Kyoto was a really nice city with a lot of history. Visually, the downtown area was like a mini Tokyo. It was really humid while we were there but I spent the day visiting a few more shrines, temples, and a castle. I met a very nice couple dressed in their traditional kimonos and realized that they were just as excited to take a picture with me as I was to take a picture with them (I also needed the photo for our Amazing race game).
When we got back to Kobe that evening, I had one mission in mind-Kobe Beef. Mission accomplished!! OMG, I can’t even begin to describe how DELICIOUS it was. I now know why it costs between 6,000 and 10,000 Yen per plate. I tried capturing the moment on camera, but trust me when I say that the pictures don’t do it any justice. BTW, the pouty face was my expression to my very last bite ):
For my final day in Japan, I decided to hike Mt. Rokko and participate in a public bath. There were about 15 of us on the hike and it took about 4 hours to complete. We got to do the hike with a local Japanese hiking club. It was really hot and humid and the hike was really intense. I must have sweated out 5,000 calories after all of that hiking.So next came the public bath. I never really imagined participating in one of these. Prior to today they were something that you read about in history class. BTW, if you don’t know what a traditional Japanese public bath house is, you might want to try Googling it before reading on. Talk about a true cultural experience!
Because it was a Sunday, the bath house was packed. After we put our shoes in a locker and purchased our entry ticket (650 Yen) from the vending machine, we proceeded upstairs while the men proceeded downstairs. Once I got up to the women’s area, there were two rooms-an undressing room with lockers, and then the actual bath and shower room. The undressing room was packed with about 25-30 naked women, undressing, dressing, socializing, etc and totally comfortable in the nude. At that point, I had no idea what I was in for next. So, being the only ones clothed (and sticking out like a sore thumb because we were the only white, English speaking people in the bath house), we stripped down, put our clothing in a locker, and proceeded through the sliding door and into the bath area. As if we didn’t already stick out, it was pretty obvious that we were totally out of our comfort zones as we were all sure to keep our towels close to our bodies. In the bath room there were about 50-60 more naked Japanese women. Now it is important to mention that there is a rigid order of operation that we figured out as we went along. First we had to go to the washing area and scrub ourselves down for about 15 minutes until we were “clean enough” to enter one of the baths. This area consisted of a number of faucets all in a row along the perimeter of one side of the room. When a faucet opened up, you take a seat and begin scrubbing. You can then rinse off with the removable nozzle. After our 15 minutes were up, we were ready to enter the bath. There were 3 large baths to choose from, one was hotter than the next. We all chose to go into the largest of the three which was supposedly the coolest. That was a very good decision considering that the water must have been 95 degrees F. It was a mucky orangy-brown color (minerals that are supposed to be good for your body). I didn’t last more than 7 minutes in the bath before I felt light headed, over heated and had to get out. Eventually we all got out, got dressed, and left feeling like a new group of women. I can confidently say that we (the 5 female students and myself) all have a special bond now. While cameras were prohibited in the bath house, we decided to take a fully clothed group photo outside of the bath house to commemorate the event. Now that’s a cultural experience! 
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