As an early Christmas treat, and since we were both working on Christmas day, Keiko and I went South of Tokyo to an area near Hakone famous for 温泉 (onsen) – natural hot baths. Get used to reading 温泉. I’m going to start using more 漢字 (kanji) and hopefully, you will read them without hesitation.
Yugawara 湯河原, one stop before the popular tourist town of Atami, is less bustling, but just as fascinating.
It took one hour on the train, as every trip seems to, at a cost of £6 each way, which is dirt cheap. On arrival, a man at the train station handed us a map of the area. It was one of those places where there are so many things to see and places of interest that most are only discovered by walking around.
Arriving early, and with check-in at 3, we headed to the most northern part of the town, and started at a waterfall; one of the sources of the hot water.
On the walk back to town, we passed a park formed around a river.
It was here that I found out how the area came to be. Supposedly, a raccoon was being chased by a hunter, and was wounded. He stumbled across the hot springs and rested in one. During his healing, he met a girl raccoon and fell in love.
This shrine is popular for couples; with the good luck charms focusing on romantic aspects.
The main attraction of the park is the foot baths 足湯 (the kanji for ‘foot’ and ‘spring’ as seen above). Each bath had a different temperature, type of base, and healing purpose (bones, skin, organs etc). The sky was beautiful, and it was very relaxing.
We went to the “ryoukan”. a traditional Japanese hotel. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
We were greeted by a very geisha-like young woman shuffling towards us in a kimono. She welcomed us and showed us to our room – tatami mats, sliding doors, and of course, a TV. My main thought was, where’s the bed going to go?!
After having some green tea and rice cakes, we booked the private 温泉 for straight away.
The hotel had both a private outside 温泉, which you could book for half an hour at a time, or a public 温泉which was open twenty-four hours. It’s customary to wear yukata whilst in your room and walking around the hotel. So I put one on, feeling ridiculous, but glad that I could experience it.
I should add here that there were quite a few things that I thought I wouldn’t be able to experience in Japan because of lingual and cultural barriers and things that would just be too difficult to organise. So for experiences like this, I will be eternally grateful to Keiko and all the people I’ve met along the way who have helped me and showed me things miles off the beaten path.
We went to the outside 温泉 on the roof which was through a room where you could disrobe. I was as worried and nervous as every other foreigner about bathing naked with strangers, so a private bath was a good way to start. However, you lose inihibitions pretty quickly, it’s part of the culture so you just deal with it, and no-one really cares so why should you.
The water was pretty hot but not boiling and it was extremely relaxing, viewing the scenery.
After about 20 minutes, we got out and went back to that half-way room to put the yukata on. It was here that things took a turn for the worse. Half naked, and trying to put the yukata on properly*, Keiko suddenly fell. In that split second, I had no idea what was going on, and not sure if it was serious. But on the way down, she hit her head on the sink. I didn’t know what to do. She was breathing in a type of snoring way and her eyes were half-glazed open. I sat her up and at this point she stopped breathing, and just fell motionless. It was terrifying. So many things rushed through my head, within a single moment: should I move her? Go and get help? I thought there was a couple outside waiting for their turn, so should I shout for them?
Dramatically, I slapped her and she came round. Full marks for her English, I was shouting ‘Are you Ok?’. And without hesitation she replied ‘I’m fine, leave me alone, I want to sleep!’. I sat her up, but she was confused and getting angry with me. I was screaming at her “Talk to me!”, “Is your head ok?” etc.
We went back to the room, past a couple who looked at us as if we’d been having a major fight** and Keiko kept trying to sleep, but I stopped her. I let her rest her head on me, but made her stay awake. She said her head was Ok – we could feel a small bump – but that her hip hurt as she must’ve hit that as well. She was disoriented and thought that she had been out for a good 10 minutes or so. She only remembered three things: knowing she was about to faint, hearing my voice as part of her dream, and thinking she was fine and that nothing was wrong.
I was more than ready to find a hospital and return to Tokyo but she wanted to stay. Maybe I overreacted but it was so so scary, and I didn’t know how serious it was. Looking back, she only fainted, but hitting her head had made it seem a lot more serious in my mind. To be honest, I don’t think she appreciated how serious it could’ve been and in a way, I think she still doesn’t.
