Walking down the stairs to breakfast this morning I had my first ever slightly ‘off’ interaction with a man in Japan.
Now, I’m well very travelled and I think because of my extremely pale appearance, in some countries I seem to have gotten way more than my fair share of unwanted male attention – in numerous countries over the years actually. It started back when I was in my 20s with men in Italy, Greece and Turkey who would skeeze onto me in various ways with varying levels of ‘ick’.
The Italians guys it was always a kind of playful pick up attempt: “You want to see my scoot?!”, with a wink and a gesture to a Vespa that no self respecting Aussie bloke would ever be seen riding! With Greek guys, they would more direct and unfortunately were also a bit handsy with their approaches – like coming over real close to me and touching my necklace then commenting on how pretty it was, or touching my blonde hair and then getting close enough to smell you, while making a comment about blue eyes… just ick! Turkish men were always (at least outwardly) a little more romantically inclined in their come-ons, “Hey lady! Hey lady! You have dropped something – it is my heart, should you pick it up?!”, which would make you smile but would also make you glad that you are travelling in a pack of friends. I got so much unsolicited attention on my first big European adventure that the other girls were frequently joking that I had ‘FUCK ME’ tattooed on my forehead… I mean, I was always dressed like the povo backpacker I was – usually in 3/4 pants and a t-shirt or a polo shirt. I never wore tank tops or yoga pants the way girls do these days, never wore clothes that showed off cleavage or leg and yet, was always copping it.
As I got older, I sadly got kinda used to it – resigned to it, even – in most places… the lecherous glances if you were stupid enough to walk somewhere alone in the kasbah in Marrakech. The awful sKeezy fucker rubbing up against me on a Tube on the London Underground – Jesus, if that happened now I would raise all hell, but before the #MeToo, this was just the day to day situation fucking shitty, but totally normal that was the background noise of my life. I remember one occasion when I had drunken football hooligan following me from carriage to carriage on the Tube until I sat down with a huge guy and asked him to ‘be my friend’ for a few minutes.
In Pakistan, it ramped up a notch. Unwanted attention felt seriously creepy and even dangerous as you know even simple interactions can have serious repercussions – like the tailor’s assistant who brushed his hand against my thigh (twice!) felt like a full on assault compared to the dude pushing his erection into my thigh on a Tube packed like sardines. In China, I had men pulling on my hair so hard that it would snap my head backwards, and it happened so frequently, I resorted to tying it up and hiding it under a baseball cap, even indoors… I also had two absolute arseholes do a ‘fake sneeze and then face plant into my boobs’ manoeuvre in China – grown men acting like immature little highschool shits. Which is no small part of why I have no desire to ever go back there!
I honestly thought this shit would lessen as I got older, but it only seems to totally go away when I’m walking around with a man beside me which is fucking sad and depressing all round, but I acknowledge that for now at least, it just is what it is… it’s obviously not typical of the behaviour I experience around all men, but these entitled, immature or clueless fuckers are everywhere.
Anyway here, this morning, we were coming down to breakfast and Mr K left something in the room and went back up for it and I continued on down the stairs and into the dim restaurant corridors by myself. and a kitchen staffmember stepped out of a doorway in front of me… I was wearing my yukata and hanten coat (which is to say dressed in extremely modest ankle length attire) and my hair was freshly washed so was hanging around my shoulders instead of up in its usual bun. He smiled widely and spoke to me in rapid Japanese. I crossed my hands and indicated to him that I spoke no Japanese and he said in broken English, “You. Very beautiful. Look good. Yukata nice.”, which would have been fine, but he was gesturing with his hands as he did so; he touched his head to his shoulders (indicating he meant my long blonde hair), and then from his shoulders to his hip in a curvy motion, familiar the world over to mean ‘Girl, I’ve noticed your tits and curvy hips under there!’ In a culture where every one is so polite, it was unexpected and completely changed the tone of his original smile which I had originally just taken for friendly, but now had a leery kinda feel.
I hit 50 years old a little while ago… I’m not young anymore. I’m not fit or slender in anyway and have often been noted to be in possession of a fairly solid and well established resting bitch face. So why won’t they leave me alone? This interaction feels like such a stupid little thing to leave such a big impression, but I’m over it. Why can’t I just go about my day on my own, and not feel inspected, judged, and imposed upon? Why do men feel free to tell you what they think like this? I don’t want to know, think or care about what they think, all it does is remind me I’m not safe.
After a lovely day driving around the Shimagawa dam and strolling through Shima Onsen, we head slightly further down river to find our ryokan… and by slightly, I meant like two minutes drive tops. We found it readily enough and it is fairly classic riverside/gorge ryokan where the top floors are the reception areas and the guest rooms are built down and down closer to river.
Which is okay… except we’ve seen the massive 90m high dam that is holding back Lake Okushima and its 9.2million cubic litres of water and we’re on a country known for its earthquakes. Hmmm.
The reception was just timber everywhere, lovely and warm and very welcoming and it’s on the 4th floor.
We were welcoming into a lovely lounge space with a long balcony that overlooked the gorge, while we had a welcome tea and some mochi.
