My friend, Vera came to Japan from Europe and visited me in Tohoku district. She speaks Japanese fluently. She learned Japanese at a college for 4 years in her country and studied at a school for about 1 year in Japan. Although I had also studied English for 6 years(junior high and high school), I didn't become good at speaking English. Additionally, I'm struggling to make progress even though I'm studying hard.... Even more surprising, Vera speaks a few languages well. English, german and Slovene, as well as Japanese. I can't quite imagine ever being a good English speaker like her. I think that traveling alone is easy enough for her!
Tsunagi Onsen / Tsunagi Hot Spring
We were supposed to meet at an east ticket gate in
Morioka Station. However, when I entered the station there wasn't an east gate.... There were only two ticket gates, the north and south gates! When I found her beyond a ticket gate, she was walking around the sign board looking for the east gate. I'm so sorry I got it wrong!
I picked her up and we lost no time heading for Tsunagi Onsen. It located in the west of Morioka City and it's about 20 minutes drive from Morioka station and it's located near Lake Gosyoko. There are lots of hot springs near Morioka City, including Tsunagi Onsen and Tsunagi Onsen is the nearest hot spring from downtown Morioka.
There are many accomodations on the south edge of Lake Gosyoko. We chose one of these accomodations and took a hot spring.
Because it was the weekend, it was a little crowded with hotel guests. However, everyone had gotten out of the bathroom and I had a chance to take a picture!
I love to have a nice long hot spring, however it isn't easy to do in summer! Our cheeks went bright red! Vera was blushed all over her face! She looked like she wasn't used to staying an onsen bath for too long.
left,right:
We felt refreshed, though we were still sweaty after the hot spring.
Iwate-Akita
2007/7
Welcome to Tohoku district 