We stayed in the room, me making her talk and keep occupied – I guess I didn’t want her to sleep – something about concussion I suppose; she made 4 cups of tea for me in about 1 hour.
She also translated a lot of Japanese for me, although some notices were written in English. This is my favourite: it sounds like an apocalyptic action movie:
About 6pm dinner was served. If you say “会席料理をたべった” (I ate kaiseki ryouri) to a Japanese person, they will make an ‘mmmm’ sound and feel extremely jealous. Kaiseki ryouri is a famous historical type of meal which is served in your room, course by course. Although dishes are small, they just keep coming. On top of this, half of the enjoyment is the presentation. Again, it’s one of the things that I wasn’t sure I would ever get to try.
**Warning**
Before the next part, if you are of a Kosher disposition, you should stop reading here.
This is the menu; each main part being a new course.
The first thing served was a cup of sake, and a selection of some delicacies from the area – everything except for the tuna - from North Japan - was a produce of the area. I bravely ate everything, included fish eggs.
The next course was shabu-shabu, where you boil slices of meat and vegetables into a tofu soup; however, if you leave it too long, the boiling soup becomes tough and literally becomes tofu. As pointed out by the girl who served our food, the pig had been raised eating pineapple, so the meat should have a tangy taste. Not sure it was that successful, but nonetheless was delicious.
Following this was a selection of sashimi.
The girl who brought the food was of a very gentle disposition, and she had to follow certain customary traditions. Every time she entered or left the room, she had to kneel down, put the tray on the floor open the door with no more the three fingers, pick up the tray and stand up and then kneel down on the other side put the tray down and close the door, again with a few fingers, before serving or removing the food. It looked slightly frustrating, and I worked out that she must’ve been in charge of about six or seven rooms, so in between serving us, she was running backwards and forwards on a never-ending cycle. I felt like royalty.
The next serving was rice, miso soup, and pickled vegetables; which many Japanese believe are a necessity for any meal.
Next up was a creamy stew of fish and vegetables served in an over-sized leaf.
The following course was a soup based dish. Slightly scary, but with an open mind, I ate this baby octopus that was floating around. He was tiny!
My favourite course was this beef and potato stew. Maybe I mentioned the name in a previous post, but anyhow it’s called “niku jaga” which sounds suspiciously like the ageing rock-star.
Finally, dessert included tofu ice-cream and fresh fruit over a plate of that steaming ice water and hot Japanese tea.
The whole meal was filling, bursting full of new flavours and textures for me, and I could finally understand the delight of kaiseki ryouri.
**Warning over**
Following the meal, we headed back to the foot spa place. You might think, why would you go to the same place and in the dark? But there’s a good if weird reason. Only in Japan would you find something this bizarre:
The whole place was kitted out in flashing Christmas lights, with festive songs playing, while people took baths.
It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever experienced; everyone decked out in hats, scarves and gloves but walking around with their trousers rolled up. Additionally, the water was absolutely boiling; supposedly they keep most of the water held back until the evening when it can be released in larger doses. One bath in particular, where the water came through, was unbearably hot. With red faces from the cold, and pink feet from the boiling water, we headed back to the hotel.
Keiko was feeling much better, and although I tried to deter her, she was intent on taking a short bath in the public 温泉 before bed. I was worried because we would be separated and I would have to trust her if there was a problem, but ultimately it was her decision. The public bath was so relaxing, and as a bonus, I had the men’s 温泉 all to myself. Obviously, I couldn’t take pictures so here is the link (the bottom right pics are of the inside 温泉).
I decided if I had the money, I would be content living here and eating the food every day.
We met at the massage chairs before heading to the room. Now, if you’re still concerned where I slept, look what transformation had occurred whilst we were out:
From such a busy day, I slept unbelievably well.
*The right side must go underneath the left. The other way around marks funeral wear.
**Not that it was anywhere near as important as Keiko’s health, but I felt bad that they should’ve ben having a relaxing time, and instead they had to listen to screaming.