I meant to ask someone about these chicken – they seemed so out of place with the elegant artwork and things everywhere else. But totally forgot. What the hell are they here for?
We had booked a Deluxe Japanese Room with Open Air Bath with half board and were told we were in the ‘Hagi’ Room which is on the third floor, one floor down from the reception. Hagi sounds kinda weird and I looked it up, it’s a kind of wild clover, so named for a plant.
Another thoughtful and well designed entrance to our room. The fresh flower arrangement is beautiful.
To the left of our genkan was a traditional Japanese living room, with a chabudai and two chairs.
We found some sweet and savoury snacks as well as an unusual powered hot drink that was neither coffee, nor tea, nor cocoa… it was a mystery.
The view down towards the river from the large picture window in our living room.
To the right of the genkan entrance was a bedroom with another sitting space. This time futon beds on a raised timber dais, and some western couches and coffee table.
This was really quite a large and comfortable space. This living room doubles as a space to sleep more guests and the closet holds four more futon mattress such that six guests could stay here quite easily.
We had hanten coats, yukata and tabi socks provided to wear around the ryokan – these yukata have the logo of the inn on the fabric.
We also had a small kitchenette space with tea and coffee making facilities, a coffee machine, kettle and small fridge.
The large bathroom must be one of the most warmly lit spaces I’ve ever encountered… all timber and tungsten lights.
As we have no come to expect, there were just loads and loads of amenities and another space age hairdryer for the Japanese vloggers.
Directly outside the bathroom was the shower space on the balcony
And a lovely and inviting cypress semi-open air bath on the deck overlooking the river.
Magic. I’m going to miss this afternoon ritual when I get back home again.
After a shower, a soak and a bit of a relax to cool back down (the water temperature here was really quite hot – some onsens have the ability to control the temperature somewhere by giving you some way to add cool stored hot spring water.. this place, not so much), we made our way down to the first floor where the restaurant is located. Sadly, my research had failed me and this ryokan had no lift and only stairs. Oh well, it’s only a couple of nights.
Some local saké with dinner.
Ume wine apéritif. Love the little ducky dish that this chrysanthemum konjac was served in.
“Eye family hair fruit wine; Purple sweet potato; Fruit fu Tianie; Fried chrysanthemums; Hot pot hand coddled sushi, Summed tailoring and two stakes!” lol… I can see this meal’s translation is going to be a bit of a ride!
Originally this translated as ‘Pollution sushi’… yum! But a polite enquiry revealed it was: Mutotsuki salmon sashimi, Yamafuka venison sashimi, and village avocado.
Big rock fish porcelain grilled with chrysanthemum and jikami radish.
Autumn blessing cook pot: Radish, small potato, carrot, pumpkin with hidden yuan bean.
”Nameless rice” with river fish. Nameless rice??? What’s that?
Ah, an explanation for the “Nameless Rice”… so this really proves the earlier observations that where you source your rice from is really really important! These guys are using rice of no particularly fancy brand, and trying to be cute about it.
’Strong appetiser’ Akashiro goose, Chinese cabbage, and mushroom.
Chicken hotpot: scallions, water vegetables, local chicken, river seaweed, mushrooms, shallow green onion, book pickles. Served with the pot boiled rice with river fish… book pickles?
Dessert: Black tea pudding, and baked apple.
The translation may be strange, but the food was absolutely delicious.
The views of the river from our room were lovely… there’s nothing quite like the sound of running water while you soak in the onsen before bedtime.
I love this place, it’s so beautiful and relaxing… the morning was overcast and a bit moody but still so lovely to soak in the onsen.
Watching the steam rise off the onsen before slipping into the water… this is just magic! I’m never taking another beach holiday ever again.
Mesmerising…
Coming into the lower levels of the ryokan feels like a bit of a rabbit warren – private dining rooms left and right, a full restaurant at the end here, I’ve been down here four times and still feel like I’m lost. Oh, and this is 0800 – there’s no natural light in here, it could be any time of day!
Our little breakfast nook with a kotatsu table… the table looks like it’s been set by a Pakistani houseman – all items arranged around the outside of the space so you know he’s actually been there and done his job.
Grilled char fish.
Boar and mushroom soup – very earthy and rich.
Tofu boiled in dashi, served with a light ponzu.
Fresh yoghurt and raspberries.
The view from the reception down to the river… the roofs below are covering the public onsens.
On the very lower level of the ryokan are some very of the famous Shima riverside onsen baths.
Sadly, no tattoo’d folks are allowed at all, which isn’t surprising – the further you get off the main tourist traps, the more conservative the establishment. Mr K did go down and enjoy the facilities though.
Toshimaya Ryokan has 15 guest rooms and a total of 15 public bathing spaces. The public onsen areas have large changing areas and locker rooms, ample showering spaces and beautiful baths.
The indoor baths are lovely, though I can’t imagine they get a lot of use, except perhaps when it’s snowing out.
For why would you want to bath inside when these are the spaces that await you just outside? This is the primarily reason people come to these gorgeous riverside onsen towns… for the amazing baths with the beautiful views of the gorges. To soak in these baths while listening to the river rushing along below, the birdsong across the river and the gentle trickle of the onsen water.
