Onogawa Onsen

Thursday to Friday, I stayed in a little town of Onogawa Onsen.

"Onsen" means hot springs. Onogawa is named after Ono no Komachi, a legendary woman poet from 1200 years ago famous for her rare beauty.

Aside from the wonderful onsen which I could enjoy in the hotel I stayed, the town is in the mountains and I really enjoyed the run in the area. In the early morning, still misty with cool air and leaves covered with dews, I the jog on trails was a pure joy for me.

The night before, my friend took me to see where fireflies were. In Tokyo, they are very very rare and come to think of it, I cannot even recall the last time I've seen them. They were flying around with faint yellow-green florescent lights. The scene was very peaceful and stress relieving.

This is the only picture that worked out that shows the actual light of a firefly.

There also was a very interesting "exhibit" - which was called "rice field art". There was a viewing deck on a hill for a rice field. The locals use different colored rice to draw pictures.

Above is the design of what it really looks like from directly above the field. They drew it so it can look perfect from the vewing deck.

It is very clever and looks like they make it a fun event for everybody when they harvest it. This shows the fun day they had in September of last year.