at diner style restaurants, and it is good. They just get rid of all the fluff food like lettuce and bread, leaving just delicious, juicy meat!

After lunch we continued out outdoor excursions to a notable hike to see the Tendaki waterfalls.  There are 7 waterfalls, which increase in majesty as you work your way up. The last waterfall was truly a sight to behold at 98 meters high.

Afterwards we checked into the lodge where we were staying for the evening, where I captured this great shot of Yabu.

That evening we went down to a nearby river where we were able to (try) to catch river fish with our hands. Even with it being an organized event in small blocked sections of the river, the fish were quite difficult to catch. I caught one and quit while I was ahead. It was a fun experience, and now I know why we invented fishing rods.






Afterwards we ate a Japanese style BBQ, which is a lot of fun! It's very much akin to eating fondue but with a small grill instead of a pot. Everyone sits around grilling veggies, meat, and the fish we caught while chatting.  Our tour guides spared no expense either, and broke out some stellar high grade beef to cook! I believe it was Tajima beef, which is the best brand in Japan. Kobe beef descends from Tajima. Look at that marbling! Absolutely delicious.






That evening we went up to a ski resort for stargazing.  As we rode the lifts up I saw they have the plastic grid used to ski during the summer. The grids lead to ramps which launch people into pools! I will have to make my way back to try this out next summer.   After we got off the lift and hiked a bit, the resort shut off all of their lights which gave us a great view of the sky. Unfortunately for most of our time there it was cloudy, but as we left the sky cleared, offering a fantastic view only mountain towns can offer.

Driving up to the lodge.

We wrapped up the evening hanging out in the lodge and socializing.

The next day we went to a silk weaving business. This particular one was very famous for being the first place to record and publish methods for weaving silk.  They had exhibits of the materials used which were quite cool to see. We also got the chance to make little finger puppets using the silk shells from silkworms. Mine turned out okay, but the cat just kept getting creepier the more I doodled.








Afterwards we went the Big Labo, an old high school that was transformed into a recreational learning center. Definitely one of the coolest repurposing ideas I have seen. They changed the school kitchen into a cafe, where we hand made pizzas. They ended up being delicious, and to top it off they were GF because the lead chef wanted to use rice flower since Japan is known for growing rice, not wheat.


At that point we ended our official tour and all parted ways. It was a truly fantastic trip to Yabu, and I hope I can join another group sometime. I would definitely be up for a second go at this weekend.




.....but wait there's more!!!! One of the JETs, Willy, was nice enough to offer me a ride back towards Tottori. On our way back we were driving past a giant temple on a mountain. We checked the time and realized I could still easily make my train if we stopped by, so we did just that. It was an impressive temple! It was newly renovated, and contained three giant Buddhas. It also had a great view of the valley it overlooked. The scale of this temple was unbelievable, I haven't felt so dwarfed by architecture since I visited the Vatican.   Definitely worth the detour.