So a few weeks ago, Noji’s mom mentioned that Noji’s brother would be in town for a little while in July and why don’t we all take a trip? Sounds fun! Then I heard the words ONSEN. Somehow I’d made it 3 years without getting naked in front of strangers in this country and this whole trip was going to mess all of that up! But between the whole “can’t eat fish” “is foreign” “refuses to birth half children” I couldn’t add “will not go to onsen” to the list so I just googled a million times “onsen etiquette” and tried not to be the lame, prudish American who doesn’t want to bathe publicly.
So we took the shinkansen to Gifu on Friday and slept the night there, then rented a car for all 7 of us to go to Nagano where we’d stay at a ryokan near the Central Alps for a night. Our first stop was Azumino-shi where we enjoyed:
1. Soba
2. Toukouji (had huge orange geta in the front and some crazy dark maze thing that I didn’t participate in)
3. An herb/aromatherapy shop where everyone got herb-flavored soft cream
4. Art Hills, a fancy little shop/museum where I bought some stationary and horrified Noji by eating a nectarine with the skin on
5. Daiou Wasabi Farm where they sell wasabi-flavored everything. Wasabi chocolate, wasabi ice cream, wasabi wine, wasabi mayonaise. Apparently there are some beautiful famous watermills there but all I remember is being very hot and we left after eating ice cream. 😦
At that point, we drove to the ryokan and I got my first taste of a traditional Japanese inn. We put our bags down and then it was off to the onsen! “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to…” Nojimom said ominously. “NO I WANT TO GO!” Nojibro’s wife had also never experience an onsen so I figured we could be uncouth foreigners together, anyway. Noji did my yukata the dead person way and we all went down to the baths.
Basically the rules are: ladies and men go their separate ways, get super naked, take a full shower, then get in the hot springs. They had one inside (super hot and steamy) and one outside (just right!) and all us ladies had naked bonding time and it was fine! My face turned bright red (from the heat of the bath!) which didn’t go away for at least an hour and a half, but it was relaxing and not really as weird as I expected. All that worrying for nothing.
We did another bath before bed (well, except me, I was sleeping) and then one in the morning before breakfast, and then we were off to explore Nagano some more. Went to Kouzenji, another temple nearby which had all this neon-glowing moss on the walls and a shrine to a legendary dog Hayataro hellooo best temple ever. After that, we braved the 35C/95C temperatures and went to Matsumoto Castle. Matsumoto Castle is a pretty balling castle but it was so hot inside and the crowds were so thick that we bailed after about 20 minutes. Sorry castle! You all kind of look the same inside.
I think I was starting to get overheated and fussy around right…….. here, to be honest. I think I got bit by something that gave me a red rash all over both my arms for at least 5 days. But we had one more stop before we went home: Suwa Shrine! But it was under construction! Damn. So we got some dango at the service area and a few hours later we were home! Thanks mostly to Noji’s family, I’ve now gone to about 21 prefectures in Japan. This is way more than the like, 5 states I’ve been to in America.
The last day we said goodbye to Noji’s brother, who flew back to China that day, and shopped and ate with Noji’s parents and Koori before we went to the station. Noji and I are pretty lazy (see: entire weekend spent at home) so I don’t think we would get nearly as much done in a three day trip if it weren’t for Noji’s parents. Koori and I exchanged emails and we’ll go back in October for their wedding.
Oh, on the way home, I bought a Pierre Marcolini chocolate cake which I think I initially saw on Ai’s blog. It was a delicious and totally unnecessary indulgence after all the treats we’d had over the weekend.
Anyway, I didn’t take too many but I uploaded the rest of the pictures from the trip to Google+.
great story, but Erin, you have been to most of the 50 states in your FBK travels. Hawaii and Alaska included!
xoxo
maw
fair enough! Maybe I need to go back to Hawaii to refresh my memory? 🙂
I learn things from your blog posts. This time it was a Japanese vocabulary lesson. Some meanings were easier to deduce than others. I appreciate that you used english characters else I’d have had no chance whatsoever. What a fun travelogue, Erin!
shinkansen= high speed train
ryokan= a country inn
geta=wooden flip flops
Toukouji= some kind of food??
onsen=super naked spa (as opposed to regular naked)
yukata=a large towel
dango=a cold drink?
haha I love this comment! You are mostly on the money.
toukouji: Toukou temple, a Buddhist temple in Nagano!
yukata: a very light summer kimono
dango: mochi (sticky pounded rice) rolled into balls on a skewer covered in sauce
I think I’ve officially forgotten what words are now used in English and which are only understood by the foreigner community here.