Private open-air Japanese style bath available !!!

We all look forward to this day !!

We start to open private Japanese style open air bath today !!!

Does this sound nice, doesn't it ?!

We, Japanese people have spent a lot of time on taking bath since we are child.

Hot bath makes you feel relaxed and eases your tiredness.

We love it !!!

Why don't you try our brand new bath after exploring Kyoto all day long !

We have already got one guest tonight, on the very first day.

Look forward to seeing you ...

Couple Welcome !! Enjoy your private relaxing time ! Haha..

Somen Night !!

*SOMEN NAGASHI*

We had a Somen Nagashi Night on the 29th of August when Kyoto was still muggy, we had fun together eating chilled noodles.

The way we had the noodles might be a little bit looking weird in the left pic??

We were trying to catch "Somen" (Japanese cold thin noodles) which was flowing in water through bamboo !! Have you ever tried such a unique dinner?

Our friends carpenters got the bamboo shoots from a nearby forest and made them like a long rail tying and fixing each other. We invited local Japanese neighbours and children as well as guests staying with us, then we really had many people with us enjoying together at that night.

So, can you imagine how it was?

somen noodles were coming through the bamboo rail, this is not so hard to catch even if you are not so used to chopsticks. Then some fruits such as grapes, kiwis and mini tomatoes were also coming down. you must be really skillful to pick them up with chopsticks! or you will never be able to eat them, or else, friends standing upstream might catch it right before you!

right photo shows some dipping sauce and toppings such as gingers, nori, chopped spring onion and so on. yummy yummy :P

It was quite enjoyable and if you ever have a chance to join us next time, you shouldn't miss it!

Yumi and Manami

SUIKA WARI!! ~watermelon splitting~

KONNICHIWA!!!

Few days ago, we had SUIKAWARI event.

It's a traditional Japanese game for summer season.

The people try to split a watermelon with a stick while blindfolded.

The step of the person who blindfolded it is so fanny!!

The first to crack the watermelon open wins.

And we share the wattermelon after the game.

Not only the winner but also all partipants can enjoy it!!

Thank you for the guest who enjoyed toghether!!

The time became a good party!!

Let's enjoy this summer, still hot !!

MOE'

Tanabata Matsuri!!

Hi, there!

How's everything going?

We had a small event yesterday.

Tanabata Matsuri.

Have you ever heard of it?

Tanabata (七夕, tanabata?, meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, derived from the Chinese star festival, Qi Xi (七夕 "The Night of Sevens")．
It celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. Since the stars come out at night, the celebration is held at night.

And we decorate the bamboo tree with our wish messages.(It's kinda summer version of christmas tree)

isn't it seems funny?

please make your own wish message card and put it on the bamboo tree.

You know, Dreams come true!

have a nice day

regards

kiyo

Tea celemony and Nail art

Hi ! How's going?

Today is awsome wheater in Kyoto, and max tempureture is 31℃.....How hot!!

Usually, June is rain season in Japan, but summer has come!?!? haha...

Anyway, today we held tea celemony for foreign visitors.

We enjoyed traditional green tea and dry confectrioneries.

Tea celemony makes us relax and calm down...

and in these days, we started nail service for guests! It's sooooo cute! Like princess!!

Our hostel has tea celemony, kimono, nail service, so I think women's fun will increase!

(of corse, also men can enjoy it if you want.haha)

Pls visit our hostel and fully enjoy it!!


Ai

fancy a nice public bath?

Konnichiwa!

today i am gonna talk about a public bath "Hakuazan-yu" very close to our hostel.
as you know the japanese love onsens (hot springs), though this bath Hakuzan-yu is situated in a middle of town, they do not use tap water but use mineral water like an onsen! some foreigners hesitate to be naked in front of other people and ask a silly question "can i wear a swimming suit in there?" oh, please don't!! if you did that, you would be too noticeable or wouldn't be allowed to enter. just don't be shy! no one cares!! of course men and women are separated. they have an open-air bath, jacuzzi, sauna, electric bath and so on....see thier webiste, you can at least view their photos http://www.hakusanyu.com/6top.htm
it only costs 410yen. once you experiene, you will realy love it!
and after the bath, why dont you go to a supermarket "Fresco" also nearby our hostel to get a can of beer ;)
summer has come...!

staff
Manami

birthstone bracelet.

Hi, there! Good afternoon. I've just woke up from my drowsiness.

hehe >-(Spring makes me lazy..laaazzzziiyyyzzzzzz)

Hope your afternoon is fine.

Today, I want to write abt birthstone bracelet which is put on a desk of main reception

I realized that the bracelets was made by shu, the owner of this hostel, today and suprized.

Since It's quite hard to imagine mr.owner making bracelet from his looking (he looks macho, rather than feminine one)

So i asked and found out that it wasn't just an accessory, but an bracelet having a meaning. According to him, In buddhism, the birthstone bracelet is said that it works as a amulet.

