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J5 Transit back home

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Time to say farewell to our gorgeous onsen suite and start the trek home. Japan is only a 9 hour flight so it doesn’t feel as never ending as a Europe or US transit, thank fuck! The end of a trip is always kinda sad, but I’m always so grateful to have been able to come and see these gorgeous towns and the beautiful scenery and enjoy the lovely food and the break from the usual routine.

As we are packing, Mr K says to me: ‘You could stay a little longer if you want to…’ Fuck! Now he tells me! Maybe next time I totally should, I could see myself tootling around another couple of ryokans or tootling about with the Messrs Stokes who are in Kyoto. Oh well, too late to change plans now.

We had a few errands lined up to deal with on the way from Hakone to Haneda, but it should be a pretty chill day hopefully – only about a 90 min drive and one we’ve done before. So fingers crossed everything goes smoothly. First to Odawara to the nearest Donki to try and find some weirdnesses to add to this year’s Christmas gifting. 🙂

Sorry, SirLee – I don’t have you in the Christmas draw this year or I would have bought a couple of bottles of ridiculously cheap whiskey. I do have one of my nieces though…. 😀 Vanilla caramel spermatozoons! What’s not to love? They even promise to make you look great on social media! 🙂

I just… what? I’ve forgotten what shopping in Japan is like.

Total retail regret: should have bought this strange strawberry heart shaped pillow home with me; even though it would have been a struggle to fit it in the luggage somewhere. 😉 It was super cute and very Japan.

I’ve been out of the cities for too long… everything feels like an assault on the senses. From the traffic lights talking to me, to the escalators and their musical singing/warnings, to just walking past some random Hello Kitty machine that is nattering in an overly kawaii voice trying to get us to buy popcorn! Argh! Take me back to the peace and quiet of the onsen towns.

Our drive to Haneda Gardens was marked by one traffic jam after another. Like seriously, our 90 min drive turned into more like 3 hours plus, in total. Once we got onto the interchanges is when the fun started… the fuel light came on in the car, and both of us really needing a Happy Room! With 27kms to drive, and the car saying we had about 36kms worth of fuel, we were desperately looking for a petrol station. Lord knows the Happy Room was likely going to be out of the question, we had passed numerous konbini before we hit the interchanges but then there was nothing but noise barriers fencing us in. If we left the highway, we could have been driving around for ages looking for fuel, and this close to the city, konbinis with car parks gets to be few and far between.

We managed to limp all the way to Haneda and turn off where we needed to on the sniff of an oily rag… range anxiety was relieved when we found a fuel station (fortuitously the one closest to our car hire return place later!), and very unexpectedly – they had a Happy Room for customers (most petrol stations here do not). Feeling much happier in spite of our 90min turned 180min drive, we made our way to Haneda Gardens to meet Yale for some late lunch before we could return the car and go check in.

When we got there – we were surprised by a show of super cars in the car park! Wow! There’s some serious money here!

Inside was an even more choice selection of fancy cars inside.

But no time to dilly dally, it’s now 3pm and sushi lunch was waiting. Favourite Haneda Gardens sushi restaurant inserted here so I can find it for next time we are in need of a sushi fix before heading to the airport!. Tsukiji Sushiko Takumi… I won’t ever remember that!

Yale chose the Uber plate of all the things.

I tried the All Tuna All the Ways nigiri platter…

Mr K had his favourite tempura donburi, and a savoury steam custard with roe and smelt and all good things.

Several beers and a good catch up later and we were soon ready to repack some final things and make our way to the airport for the overnight flight home. Mr K dropped us to the airport and then took the car back, and met us back on the concourse.

We front up to the Business check in, and I ask the lady if Yale’s business upgrade request had been successful – and sadly it had not been. So we checked our bags (three of them: 2 x 25kgs and 1 x 10kg bag), in what must be our lightest ever return from Japan. Mr K then asked the lovely staff member if he could take home a bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne that we never got around to drinking because there is so much affordable quality saké everywhere… unsurprising that! Sadly, and very predictably, she said it would be taken off us at security, so he handed it to her with a flourish and said, “Happy Birthday, we hope you enjoy this!” And off we went towards security and the JAL lounges.

Security turned into a trial… I’m rolling my eyes here, but here is a actual copy of a text I sent to a friend while waiting for the guys to sort their shit:

”Oh my god… I can’t transit with these two ADHD squirrel-brained fuckers at the same time! 😵
One had a 500ml can of 196 in his carry-on so they pulled him out of the line… while he simultaneously misplaced his smart watch and had to hunt through hand luggage that looked like it was packed by a bipolar raccoon to find where he’d stashed the damned thing barely two minutes earlier! The other had six very teeny (but very stabby!) steel souvenir forks in his backpack 🙄 and we had to wait another five minutes while he rifled though that backpack which also looked like it was packed by some sort of escaped rabid lab monkey! And I’m sitting there thinking, “Seriously MFers?!” 😐 I’m the one with the titanium knee and the only one not causing dramas at security!”

