Homestay Experience in Akita Japan

Homestay Experience in Akita Japan

There are many people traveling to Japan. The most common places are Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Okinawa, Kobe, Hokkaido, Takayama and Nara.  However, there are still many places not ventured by travellers to Japan. One of the hidden gems is Akita.

Akita is a prefecture (state) of Japan located in the Tohuku region of northern Honshu in the main island of Japan and the capital is the city of Akita. It is not a popular region to travel as it is quite far from the popular cities. However, it is one of the best kept secret of Japan.

It is the “old Japan” we watched on TV series. You can see lands with greens and not concrete jungle. There are not many tourists in sight as if tourists are forbidden in this part of Japan. Akita is still an infant to tourism but they are growing.

We stayed a few nights in Akita, most of them are hot spring hotels and one night with the local homestay. Since I travelled in a group, we are separated and hosts by different families.

Some of them stayed in modern houses and I stayed in traditional Japanese house.

How traditional?

It is a typical Japanese wooden house with wooden flooring and sliding doors. The rooms are filled with mats but luckily they provided mattresses for us.

The toilet is the old school hole at bottom toilet. There is no water and no flushing system. Everything goes down to the hole and we shall not discuss how they clean up the mess below.

There is a small bathroom but we went to the public bath instead. Everyone went naked and had a hot bath together. It is quite an experience.

There is no air conditioner and they do have small portable fans. There is a TV in the living area and everyone eats in the dining area. Another notable thing is only the women cook! The men will talk to us while the women will work in the kitchen (of course the women talk to us as well but they are in the kitchen most of the time).

The host owns two houses. One is to stay and one for relaxation and the second house is located in his farm. We are enjoying Nagashi Somen, read more at Nagashi Somen Flowing Noodles Experience in Akita Homestay.

We had one of the most memorable experiences as we had dinner with the host at his second house gathering around the “irori”. Irori is a traditional Japanese sunken hearth which is very rare in Japan! This house has been featured in Japan TV stations many times!  We had sake, soju, wine and beer as we laughed till late and night.

All the meals are prepared traditionally. There are many small dishes for one meal. The breakfast is glorious but it is really lots of work from the host. We have prepared some small gift as token of appreciation.

What we like about Akita Homestay?

1. Traditional Japanese house (depending on host)
2. Traditional Japanese meals
3. Real Japanese farms activities!
4. Understanding and learning Japanese culture
5. Cultural exchange experience

We enjoyed the homestay experience in Akita. It is truly different from what you have experienced in other parts of Japan. Thus, this part of Japan is not fully commercialized yet.

Please take note that the homestay experience differs depending on hosts. This homestay experience is exclusively for Wendy Tour as partnership with Akita Tourism Board.

For Akita Homestay Tour Packages, visit 5D AKITA Homestay + School Visit Experience (5天东北学校游 ) Tour Package

For more information to visit Akita Japan, visit Wendy Tour Facebook Page athttps://www.facebook.com/wendytour.to.nippon or visit their website at http://www.wendytour.com.my/.

This trip is sponsored by Tourism Akita and Wendy Tour.