food

Travels Through Tochigi

12:52 AM


If you're in the Japanese countryside then you have to try the local soba, it's the law!
At the end of August, my boyfriend and I went on a QUADRUPLE date to the Tochigi hills.

There were four couples - us, three of his high school friends and their girl friends.

Because he went to school in Saitama, I had never met his friends before so I was quite nervous.

I guess that's why I didn't take many pictures at the beginning, but it was a fairly uneventful trip to Omiya station where we met his friends.

Then we drove to Nasu, Tochigi which is where a lot of wealthy people (including one of my bf's friends) have holiday homes in the densely forested mountains.

We arrived around 1am on Saturday morning and went to bed almost immediately.

The next morning was a bit awkward and all my Japanese abandoned me.

Maybe I was just hungry though because I perked up as soon as we hit the local family-run soba house.


And we made short work of the meal.



The restaurant was almost empty so we could enjoy the traditional atmosphere.


It felt like we were in someone's home, so peaceful.


Next we went to play in a waterfall and I spotted this interesting mushroom. It was so big!


One of the other visitors to the waterfall had these cute dogs. Want!


The waterfall wasn't particularly big but it had a kind of magical atmosphere, I loved it!


Boys will be boys and started messing around on the rocks.




Yay, wet t-shirt time!




Eventually, we girls joined in and cameras were abandoned in favour of water fights!


Dinner was, naturally, a barbecue.


This is one of the typical experiences of Japanese youth, barbecuing with your friends out in the countryside.


Until someone gets drunk and knocks over food table!


And when Japanese boys get drunk, they get a bit...gay!


Well, I always think wrestling looks gay!


What could the girls do but watch?

In hindsight I wish I had taken more photos of the house because it really was beautiful.

Like a log cabin but built for rich Japanese people so it had everything you might need.

Although I was nervous about making a good impression, I really enjoyed my time there.

If you watch Japanese dramas, you often see these events where childhood friends go on roadtrips or camping.

It was really fun to do something like that, especially to a part of Japan that I had never been to before.

I can't think of a better way to end the summer!

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23 comments

  1. That looks like fun..! The waterfalls remind me of Akame 48 in Mie, very similar serene atmosphere. Certainly a good way to end the summer..!♥

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  2. Awe, it really does look like something out of a drama! ♥ The atmosphere looks absolutely amazing & the restaurant looks so peaceful & homey ♥
    I lol-ed so much at the 'gay drunk boys,' haha! XD What a perfect weekend!

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  3. That looks really pretty! I wanna visit there one day :D~

    May I ask how you're living in Japan :3? What job do you hold?

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  4. aww looks like its was heaps of fun! ive always wanted to go to one of these~ maybe one day :D

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  5. Yeah, I can already imagine that trip was a lot of fun!! :-)) I wanna join you guys! XDDD

    I'm working in a soba restaurant, so I really like to eat it! That soba you had looks delicious! :-)

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  6. Yeah, Japanese people usually stay strong friends with their high school mates since they don't really have chances to make friends after that haha. It looks like a very fun trip, until the food table was knocked over! Don't ruin the food DX

    And I totally agree about how Japanese guys get together when they are drunk. It's really too touchy feely for us who are used to men never touching each other.

    The waterfall photos are so lovely!

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  7. oh that's such a wonderful place! and maan people do crazy things when they are drunk xD

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  8. They sure do, don't they?!?! Still, it's all harmless fun, we can only enjoy while we're young!

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  9. You hit the nail on the head whith your comment about Japanese people not making new friends beyond their school days. That's why it can be hard for so many foreigners to make friends I guess.

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  10. Maybe we can do something like this next summer when you're here! You're so lucky to work in a soba restaurant! I bet you get to eat delicious food all the time!

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  11. Sure you can! It was so much fun hanging out with you yesterday! <3

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  12. It really was beautiful, I hope you can go there! As for me, I don't like to give out too much personal information online. So I don't mention my real name, job, etc. You can't be too careful these days!

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  13. Yeah! If it's summer it's gotta be a bbq!

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  14. "Gay drunk boys" haha! You know, I'm sure there's a market for pics and videos of this topic. Maybe I should invite them all out again!

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  15. I've never been to Mie, but I guess there are so many beautiful spots like this all over Japan. I want to visit them all!

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  16. I miss visiting lovely places in nature like that. Great photos. And you made me so hungry for soba. (no good Japanese food in Sydney :-(

    lol, I had to laugh at that photo of you girls just staring at the drink men.

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  17. Really? I would have thought there would be nice Japanese food in Sydney because it's a big city. Oh well, at least you have it to look forward to when you come back!

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  18. Yeah, you would think so, right? Unfortunately, even though there are many Japanese restaurants, we've yet to find one with good food. They are usually way overpriced and the quality and flavor not very good. But yes, as you say, that just gives us something to look forward to once we get back to Japan. :-)

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  19. That's too bad, but I suppose it's a good chance to try lots of other kinds of food....like kangaroo!

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  20. That looks like so much fun! I wanna try that one day too! ^-^

    I always thought wrestling looked a tad gay too .__.

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  21. えぇ~!
    その饂飩は美味しいそうぅ~!!
    食べたいですよ!

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  22. I home you can try it! And I think al boys are a little gay, this just gave them a chance to show it ;)

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  23. おいしかったよ!
    いつか栃木のそば食べてくださ~い!☆

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