Loco Travel: Inawashiro - Part 5 (Down the Mountain - Chillin' in the Cottage)

One of the highlights of my trip was hangin' out with an old Japanese guy and his Portuguese wife. They were the owners of this cottage, and unfortunately, I was too busy talking with them to shoot any footage of them. But I had some great conversations, got some great food, and enjoyed their amazing hot spring bath. It was great recovery after hiking up and back down Mt. Bandai in the rain.

One of the interesting stories he told me was about the battle at Tsurugajyo in Aizu-Wakamatsu, which will be the topic of Part 6 in this series. It was the final battle that brought down the Tokugawa Shogunate for good and eased in the Meiji Restoration (around the Last Samurai time).
The cottage owner's grandfather had fought at that battle and lost an arm there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boshin_War#Resistance_of_the_Northern_Coalition

Apparently there are still some hard feelings between the Satsuma and Choshu families and the Matsudairas of the area. I'm not an expert on it at all, so if you know more about it, feel free to leave comments in this video or the next.

In the next episode, I'll be out of Inawashiro and off to Aizu-Wakamatsu, just 30 minutes away.
Stay tuned! (hehe - it's like I'm making an actual TV series or something. :P)

Here's a link to the cottage I stayed at:
http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~portugal/

The owners are Tomo and Nella - really awesome folks! ^_^
Tell 'em Philip sent you. ;)
http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~portugal/owner.htm
I like what Nella put as her age: ひ・み・つ　　:P

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• philip
• cotsford
• travel
• inawashiro
• bandai
• fukushima
• japan
• hiking
• outdoor
• ヴィラポルトガル
• 猪苗代

[mhensley81]

wonderful series! I should get up there and do this for myself.

[ToLokyo]

Most definitely!

Thanks for watching~ ^^

[crimsonigloo]

Ooh! I can't wait to do this for myself ^_^ [x]

[ToLokyo]

Definitely do!

I'm sure you'd have a great time~~

[Raener]

What kind owners :) Come on part 6!

[ToLokyo]

It's exported and ready to upload - I'll put it up soon.

Thanks for watching!

[Degenskonto]

Seems like not everyone dislikes americans ^^

[getoutofmyband]

Wow what a nice little place you stayed at! You really did find a gold mine! I wanna go!

[myplace9]

obvious you've done zero research on your stay before finding out what's involved. so you're "chill'n" ... another kid with more money to spend than research who its spent. nice to add the background music in to accentuate your "understanding" of the culture.

[bloodyrage]

sugena......

[LH075382]

You've come across a lot of kind people on your adventures! It's cool that you go back and watch your adventures on video. You'll never forget what you've experienced. maybe i should document my thoughts too.

[codygreaver92]

im thinking of doing something like this when i go through Turkey this summer :D rele dig the vids man,

[yumyumsesame]

That is so sweet how well they took care of you. :3

Thank you for sharing your journey. ^^

[JeagleJ]

The intro for these serie is awesome! (as well as the episodes)

[BusanKevin]

Another great one! I need to get off my ass, out into the woods and make some vids like this :)

Thanks for sharing!

[Degenskonto]

Sweet job indeed.