- After an early ceremony and breakfast at the Buddhist monastery in Koya-san, it took most of the day to transit to Kinosaki.
- We wanted to visit a proper onsen town and Kinosaki looked like a good choice in the region we’d chosen to travel. The fact that it’s on the Sea of Japan and famous for its crab was a bonus.
- We had a lot of fun at the onsen, dressing in yakuta, bathing, and eating very fine food sat (sort of) cross-legged on tatami mats in our room. We also visited other bathhouses in the town.
- Kinosaki has a lovely, willow-lined canal running through its centre. It is also famous for art made from barley staw, called mugiwara zaiku. Sounds naff, but some of it is actually quite beautiful. We saw a few very desirable pieces but they turned out to be beyond our price range. Kinosaki is the place we first experienced black sesame sweets. Yum.
