1 post tagged “onsen”

I’ve been traveling and getting visits from people so I’ve fallen woefully behind on updating the blog, so I’ll be posting a series of short entries to let everyone know what I’ve been up to since yuki matsuri.  A week after the big snow festival in Hokkaido, I left on a 3-hour train ride into Minakami in Gunma prefecture for a Reggae snow festival.  It was a winter wonderland in a way that Sapporo wasn’t, being a big city.  In Minakami the snow was piled at least three feet high, blocking windows in many cases, and the city had a sprinkler system on the roads to keep the water from freezing.  The music was nice, and lots of people were skiing but I went for the onsen which were delightful.  There was even a nice onsen in the ryokan (traditional inn) we stayed at, although the ryokan was notably lacking in western-style toilets (as many ryokan are).  I found a lovely rotemburo (outdoor hot spring pool) in another hotel overlooking the mountainside and had the novel experience of building a snowman (well, snowcat) in the altogether.  The next day I took a 45-minute bus ride to a famous onsen nearby.  The rotemburo there were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, with snow drifts and a river flowing by just beyond the pool.  There was also an extremely hot indoor pool.  I managed to inch my way in, but it did take an effort not to leap out again.  I also encountered my first mixed-bathing rotemburo, which required some discussion about the etiquette of mixed bathing pools with my friend (“towels? No Towels? Towels.”) who was more knowledgeable about Japanese culture but, alas, had also never been to a mixed-bathing pool.  I almost didn’t make it back from the onsen, since there was a snow storm moving in and the bus I was going to take couldn’t make it that far into the mountains, but I finally got out safe and sound, and even caught the train I’d been hoping to take (also running late because of the storm).

Unfortunately, since that wonderful onsen, I’ve been falling way short of my one onsen/weekend goal.  I haven’t made it to any onsen since Minakami, but I intend to see many more before I leave Japan.  Next up:  my parents’ visit and trip to Kyoto in mid-March.