Just gorgeous! I don’t even mind that the tattooed heathens like me are not allowed to bathe in here. I appreciate the customs and cultures here and wouldn’t ask them to change a thing. When in Rome and all that. It is the main reason why I have tried to book rooms with the private baths, wherever possible. Oh, woe is us! Having to book the fanciest rooms in the hotel because of decisions I made 20 years ago.
I have used some baths like this in the past – but to be honest, I find them awkward and after a very short while, they get kinda boring. Very possibly this is a language barrier issue… I’m usually travelling with my husband, and when you go to the public onsens, you got to gender segregated baths, and then you either end up in a bath on your own for a while, or you end up in a bath with strangers and just kinda avoid looking at each other. It feels more weird than relaxing… I much prefer the private bath in the room, but yeah, you really do end up paying for that privilege.
The saké we chose with dinner was really nice… photo here to taunt me when we can never find it back in Australia.
We sat down to what we came to call the, ‘Many Miso Menu’… there was no printed menu to confusingly try to translate tonight, just a lovely waitress explaining each dish to us.
Persimmon konjac – these are quasi savoury jellies with the texture of mochi. Very chewy.
River fish sashimi ball, chestnut with sesame, tiny mountain yams and soft shell crab… an extremely crunchy soft shell crab.
Mr K is not big on seafood, never has been, but tries everything when we are travelling and has never been given anything in Japan that wasn’t tasty (natto aside!). He was apprehensive about eating his little crab, but he munched it all down. It wasn’t until afterwards that I mentioned that it felt like eating a cockroach.
Sashimi plate – river fish, Yuba (Tofu skin rolls), and kelp Konjac.
Light chicken dumpling broth with mushroom.
Red bean miso soup.
Chinese spiced pork with yam and carrot… quite tasty, could definitely taste a Chinese rather than Japanese flavour profile on the pork.
Nasu dengaku! Yum! Miso eggplant… one of my favourite dishes at home, this is the first time I’ve tried it in Japan. Delicious!
Duck, mushrooms, vegetables and Chinese cabbage in miso…
The aroma was incredible.
The duck was tender and veggies had taken on all the miso flavours. *chef’s kiss*
Kiwi, Yamanashi pear and ice cream with raspberries.
Slept fairly well for a change, but still woke up early… way too early this time at 0430… but it’s never too early to slip into the delightful riverside onsen bath. It is a peaceful time of day to be up, but is it too much to ask to sleep in just once in a while?
I had a strange interaction on the way to breakfast this morning (which I have detailed elsewhere), but just wanted to remember it was here. Anyway, I digress… breakfast was back in our usual dining room, and was its usual deliciousness.
Salomon, yam, miso soup, salted squid, salad, pickles, rice, yoghurt with fruits.. and natto.
You know, I’m surprised they even bother serving Western visitors, natto – it’s the only vile food item I have ever tried in Japan… fermented soy beans. They’re just stomach turningly awful, with a texture that makes me gag a little just thinking about it. Yeurck. Give me the salted squid guts any day.
My last observation about this hotel is a rather strange one… the whole place feels like a cruise ship. Which might sound like a very strange observation indeed. But hear me out!
The entire building has steel stairways in a country largely known for its no nails timber construction. There are large steel doors in corridors that feel like they’re designed to stop water flowing from one compartment to the next – just like the Titanic! It has hard hats on walls scattered around the public areas, and we even have two hard hats in a closet in our room. There is a visibility obvious alarm system and well signed muster points in every stair well on every level, and one of the first things we were told when we arrived at the hotel and were shown to our room was that the escape ladder for our suite is accessible via our neighbours balcony! Yes, that was a moderately disconcerting bit of welcome information.
The whole hotel feels like it is equipped to deal with enormous amounts of water – and I mean, enormous because the building is five stories high, but we are in the bottom of a fairly deep ravine. The dam is 90m tall, and has only been there since the 1980s, but there’s a definite vibe here that says, “We know how what happens here when it has flooded in the past, and we are totally ready for it!”
So, yeah… hopefully the hotel was built prior to the dam, and all these ship-like water containment preparedness design elements were just ‘de rigeur’ back in the day because the ravine flooded semi-regularly… rather than the alternative, which kinda feels, “We built this dam, we better make sure we have half a chance if the dam breaks!”
Overall though, Toshimaya is a beautiful ryokan with a fabulous traditional atmosphere and amazing staff. It is private and peaceful with simply divine onsens.
What a glorious day! It’s about 13C with gorgeous blue skies, we are headed from Minakami to Lake Okushima. Lake Okushima is a reservoir lake that was created when the Shimagawa Dam was built between 1980 and finished in 1999.
I’m not sure what is causing these cloud formations, but they’re quite striking.
Even this little public restroom is designed to suit the area; this gorgeous little ginko tree that I imagine will be a striking huge tree in due course and some Japanese maples planted around it turn a boring toilet block into a cute looking cottage.
If you can encircle your car park with glorious autumn foliage, why wouldn’t you?
