Published: 30.11.2025
On the last day in Kinosaki Onsen, I meet a very nice young woman from Osaka during breakfast, who has a lot of interesting things to share, including that she lived in Hamburg for 7 years as a child and discovered the Berghain in Berlin with delight last year! Her English is excellent and she can speak a little German too. She informs me that our guesthouse is 100 years old (there was a devastating earthquake in 1925 with a magnitude over 7, which heavily destroyed Kinosaki) and was initially a Geisha house. The grandparents of the two sisters who currently live here opened the guesthouse, which was initially a very noble institution, and when the current owners took over, they made it an affordable accommodation only for female travelers.
She also shared a lot about Japan, for example that people in Kyoto are nice to tourists, but treat other travelers from Japan very arrogantly and condescendingly, generally regarded as cool and snobbish, while those from Osaka are considered to be more humorous and relaxed. Well, that’s what they say, just like about residents of Munich, Hamburg, or Berlin.
And that the fear of the next big earthquake is always present. She works on the 32nd floor of a building! There is an emergency kit with some water, cookies, and provisions, a flashlight, a radio for about three days at home, and twice a year there are earthquake drills in all schools and companies where she has to run down the 32 floors!
As a goodbye, I take a long walk through the town again, discovering the small boat harbor where the locals' boats are docked, which go out to catch crabs or fish in the sea, I find a gallery with wooden sculptures, a pancake shop where the round cakes are freshly baked and then rolled in some delicious light brown powder, and I treat myself to a soft-shell crab that is torched with a small blowtorch before serving and is served sizzling hot in a beautifully wrapped Japanese wooden box, to be enjoyed while sitting on a bench in the sun, with it swinging on my knees.
Then a final bath under the beautiful waterfall. I am surprised that it looks completely different here than it did last night, I almost think I made a mistake in the bath before realizing that the sides are switched daily. One time women are on the right side of the partition, then again on the left. The right side is nicer!😅
I hate saying goodbye! But at noon I board the train to my next destination, Maizuru, and at the last moment, just in time, I notice that I have forgotten my backpack in the locker! My last glance falls on a couple who is taking their two miniature bulldogs for a walk in a stroller, and I find their resemblance unmistakable...
