Family Fun Day Experiencing the New Way of Cycling in Komono Town
My name is Isis Akemi Muto, from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
I’ve been living in Mie Prefecture, Japan, for the past 22 years. Although I have been living in Mie for a long time, I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know much about the prefecture I live in.So, recently, my husband and I started doing some day-trips around Mie.
For our 1st destination,we headed to Komono town. This is the 2nd time I’ve been to Komono town, so there were plenty of things to discover and I’m excited to share our experience from this fun family day with you all.
Komono is located in the mountains which means you will constantly be in contact with nature. Once you get there, you can’t help but be amazed by the gorgeous view of the mountains, no wonder so many hikers from all over Japan come to hike one of its famous mountains, Mt. Gozaisho.
(Caption:theJapanese decoration of ryokan is so charming and unique)
Kiboso hotel is famous for its beautiful view from the onsen, however, since I have never been to an onsen before, this time we decided to use their hot air bath facility”radon-yoku”. Maybe not wearing any clothes in an onsen is the reason I’ve never been to one but in this facility, we changed our clothes into robes. Before entering the room, we had to have a quick checkup. The room is divided between female and male, and as soon as I stepped inside, I felt the heat, I thought I was going to be out of breath but I remembered that in moments like this, I just need to relax, calm down and breathe, and it worked. It was good to be there, relaxing and forgetting about the world for at least 20 minutes.
Back to the main building, we relaxed on the balcony where we laid on a hammock and appreciated the beautiful view of the mountains and the cute heart shaped pond.
(Caption: Relax in hot air bath facility”radon-yoku” and lobby)
What is a "Michi no Eki"?
And against our will, our fun day was coming to an end, but of course, we couldn’t go home without stopping by a souvenir shop. Buying souvenirs for friends, coworkers, and family is a cultural thing and an important tradition in Japan. This time, we went to “Michi no Eki”. At first, I thought “Michi no Eki” was a souvenir shop next to a train station, since “eki” means train station, and then I learned that it’s the name of the roadside station designated by the government, so that people can rest! I’ve been using their services for years and I just found out that this is how it’s called. Well, it’s never too late to learn something new right?! I got curious about how many of these roadside stations we can find and, as of July 2020, there are 1,180 “Michi no Eki” along the roads and highways in Japan.
(Caption:Michi no Eki Komono)
“Michi no Eki” sells different types of souvenirs and promotes local tourism, selling local food, crafts, and sweets. Some of the sweets are made of their local product so, in “Michi no Eki Komono”, they use their famous leek, “Makomo”, and the souvenir packaging sometimes has their local mascot on it, “Komoshika”, an adorable Komono’s deer with antlers made of “Makomo”. We bought some sweets and tried the “Makomo bar” which resembles ice cream, and it was delicious! It actually tasted like tea.
Today was a wonderful day and I’m glad that I could spend it with my husband and youngest son. Japan has so many beautiful places to explore and I’m looking forward to exploring more and more.