We (the Abuku family, Tomochan, classmate of Moegi and myself) left early Saturday morning by Metro to the Tokyo station (abou 1,5 hours journey) where Mamea and Toshi, two friends of the family waited with a rental car. We loaded the mini-van and fought our way through thick Tokyo traffic. The journey was a total driving time of about 4 hours into the mountains and we stopped various times for comfort breaks, food and at a supermarket to buy Sake.
Wen we finally arrived at 4 pm we at first were asked to wait in the old traditional living room with a fireplace in the middle and were served self-made rice wine.
Then we were asked to enter the Riyukan, the traditional style Japanese Hotel which is hosting the Onsen (hot springs).
You leave your shoes in the entrance hall and take the slippers provided. Our room had no beds in it, just a low table with a tea set, as the futons are laid out later. We had a quick tea and then Fumiko handed me each a small and large towel, asking me to follow her.
A sliding door near the lobby led to a room with baskets in a shelf and Fumiko introduced me to the concept of a Japanese bath. You take off all the clothes and bring a very small towel (20x40cm) into the bath. But it is all strictly seperated by gender. Men have their bath in another part of the hotel. First thing to do is to shower thoroughly. I was very surprised to understand that all Japanese are taking a shower sitting on a small stool in frond of a mirror, pouring water from a bucket. I had seen these tools in our bathroom in Tokyo before without having any clue what they are for. It all has a relaxed, slow athmosphere - I think I imagine ancient roman baths to be that way. When you're clean you can go into the hot water pool inside or outside, which was particularly nice as it started to snow a bit. A bath takes about 20-30mins and ater this you shower again and get dressed. However, in a Riyukan people go through this procedure very often. I think Fumiko went about five times on that evening.
For dinner Fumiko gave me a Yukatta, a type of summer kimono, which is worn by all guests in the Riyukan. The dinner was great - strange and yummy at the same time. Lots of raw fish, shabu-shabu, pickled veggies and Japanese pudding, which tastes like a saltwater and seaweed custard. The food came in small portions and various courses which was great for chatting.
After dinner the futons had been set up in the rooms and the kids enjoyed playing while the adults started to have some Sake. Between the Sake servings we went to the bath and enjoyed the cool air outside and I had some nice conversations with Fumiko.
Next morning at 8:30AM I sat at the breakfast table and was astonished: sooo much food and nothing of it reminded me of breakfast at all.
After checkout we took a short walk through te snow and went to a traditional handcrafts village. Here one can observe and try out various traditional crafts. We all were booked for a Saoba-Noodle-making workshop, which was good fun. Then I decided to make washi (traditional Japanese paper) together with Toshi, which looks easier than it is.
Before heading back on the mororway to Tokyo we went to another not springs bath, arriving around midnight at home after a 6 hours journey through thick end-weekend-traffic. It was a GREAT experience and without my lovely host family I would have never had the opportunity to see all this!
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