Cottage Party at Lake Inawashiro

Today is the "Coming of Age" holiday in Japan where everyone turning 20 this year dresses up for a big ceremony to celebrate becoming an adult. The girls are gorgeous in the multicolored, flowered kimonos withe hair whisked up into loose buns and hanging curls. Because it's winter, and especially windy in Koriyama, many of them have fur shawls, usually dyed in a color to coordinate with their kimono.

Some friends of mine decided to hold a big birthday party out at a cottage near Lake Inawashiro. I think it had more to do with the number of winter birthdays, and the fact it was a long weekend, versus an actual Coming of Age celebration. (Everyone I know is over 20.) We left around 8pm Sunday in Kame-chan's car. No one knew exactly where we were going, and since we were driving in the dark it felt really long, but it only took about an hour to get there. Lake Inawashiro is in the mountains, and it's really amazing how quickly the scenery changes. Snow was piled up all along the road, and in the fields it looked like a solid layer of crystallized sugar. I never knew why some people used glitter for fake snow, but even in the moon like the snow sparkles like pixie dust!

There were about 25-30 people at the cottage. Though, when I say cottage, I mean a 2 story loft house near the ski resort with a kitchen, dining room, 3 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. It's like the places I've gone with my family when we use the time share in winter. There was, of course, drinking, eating, and exchanging gifts (we all brought a 500 yen gift and answered trivia to decide the order of picking a gift).

After the beer and wine made us feel all toasty and warm, Pete called for a snowball fight. Only about 7 of us went out, and even after I was told how to make a snowball I couldn't do it. I think the snow was too powdery for everyone, because quite soon chucks of packed snow from the side of the road were flying through the air. At some point someone got the bright (I say this sarcastically) idea to play "Push the girl in the snow" and I was tackled at least 4 times and thrown to the ground, where I was almost buried by snow each time. Luckily, some of the guys inside decided all of us outside were an enemy troop coming to steal the beer. Attention quickly turned from shoving me down to ducking packed snow from the balcony. The guys were pretty good at throwing snow back, but I wasn't so I climbed under the balcony to see if I could get a better shot. I had to retreat and roll down the hill (which I'm pretty sure was really bushes covered in snow). Needless to say, by the time I went inside it looked as though I had been swimming. Snow was caked on my jeans and gloves until the next morning.

Back inside, most people went to bed by 10, but those of us who stayed up late drank more, danced to techno music, and eventually pulled out all the futons and blankets and found a place to sleep. Many people got up early to go to the slopes, but it took a while for me to get up. I've never been much of a morning person, and Monday morning I was extra tired. We had to be out of the cottage by 10, so we packed up and hit the road. My car (Kame-chan, her bf Alesandro, Lisa, and Pete) decided to go to breakfast and then to an onsen (pronounced own -sen). Many of you who party hard know that after you leave a bar or club it's common to stop for a bite to eat to help stanch the alcohol. Many popular places are Taco Bell, IHOP, or Denny's. Guess where we go in Japan to help that hang over - Denny's! No, I'm not kidding. We went to Denny's for breakfast.

After Denny's we drove to Bandai Atami, a city famous for onsens. Onsens are really relaxing, but it's very Japanese. I wish they had them in the USA, but I don't know if it'd go over very well. There's so much to say about a trip the onsen, so I'll just have to write a separate blog for it one day. Now I'm back home, and still exhausted. I'll probably call it an early night.