There were some stunning views and lots of lookout points to take advantage of them, on the short drive around the lake. We seem to have finally found some autumn colours.
Akazawa Bridge:
Mr K is enamoured with the local mascots – he loves this little Gunmachan guy, and pointed him out in his little escavator numerous times. ‘Construction work is underway, to widen the existing road!’, and yet, so much more informative for having a cute mascot impart the information.
The Shimagawa Dam is 330m long and 90m high… it’s quite impressive. I wasn’t super impressed with the large bullhorns visible at the top of the dam. Are those for sirens to let people below know if there’s a problem? At the moment the water level is so low as to be irrelevant, but if the water in the dam was high, I can’t imagine a sudden release would be good for Shima Onsen downstream from here.
Shima Hinatami Park below the dam, we went down there after leaving the drive around the dam and Lake Okushima.
Gunmachan directing traffic, I think. ‘Construction work is underway, cleaning the lake surface. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.’
The Ochiai Street Bridge over the Shima River… right beside the bridge was an unagi restaurant! Ooh, a small unagidon would be nice for lunch. We will have to check that out.
Self portrait with running water over rocks…
This is the most famous ryokan in Shima Onsen – Sekizenkan Kashoutei and it is considered the “Spirited Away” ryokan. I considered booking us to stay here, it has great reviews and is very well known. However, it is mostly known for its large Roman style onsen baths – and for whatever reason, I didn’t really feel the need to seek out Roman style baths in Japan? You can see the high rounded arched windows from the onsens underneath the ryokan. No, I’m here for the Japanese ambiance… I want the places with the more traditional Japanese riverside baths; they’re extremely picturesque. So I found us somewhere a little quieter down the gorge in the Lower Shima area where many of the older, more traditional ryokans line the riverside. Sorry Spirited Away ryokan, maybe some other time.
Photo of the Roman style baths snavelled from the internet: It’s lovely, I’m just not sure why…?
Show me a red bridge in Japan and I’ll show you a line of tourists (Japanese and Western) lined up to take selfies on it! I just want a tiny short break in the traffic to take a quick photo with no people in it!! It’s so hard sometimes.
We haven’t seen anywhere near as many tanuki statues in Gunma as we saw in Gifu last year… I wonder if there’s something local cultural thing going on there.
There’s not a lot going on in this sleepy little town – I think all the visitors are comfortably tucked in at their ryokans enjoying the onsens. We spied a pottery studio where you could go to do classes, and like one gift shop, and a single konbini – but it’s definitely a quiet sort of place.
Shio no yu – there are several hot spring drinking fountains scattered throughout Shima, the Shionoyu (literal translation: salty hot water) fountains are thought to help alleviate a variety of health conditions.
Keiunbashi Pocket Park? I was a bit confused as to what exactly is a pocket park? But when I saw this quiet little green space smooshed in amongst restaurants, cafes, ryokans and 1950s game arcades, I was enamored of the concept. More pocket parks for the people!
Kawara no yu is a public onsen precariously situated on some rocks in a fork of the Shimagawa River right in the middle of town, directly below a bus stop. It is a well known iconic building due to its distinctive round shape. It has very old school, cozy, gender separated baths. It’s free to use this facility, it is kept by the town, and I believe there is a donation box. It’s tiny – only accommodates four or so people in either side, and possibly tattoo friendly if your company doesn’t mind.
We are totally on the hunt for lunch now.
This statue was rotating left and right – I took a short video and will have to upload it at some point when I have decent internet… I don’t know why, but it looked just, weird: little statue of a lady in a kimono with a tray of onsen buns to let you know this is a public onsen, presumably one selling steamed buns!
We had passed by a number of very touristic looking restaurants as we wandered through town – one unagi place that had me drooling, but also doing a solid bit of side eye at the ¥4100 price for a meal there – and that’s before you hit the saké list! We kept walking, looking for a more local izakaya – you know the type of place, mismatched furniture, no English menus, cheap but hearty meals and even cheaper saké; somewhere the locals might eat. We found this place tucked in around a corner from the onsen (above), and decided to check it out. Meals ranged from about ¥1200-1700, which is far less tourist priced imo, so we decided to stop in and check it out… I’ve walked in and said to Mr K, I have a feeling about this, I’m going to need some photos so I can tell people where it is! Asunaro – a small syoduko and teishoku restaurant (syoduko: casual restaurant with inexpensive Japanese dishes; teishoku: has set menus which contain meat/seafood plus rice, miso soup and pickles).
The place definitely had a vibe – the owners two goldfish fish tanks in the foyer complete with pond scum certainly set the tone. The TV set noisily to a local sporting game likewise let you know you’re walking into someone’s primary place of residence – or at the very least a place where they spent the bulk of their day, such that ambient dining music was the last thing on the minds of the staff.
The menu was actually quite extensive, but first things first, saké because it was cold out and a bit of alcohol on an empty stomach usually helps with such things.
