Onsen Initiation

Monday 28th January

About an hour an half out of Tokyo is the region of Hakone, a popular weekend break location for the Japanese. I was originally intending to stop off at the Fuji Five Lakes first, but due to the amount of snow was aware that I was unlikely to see much, and it would have been too dangerous to climb nearby.

Hakone instead offered a number of attractions which I would experience tomorrow (as you need to start early to fit it all in).

Before arriving I did stop off at the camera shop as some of you may have noticed the distinct lack of photos. Unfortunately I seem to have mislaid my USB cable so have had to order another which should arrive next week fingers crossed.

The plan for today was to visit a theme park onsen (a Japanese hot spring bath) which Daniel told me about. This included a coffee, green tea and red wine filled baths as well as slides and other attractions. However feeling it might be more fun if this was experienced with a few mates I instead decided to opt to stay in a traditional Japanese Ryokan instead, which included use of their onsen in the price.

Accommodation in a Ryoken consists of an empty room with rice straw matting (tatami) and a low table with cushions around it in the middle. Assembling my bed from the bits and pieces hidden away behind the sliding doors was amusing and I felt a bit like princess and the pea, not sure how many mattresses were optimum to lie on top of each other for a good nights sleep (whatever the answer I didnt achieve it).

As for the onsen after checking into my room I wandered nervously downstairs. I had read the rules (which said no towels or tatoos to name a few) so thought I knew what to expect as walked inside to wash before getting in. However it seemed everyone did possess a small cloth or towel of sorts to cover up as they wandered between the baths and were looking oddly at me strutting around without one. I therefore quickly beavered away to fetch mine....