Asia

Sorry I’ve been out of contact for the past few days but we have been in an Onsen in Izu Kogen on the East coast of Japan – it’s basically the Carmel of Japan – looks the exact same – beautiful. It’s got everything you could ask for except internet access – I mean it has internet access but I don’t have the right cable to plug into the wall so I’m shit outta luck.

Boy did we need this – two weeks in Japan, lots of walking, city streets, subways, trains, taxis, walking miles and miles each day and this couldn’t have come at a better time – just as we all thought we might collapse from exhaustion we have come to a place where time stands still. Pure relaxation… a perfect way to end a trip to Japan… fill your soul with beauty and relaxation before the long voyage back to the states.

The Onsen is called Hanahubuki (or Hanafubuki – things are spelled many ways here) which means “cherry blossom shower” and sadly I don’t possess the writing skills to convey it’s beauty to you – there are cherry blossom trees everywhere but it’s winter so they are just bare sticks of trees. Sometimes you see a blossom or two. The clouds come, the rain falls, the clouds move on, the sun comes out – it’s winter now, I can’t imagine the how beautiful this place must be in the spring, summer or fall.

A lovely woman named Keiko Muraki is taking very good care of us. She’s a beautiful woman with a small waist who speaks English excellently and we appreciate it. She’s humble and sweet, polite, and extremely beautiful like many of the Japanese people we have encountered here.

The Onsen has Japanese style rooms – a mat floor, and people come and put out our beds which are futons that live in the closet during the day, after dinner we come to our rooms and the futons are all laid out for us – we go to breakfast and when we get back they have magically moved back into the closet to wait for us to get tired.

The room is huge and has it’s own private bathroom with everything but a bath or a shower because there are lots of hot spring baths here with their own showers and beauty rooms with brushes, tooth brushes, Q tips, shampoo, conditioner, face wash – everything a girl needs to stay pretty and feel relaxed. If you’ve never been to an Onsen the basic rule is that you clean thoroughly before you go into the bath. Not like our filthy Jacuzzi’s in America, the water is crystal clear and they want to keep it that way and I thank them for it.

The cool thing about this Onsen is that the baths are private – when you lock the door a lantern on the path lights up to let others know that this hot spring is occupied which is good for me because in a public Onsen I might not be allowed because of my tattoos.

Tattoos are worn by the Yakuza, which is the Japanese mob – and to avoid fights they just don’t let people with tattoos into the bath houses – but here, the baths are private… so you can go in any way you like… you don’t have to fake modesty or follow tradition (other than cleaning up before you go in the tub)

Some are indoor baths, some are out door, all have beautiful private gardens for you to stare at and ponder while you soak and relax and meditate or whatever you want to do in there.

There are lots of red rabbits everywhere – not live ones of course – but statues and paintings – symbolic of humans or being human or humanity is what we were told by Keiko, our lovely hostess.

Our meals are provided here and they are wonderfully Japanese – 8 – 10 courses of fresh fish, fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits we’ve never seen before, starches, egg things, tempura… my dinner is probably swimming in the ocean right now, and will soon be caught and brought up from the shore to the Onsen for dinner. It’s all the fresh catch of the day – they explain all the foods to you and show you pictures of the strange fish you are eating which is super cool.

Last night we ate a strange fish that looks like an eel but provides a firm white meat when cooked. If there’s one thing you want to do in Japan it’s eat weird food that you don’t get to eat back home and Hanahubuki provides strange and mysterious fish fresh from the ocean presented like little works of art on a plate, you almost don’t want to eat it, the plates are beautiful, the food is beautiful, the people are beautiful, the rooms are beautiful, the gardens, paths… all beauty, beauty, beauty and relaxation.

Luckily I can get an American (or they call it European style) breakfast of toast and eggs… I find that my palate isn’t as adventurous in the morning and it’s nice to have foods that I’m familiar with, coffee, juice, potato, scrambled eggs, bacon… a great way to start the day.

They asked us if we wanted to take a walking tour, and if you come here DO IT! It’s really short 90-minute mild hike through a beautiful forest that leads to the ocean. Wear sneakers. Our guide Hideto, who apologized for his English, actually spoke it very well and told us of the trees and plants – often picking up some leaves or breaking bark off a tree and crushing it up in his hands and then telling us to smell it – always some wonderful natural smell – like something you’d smell at a spa. He pointed out mushrooms that he likes to eat, and poisonous plants and even pointed out a tiny poisonous caterpillar to us that he somehow spotted walking along the fence.

Hideto was great, he cleared rocks from the path for us so that we would not trip, and picked up any trash that he saw along the path and put it in his pocket. The Japanese are very clean – it makes me wish that we were cleaner back home in the States. There is barely any trash anywhere in Japan – not in the big cities and not in the small towns, not in the subway stations – nowhere. It’s a very clean country.

So if you’re going to Japan and you want to hit an Onsen I highly recommend the Hanahubuki in Izu Kogen – It’s super sexy, a great place for couples and they treat you very well… an excellent way to rejuvenate before heading back home.

Here’s a few extra pics to give you a feel…

Joe, Beth & Mather posing in their robes

We stayed in rooms 301 & 302

More fun with robes

Mather and Joe barter to buy me at the local market

Gifts & Snacks available in the club house

More things you can buy

One of the many outdoor baths

Playin cards and having beer before another soak

One last soak before heading back to Tokyo!