It was when ordering that we discovered the extensive menu was a bit of a lie. The sour plum pork cutlet was not available, then a second choice dish was also not available, so Mr K ended up ordering the ‘House Specialty Rice’ dish, which came with rice, chicken, egg, nori, spring onions, pickled mushrooms, and dashi broth… with the instructions to mix it all together and wait for the rice to absorb the broth, then ‘nom, nom, nom’. No shit, the landlady said: “Nom, nom, nom!”
I ordered the miso pork cutlet set – I’m a sucker for anything cooked drowning in miso, so was sure I was on a winner. Thankfully, it was available today… way too much food for lunch though: rice, pork, three small bowls of pickles and miso soup.
Hmmm… Miso pork cutlet? Where’s the miso? Ooooh… there’s the miso. Layered inside the cutlet! OMG – so much umami goodness! More saké for the people; this is definitely where we parked our car!
Banger of a lunch stop! Highly recommend that one – and would totally go there again even if half the menu was unavailable. Mr K said the Specialty Rice dish was also delicious.
After lunch we had a bit more of a walk around town to see the river and the lay out of the town.
Bus stop… Deer? Sheep? Not 100% sure…
Across the river from our ryokan is a strange hexagonal building which turned out to be a public footpath. No, FOOT BATH… not footpath stupid autocorrect.
Shima Onsen is a quaint and rather quiet sleepy little onsen town once you get removed from the one touristy street.
A bit later, Mr K went out hunting for snacks, and came back with a haul purchased like a kid buying shit for a road trip! If it had Pokémon on it, or a Great Wave motif – he bought it… no need to translate, he’ll deal with the weirdness later! The Cheeza crackers were actually kinda tasty – the rest of it… oy!
I’m not sure how, but Japan manages to be the land of the highest quality food with the strictest food quality regulations and laws around food additives… and yet it is also the land of the weird arse, more styrofoam than food, barely edible, snack products! On the other hand, they do have cups of tea and corn soup in a can – purchasable hot from vending machines, so mabye that makes up for the weird snacks.
We had originally planned on making our way to either Joetsu or Niigata on this trip, but decided to stick to the mountains of Gunma. There are four major onsen towns in Gunma, and I planned our route to hit them all – Ikaho, Minakami, Shima and Kusatsu. Kusatsu is the most popular one, and the one most likely to be frequented by foreign tourists apparently. Anyway, this is how Minakami ended up on our route.
Accomodations are plentiful in these towns, and they’re generally not too far form the important integrated transport infrastructure that we are here to check out, so it works out well to stay somewhere like this rather than a chain hotel… bit more culturally relevant and interesting all round.
Syoubun is a traditional Japanese ryokan set in a wooden building that is typical of Japanese architecture. It is a relaxed inn with hot springs, located 10kms from Mount Tanigawa (popular during the ski season) and only 2kms from the trains etc., we need to see at Yubiso Station. The reception was very warm and welcoming – it’s getting quite chilly outside at the moment; 15C down to about 6C at night… well chilly for Aussies anyway.
The reception was charming – exposed rough cut timber beams with lots of wood everywhere, the entire ryokan smelled of timber.
After briefly dropping out things in our room, we went exploring the ryokan – there is a wonderful airy lounge that is surrounded on both side with large picture windows into gardens. It’s a very relaxing space.
There was also a ‘happy hour’ of sorts between 3pm check-in times and 6pm, where guests can help themselves to a variety of teas, coffees, shochu, saké, juices and sparkling wine.
We were sharing a lovely (if very sweet!) glass of sparkling wine when I spotted this newspaper… yes, the entire mess is just as depressing in kanji as it is in English.
Oh well, we are doing our best to try not to watch too closely, I’m sure the coming years will bring more than enough horror, we don’t have to start engaging with it while we are travelling.
From a wide open corridor, was this unassuming sliding door which led to our room. We were in the INAKA suite.
The genkan (entry/foyer) was huge, and thoughtfully decorated with lovely fresh flowers and a helpful timber ramp to roll your suitcases in, or perhaps make the room accessible (though the rest of the room wasn’t exactly wheelchair friendly).
The genkan opened into a western style dining room, which turned out to be extremely handy as we spent most of a day working at this table. Hotel tables and desks are notoriously small, and in Japan, they might be 40cm off the ground! So we were grateful for this space.
Some onsen buns – plain with red bean paste, and slightly bitter chocolate and red bean paste options. I am not normally fond of red bean, but I must be getting accustomed to it, as the texture didn’t turn me off like it usually does.
Our room had huge pieces of polished and varnished natural timbers adding to the interior decor – it was incongruously sleek and modern, whilst at the same time having a traditional old world warmth and charm about it.
Great little corner of amenities! Coffee and tea making facilities, thermos full of ice and cold water, as well as an empty fridge for a change so we didn’t need to put aside the hotel’s beers and strange juices to fit in all my saké acquisitions.
Off the dining room was a balcony leading to an inner courtyard garden, it was a beautiful and quiet space looking into the carefully well kept garden, but slightly cold for lingering outdoors at the moment!
The main bedroom was also a sitting room, with two armchairs facing a television. These chairs can be moved aside and futons brought in if there are more than two people booked in the space.
I was super happy with the beds here, the firmer the better in my opinion, but Mr K isn’t too keen on hard mattresses.