For example, Garnet, which is a birthstone of Jan is said to carry you a sincerity and happiness. And, Amnthyst, a birthstone pf Feb is believed to bring you a wealth and humility. And My birthstone, Turquoise, it has the symbolization of prosperity, hope and success.

perhaps, should i ask him for one of Turquoise one?

Coz I'm financially broken thesedays. lol-

Please pay attention to the display window of birthstone bracelet, when you drop by main reception. hehe.

Have a nice day.

Kiyo+

How are you, everyone?

We,Ikoi-no-ie, are good.

But, There was a litte change in our hostel.

Could you guess?

Our staffs begin to wear kimono, the traditional clothes of japan. hehe

It's really good to work in kimono.

We be a !!STAR!! on the street..

(>_<)

But hopefully, we change our uniform(kimono) to yukata????

Summer is coming

and since to wear kimono formally, we should wear underwear called eri, and outwear on it, which has long sleeves.........

guesses we are gonna die,

if ms.Asada(owner) doesn' want us to change our clothes in the summer?0_0??

kidding. hehe

have a nice day

regards

kiyo

Traditional event part2

Our staff and guests experienced the mochi-tsuki to celebrate our 5th opening day on 15th!

The event was hold during a whole day.
Everybody here pounded mochi to make some rice cakes all together .
Seems fun and looked so yummy...

Owner said they couldn't make it very well this time

because some rices still remained as it is in the rice cake

and hope for meking the best rice cake next time...

But I here again, missed the chance to take part in the event because I worked at the night on the day.

That's what it is...

Traditional event part1

Our staff and guests experienced the tea ceremony on 14th.

Everybody here put on the beautiful Kimono.

How lovely they are...

It seemed to be so much fun in authentic atmosphere.

but I missed the chance to see them because I didn't work on the day...

preparing opening event.

hello, there!!
how's your May going?
we, ikoi no ie, are recently busy for preparing opening event.
so, to prepare it, we go shopping and have talks all together
about how we can make it a good event.
Events we are producing now are, 'having japanese breakfast', 'Tea ceremony',
'dressing up kimono' and 'having japanese cold noodle and salada' .
we are trying to give you a new exprience to know japan more.
so, please come and fully enjoy it!!
bye!

kiyo

Hello, everyone.
I am Park, one of the staff on weekends at Ikoeno-ie.
Today, we bought a huge red umbrella which will be decorated at the gate of the building in which the reception desk is located.
It was a lot of fun gathering ideas with the co-workers and the owner for making Ikoeno-ie a cozier place for everyone. The first step of it was finding the perfect position of the umbrella.
The one holding the umbrella is another weekend-staff, Sawaki (A very brilliant MBA course student at Kyoto University).
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see him holding the umbrella when you visit us; once the position is decided, we will make a strong holder to fix the umbrella.(^^)
Come to see the umbrella, and come to see us.
We are looking forward to meet you under the Big-Red-Umbrella. :)

hello mina sama

this is moshe from israel and i am new in this blog sow please be kind to me
anyway i wake up this mornning and i look out side from the window and out side was no good whether i just hope sow in the weekend the whether is going to be changing
be good people
moshe

We moved!

Hi here's a little update from us.
We've been quite busy lately
because we just open new buildings and had to move our reception.
It's Machiya house which is known as a traditional building in Japan.
It looks pretty nice and we really like it!
We hope you stay here if you have a chance to come to Kyoto...

We look forward to meeting you anyway!

Takeshi

snowing kyoto

cold indeed for the last 2 days, we had snow yesterday. the temperature last weekend was too mild like spring, who could imagine it would snow the following day!
keep warm everyone:) Manami

Wanna Dumpling?!

Last week our guests, a couple from Australia and I had Chinese dumplings for our dinner after cooked together.
It was very nice opportunity and they tasted very delicious! But I couldn't take photos of it unfortunately because I didn't have a memory card in my camera...

If you wanna have some foods of Japanese, you can ask us and them you may be able to eat them in our hostel after cooking together!!?

Meg.

Hatsu Kobo Shrine Market

Every month on the 21st a huge market called Kobo-san which is related to the famous monk, Kobo Daishi, is held at Toji temple. Hatsu Kobo means the first shrine market of the year and about 1,200 stalls will be open and many people will come to enjoy them.

You can easily get to the temple from our hostel, so you should definitely visit there!! It must be very interesting!!!

Coming of Age Day

Second Monday of January - Mon, 12 January 2009.

Today is the national holiday in Japan to celebrate people becoming adult that is older than 20 years and legally enable to drink alcohol and smoke.
So you can see cute kimono girls and guys on the street if you are lucky:)

Megumi

Snowing!!!

This mornig was snowing in Kyoto! Amazing!!
But unfortunately I didn't notice it... cos I was sleaping... how ashame!!

Hello from Kyoto!

Hey! What's up?
We've finally opened our blog here!
Wishing everybody can enjoy here and any of my colleague can continue this efficiently...

Well, anyway, we are always welcoming all!
Have a nice weekend!!