For quarter break I went to Yufuin which is only a forty minute bus ride from Beppu. I went with two friends from my Japanese class. In Beppu it was pretty warm and I was dying even in a t-shirt but in Yufuin, a quiet mountain town, it was pretty chilly and I was glad I brought my light sweater. The leaves are starting to change color finally! I visited here before and wrote a post about it back in spring semester.

For lunch we visited a Snoopy Peanuts themed cafe. We got to sit with a giant snoopy stuffed animal and got snoopy themed foods! Definitely a super cute cafe why can't we have these in America. I stopped at the Studio Ghibli store here and bought a cute photo frame as well!

Well I have started my vacation! My computer broke for a little while so I have not been able to post.

So far I have been to Arao to visit my host family, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Okayama, Himeji, Osaka, Kyoto and now I am in Tokyo. I will make blog posts about those when I get home and can put up pictures from my camera!

(Not by car. I am going by slow JR Train and Bus.)

This has been the BEST Saturday since coming to school! The Student Activity Group took us to Yufuin. It's a small town, very traditional Japanese. It has a beautiful strip of stores and cafes, then a beautiful shallow lake at the end.

It's hard to describe in words how beautiful this town was, so I will do it with pictures!

Here is the main strip. There are many stores, restaurants and cafes on it. Most have handmade goods such as pottery, clothing, wood and glass. There were many art stores as well. Everything was traditional and cute! There were also touristy stores of course, as well as specialty stores.

We even saw a Studio Ghibli store! From here I bought a jigsaw puzzle that I will later make and frame. I also bought a key chain and a pin for my dad! (That I will send when I am not lazy. <3 )

There was a beautiful garden area with the cutest stores ever, including Kiki's Bakery! The bakery smelled amazing! There were other cute stores such as an Alice in Wonderland themed store, a British store, eco store and even a small petting zoo.

Tempura Soba: Deep fried
lotus root/eggplant/shrimp in
soba noodles! So good!

Next we had lunch at a traditional style restaurant. Meaning, you sit on cushions on the ground. I got tempura soba! That little flower thing is actually a fish cake.

Little Fishes

BIG FISHES

We then got eaten by fish! These little fish eat the dead skin off of your feet and legs and leave them soft and smooth. I think people just go because it's ticklish and fun!!

Lake Kirinko

Click To Enlarge

Click To Enlarge

After the fish, we visited a 神社（じんじゃ）[Jinjya] which is a shrine! Jinjya means shrine. It was at a beautiful shallow lake named Lake Kirinko. We all tried it and took pictures and played a name game to get to know each other better.

Classy

Then, we had free time to walk around before having to go home. There were many themed stores. There were many CAT themed stores that played music of cats meowing and it was just purrfect.

Here are some more photos:

When these umbrellas get wet, they reveal
little sakura blossoms!

Two of my favorite things. Cats and Burgers.
Not mixed.

We got honey soft serve ice cream here! So good!

These cats are cooler than me.