More of the striking timber decorative pieces – these ones twisted and gnarled together. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before – very unusual.
Samue and Hanten coats for use around the ryokan… always much appreciated.
Even though our room came with samue (Japanese pyjamas) and sleeveless hanten coats provided, there was also a collection of brightly coloured yukata for guests, to use should they choose.
The bathroom was divided into four spaces – a toilet, a bathroom with sinks for doing your hair and make up etc, a dressing space for coming or going to the baths, and an outside space for washing before using the private onsen bath on the balcony.
The toilet above – quite a high end Japanese toilet with all the bells and whistles. I forget until I am in-country how much I appreciate the warmed toilet seats here. They don’t feel so great in mid-summer, and I imagine they’d feel awful back home, but when the weather is turning, along with the leaves, a warmed seat in the middle of the night is always a nice touch. Man, I’m getting soft in my old age… I’m almost certain there are descriptions in this blog somewhere of The Worst Toilet in a Turkish Internet Cafe Ever!
The outdoor wash room for bathing before getting into the onsen; it is all timber and smells like being ain a large cypress box!
The private open air bath. AMAZING! Haven’t met an open air onsen bath that I haven’t like yet, and don’t imagine I will. There’s nothing quite like sinking into the water at the end of a long day and just feeling all the tension and pain just leave your body.
Baths and saké… it’s turning into our little tradition everywhere we go. The spring water here is so clear, you can hardly see where the edge of the water is.
One of the draws of Syoubun was their advertised ‘mountain sourced kaiseki dinner’. All the food is said to be sourced locally, and considered warming ‘mountain food’. We had a small private dining room which was actually outside the main restaurant area.
But first, we thought we should try out the locally made Tanigawadake Junmai Daiginjyo-shu. It was lovely and refreshing, crisp without being dry, with floral hints.
Salt-grilled Iwana fish – a clear water river fish that feeds on moss and algae which flies it a cool fragrance. It is considered a light and rustic flavour that can be prepared deep fried, grilled with salt or cooked on rice in a pot. These are reared locally in Minakami.
Joshu beef toban-yaki, served with ponzu, spring onions with grated daikon radish, and fresh grated wasabi.
Seasonal stew of taro, rice, ginkgo nuts, shiitake mushrooms, topped with bean paste.
Yamamoto hot pot – fresh vegetables, tofu, mushrooms and dashi broth. Minakami rice – provided by the expert in rice production in Minakami, Honda Yoshimitsu, prepared with chestnuts.
Stewed plums, pear slices and apple gelato, served with tea.
That was definitely a hearty meal – usually these kaiseki dinners are course after course of elegant sized tasting portions, but this felt a little more solid than usual! It was at least an hour before I was back in the onsen bath.
I’d like to say I slept like a log, but alas, not enough saké and a little too much snoring meant I didn’t sleep so great. A restorative morning bath in the onsen was definitely a bonus!
Mr K unable to decide between caffeinating or bathing and opting for the time saving effort of BOTH!
I really like this bath, it is large enough to be comfortable, and has a couple of different steps you can sit on if you wish to raise your head and shoulders higher (helpful if you’re starting to feel too hot). There is no mechanism to add cool water if you are finding it too hot though. Seems the more remote the ryokans, the less likely we are to find a temperature control – only too happy to keep researching to test this theory!
Breakfast and we were back in our little private dining room from the night before.
Simmered grated yam (in the covered bowl), steamed savoury egg custard with plum, and reduced ponzu sauce.
Steamed Minakami mushroom, lotus root, carrot and Ginger; Yoghurt and pear; Cold chicken; Freshly cooked salmon in miso; various pickles down the centre to have with the Minakami rice; Lotus root and mushroom dumpling, Tofu; Soft boiled egg and Miso Soup.
I love Japanese breakfast!
After breakfast we went to town, managed to get some work done and came back about 2pm, before the next evening’s guests had checked in. We thought we would check out some of the other private/family bathing areas in the ryokan – these baths tend to be larger, and can accomodate a larger group more easily, and are available for other guests who do not have a private bath in their suite.
The gardens here are beautiful. Although we have some serious language barriers when in Japan, we do make an effort to try and communicate with the people we encounter… it seems the young couple that are running this facility, and our waiter from last night is also the gardener as he as cleaning the garden and pruning some shrubs this afternoon.
While we were out – the flowers in our genkan were changed! Completely unnecessary, but lovely nonetheless.
The ryokan was not as busy tonight, and we found ourselves redirected into the larger restaurant area filled with small private dining rooms… Japan has been Covid friendly since long before the pandemic, socially distancing diners from one another for centuries!
All dining spaces were differentiated with a different bird sign. Our little Owl booth for the evening:
First things first of course – biru and some saké.
Tonight’s dinner was called “Hermit’s Cuisine!”
The Blessings of Okutone: Homemade chicken ham; Smoked cheese; Hotaka salmon, Shiitake mushroom; Butternut squash; Cauliflower; Romanesco paprika, Radish; Kohirabi red radish; Wasabi; Leaves served with char and milk sauce, mustard and malt sauce, and homemade butterbur miso.
Root vegetable soup, made with burdock, Jerusalem artichoke and taro.
Fried taro.
Deep fried, Iwana fish… I’ve never had a fish served like this before, it was extremely tasty, and even though it was deep fried, it wasn’t greasy at all.
Seasonal boiled dish of turnip in meat miso sauce! All the umami flavours. *chefs kiss*
Meat dish of Oze pork, with plum and miso jelly.
Mushroom hotpot! OMG I’ve never seen so many varieties of mushroom on one plate before: maitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, petal mushrooms, namely mushrooms, yukiwaritake mushrooms, and hiratake mushrooms… and none of them taste like the plain boring button mushrooms we tend to eat most of at home! <insert happy dance here>
Mushroom hotpot was served with Minakami kamameshi rice grown locally by Honda Yoshimitsu. It’s very important where the rice is sourced and is obviously a matter of great pride. High quality rice is served to guests with all the pomp of pulling out good caviar or with the flourish a waiter might make when offering a particularly good vintage of wine. It’s serious stuff here.
Dessert was a simple Persimmon and apple gelato… and I really do appreciate that desserts aren’t heavy chocolate on chocolate with a chocolate motif like they often are in western restaurants.
Mr K feeling very happy with his wash, even though he has no idea where we are or where we are going next!
We went further exploring the ryokan after dinner… had to walk-off some of that mushroom somehow! The facility is much larger than either of us realised. Out the other side of the lounge area that we were using when we arrived, is a huge new wing of extra rooms and another family/private bath.
For a change, and possibly for Mr K’s sanity, I chose Western breakfast for us on the second morning of our stay at Syoubun. It turns out to possibly, maybe, kinda have been a bit of a mistake… I’ve come to appreciate the Japanese breakfast much more! This morning’s fare was a wedge of quiche, a small Weiner sausage, some salad, a couple of slices of tasty boar, egg salad, pears in yoghurt… all tasty, but just felt a bit heavy compared to the usual small portions of vegetables and fish, served with a wee bowl of rice.
Onion soup? Which had a gelatinous texture, not a French onion soup consumé type thing. Yuzu and apple smoothie that definitely was bulked out with some sort of green vegetable.
And a Chinese steamed bun? Very strange breakfast all round, but an interesting experience nonetheless.
I loved the little chopstick rest – with a little, ‘kersplat’ cat… summed up how I felt after a rather poorly night sleep. Mr K isn’t keen on the Japanese fondness for hard mattresses and it seems to make him snore like a freight train! I swear I had barely 3.5hrs sleep last night and amongst me throwing things at him, he slept like a log.
Breakfast also contained a warmed bread roll and some hard butter and a very very sweet western jam, which made me feel like I was on a plane!
Next stop we are onto Shimagawa… via town for work.
En route to Minakami, we did some work and then some shopping… snacks, drinks, fabric; you know, the essentials. Lunch time hit and Mr K wanted to find a sushi train. Something to do with us heading towards mountain towns and the high likelihood of there being a decided lack of sushi and seafood on menus, I think he was taking pity on me as he knows how much I love seafood in Japan. We found Hamazushi, which we think is another conveyor belt sushi restaurant chain? Not entirely sure but it was so similar to the last one we visited, odds seem high.
Ordered a ‘Melon Float’ (beause, Japan!), sadly not quite the winner the amazake was at the last place as it was waaaay too sweet.
None of it healthy. Most of it very tasty. Lunch for two for approximately AUD$12 each… can’t complain. Even ordinary sushi train here is better than good sushi train nearly everywhere else in the world.
On the way to Minakami, we stopped at a Tea Cup – I should clarify this a bit: that we call them Tea Cups stops, most other people would probably call them Roadside Service Centres. If you are road tripping, the Tea Cups are essential, because service stations where you buy fuel do NOT always (in fact, do not usually) have bathrooms for public use! The Tea Cups is what they are signed as on the side of the road. The centres are basically large roadside stops with clean bathroom facilities, restaurants where you can get a proper meal – there’s no deep fried fucking Chico Rolls here, baby! – loads of vending machines, as well as local snacks and produce, souvenirs and gifts all sorts of cool stuff. Nearly every one of these places seems to either have its own mascot or has heavily adopted the mascot of the local area. I do not know why – but we no complain. They’re so cute!
And the local mascot will be on everything! This little pig is super cute but kinda cranky-looking, but stuffed if I can figure out what / where he is the mascot for???
Honey seems to be big on the local produce scene here…
We’ve also fallen in love (all over again) with Japanese roadworks… they have the coolest signage and visual warnings to show that there will be delays ahead. I am certain if I could read the signage, it’s probably extremely apologetic about any impending delays. I haven’t managed to get a picture of the guy of the bowing guy that thanks you at the end of the roadworks, but I will continue to try!
We love the little inflatable dudes… they look different in every prefecture.
The little Gunma-chan is the main mascot for this entire prefecture – and he turns up in the most unlikely of places… on road furniture, on saké cups, on pickles!
So, next stop was one of those ‘Insta-famous’ places… I saw it as a recommended stop on a Reel on FB, and added it to my list of things that were en route to places I knew we were going. Jack the Tart Fantasty. No idea who named this place, but Hokkaido cheese tarts in Minakami in the middle of Gunma? Why not, I say! To be honest, I just thought their aesthetic was cool, and wanted to check it out, but taking Mr K here was probably not my best laid plan – because he really likes the sweet stuff!
Weirdest little place ever! We are in the middle of like a tiny town, smaller and as remote as say, Cooyah, and there is a tour bus here visiting a tart shop! They have jazz music playing softly in the background and a LARGE cafe out the back for visitors to have a coffee and a tart. I have no idea what the jazz, old books, and a manual typewriter have to do with Hokkaido cheese tarts in the middle of a Japanease mountain prefecture like Gunma?! But here they are!
I was right, letting Mr K decide what to buy was complete folly – I wanted one cheese tart, he bought seven! Two plain cheese tarts, and one each strawberry, royal tea, matcha, chocolate and pumpkin!
They also sold these little containers of fudge/cookie slice pieces? I don’t know what these are exactly, but they had little samples out and it tasted like pure sugar so I left it well alone.
The most Japanese thing in the weird little cheese tart fantasty house was the Daruma – but he has no eyes yet! Not even one. :’( #SadDaruma
I have no idea how we are going to eat seven cheese tarts… when all our breakfasts and dinners are included in our accomodation in Minakami.
This was about enough for me! Though I did force myself to enjoy most of the strawberry one. Japanese strawberry things actually tasting like real strawberries and all, so it felt like a struggle worth doing.
Random photo of strange brutalist hotel for Angus… because bitches love brutalist architecture. In rural Japan. Confusing (and ugly) AF.
We found our ryokan without any trouble… all that is somewhere else.
After some stupid early work meetings, we made some time to go tootling around the mountains here to check out some of the other towns. So we took up a drive to Takaragawa Onsen.
It was nice to see some colour creeping into the mountains – though they should be bright red and orange by now in a usual season.
I’m still a bit disappointed at the lack of autumn foliage, it’s mid-November and everything should be deep red by now. Fuck climate change and fuck oil and coal executives with their bought and paid for politicians even more. What are we doing?
Still, even with the limited red and orange leaves, the drive into Takaragawa was really pretty.
Takaragawa is a very popular onsen town, and has been consistently rated as one of the best in Japan. It’s an interesting layout in the town – there are ryokan buildings on either side of the river and they all access large public onsens together rather than maintaining their own individual public onsens. Most of the baths are konyuku (mixed gender bathing) where ladies hire a bathing costume and men hide their goolies with their onsen towel. But there are also segregated bathing areas as well.
Now this whole place is ‘discreetly tattoos allowed’. As in, if you are one of the overnight guests staying in the ryokans, the tattooed can get away with using the onsens early in the morning or late in the evenings, or you might be encouraged to cover your tattoos with bandages… but generally, they still do not want tattooed people using the day facilities where the baths are busiest. This is partly why we chose nearby Minakami for a ryokan with a private bathing facility.
No photography allowed here, so here’s some pics blatantly stolen off the internet of the outdoor baths and they look amazing.
Takaragawa is really well known for its autumn magic landscapes.
Following the Tone River …
Minakami is a quaint little town with a small shopping strip near the train station – think about one tenth of the size of Hakone. We did find this quaint little glass art studio which had some beautiful but very chunky glass jewellery on display – it’s not really the sort of thing I wear, but I can appreciate how beautiful it is, and the artistry and skill that goes into making these gorgeous objects.
Seriyu Park on the Tone River has a cool little footbath where you can rest and enjoy the views of the river… which would have been cool, but there was an excavator about 300m away that seemed to be moving/crushing river stones (?) making a helluva racket! So maybe not so relaxing after all.
Also nearby on the riverside was a ‘relaxation zone’ which we initially thought was putt-putt, but then got closer and it looked to have a skate bowl, but got closer and realised it was just a strange arrangement of rocks and things for you to wander through with no seemingly obvious recreational purpose? Maybe it’s the start of a new garden of some sort? It’s a mystery… who knows!
Now, I wish I had taken a photo of the sign explaining this… this lovely riverside park which is where you come to get out of the city and enjoy the nature had been taken over with ‘glass crystal sculptures’ to ‘dazzle and delight’. It was a temporary installation that is over now and looks to have been associated with night time illuminations and possibly fireworks by the river! No particular reason for it seemed evident – like it doesn’t appear to be an annual festival or something??? And, sadly, we missed the night shows by about three days.
I’m easing into it here…
With the polite and not overly strange sculptures…
Then there was this enormous 6-7m diameter monstrosity of glass, driftwood and crystal, mirror balls and ???
So much glass, so much crystal Barbie shiny, so much mirror ball!
Enquiring minds need to know, “Why?”..!
Truly bizarre… and wouldn’t it be some sort of fire hazard?
And all by the peaceful river…
After the excitement and confusion of the Crystal Barbie Park, as it will henceforth be known to us forevermore… we went to the little town, picked up some local beer, saké and retreated to our ryokan to go back to work!