Preserved for posterity!

The JAL First Class Lounge was busy, and not as calm or as nice as the one at Narita… but we no complain: saké on tap and sushi delivered to your table (though I was no longer hungry after the tuna on tuna platter earlier. It had been an unexpectedly warm day, so showers and cool drinks were much appreciated no matter what. The lounge is very stylish in a Japan meets Scandinavian minimalism kinda way.

I loved this wall near the shower corridors… it’s covered in nails and each nail has a round token hanging from it creating a design that is obviously Fuji in JAL colours.

Damn, forgot to photograph the hair dryer. 😉

Yale managed to try most of the menu… I was just keen to rehydrate and get ready to take some drugs and hopefully sleep the night away.

So, being in the lounge getting ready to fly home, of course my mind was wandering to the next trip… and I don’t mean the cruise to NZ in January (or the weekend popover to Auckland next weekend), I mean, we are back in Japan next May for the Transport and Mobility expo at Osaka 2025. I’m hoping to tack on a few days in Hokkaido, as Mr K is keen to sus out the integrated transport options for the Shinkansen between Hakodate and Aomori. Anyway… got me wondering what the mascot for Hokkaido was… and it’s this strange ‘round moss head dude’ who is always depicted with a huge package! Marimakkori is his name. I feel like photographing him with small children is almost as bad as getting a pic of your kid with Pedo-Bear… oh wait, who would do that? Right, we would.

Big dong Marimakkori! Then I saw this cartoon of him and was wondering… are those? No, surely not!

Thankfully the translation proved it to be not as obscene as it could have been! But, Japan – you never know what to expect. Point in case*:

* I can neither confirm nor deny whether I may or may not have been the one who set his Messenger nick to that at some point on this trip. LOL.

Before too long, it was time to board, and Mr K and I went straight in with our Group 1 boarding fanciness. Sadly, Yale was in cattle having missed out on his upgrade. I felt so bad, all 5’ nothing of me in the front, and 6’9” of him in the back… but as I was walking down the gangway, I saw he was held up. The ladies at the boarding switched out his boarding pass and he was given the very last seat in the business cabin after all! I wonder if it was that bottle of Moët & Chandon that won the day! 🙂

Yale looking very happy with his unexpected and very last minute wash!

We were offered a late supper, which given I hadn’t eaten in the lounge was welcome – though I have to say, the quality of the Qantas Japanese set meal seems to have gone down from last year. I can’t honestly say if it’s just my impression because we have been eating fabulous and delicious kaiseki meals on this trip, or whether it really has slipped a bit. I know Qantas domestic meals have definitely been a bit on the ordinary since Vanessa took over, (and as a shareholder I heartily approve of cost cutting measures, but as a consumer of the product, I’m all like: “Fuck you!”), so it’s possible that it’s not as good as I recall.

Flight was uneventful, no stinky feet, no crying children, not even any snoring businessmen!

Early storms in Sydney caused delays for our flight, but we made it back to Brisbane by about midday… and were met with gloriously blue skies and 29°C at home.

Hopefully, I’ll find time for a nap, and then Hatsune Miku tonight! 🙂

Hakone – Odakyu Hotel Hatsuhana II

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Woke up early to keep our appointment in the private onsen, Kawato, that we had booked for before breakfast. It was all the way back down the slope car to the ground floor again and this time back towards the main building. I wasn’t expecting steps, but up we went.

Only to find that we were then going back down again… I have a feeling we should have been told about this. :/ My knee is pretty good but certainly it’s a little stiff in the mornings still.

We eventually found the right place – found a comfortable and well equipped change room and shower like all the other onsens.

And then stepped outside to see this! WOW!!! What a simply glorious and decadent space. I was blown away.

Surrounded by the forest, and the sounds of running water and bird song, it was just magic. I must have been standing there (nekkid!) admiring the space for about two or three minutes before I realised there were steps going down into the water and it was 1.1m deep!

This was just beautiful.. the water was soft and silky, the steam rising off the water looks inviting, the green forest beside the infinity pool was just so relaxing. I’m totally seeing how this would be just the most sublime break from the big city if you lived in Tokyo’s bright neon sing-songy streets.

I didn’t want to leave!

After our amazing onsen bath, we went back to the room for a while and cooled down before heading up to breakfast in the restaurant… another private dining room with a beautifully presented breakfast.

In the box: vegetable castealla; Boiled duck; Auricularia; Bayberry, pickles; Marinated egg with soy sauce; Hadano vegetable with home made dressing.

Breakfast sashimi is definitely something I could get used to: mackerel and Hokkaido scallops.

Dried horse mackerel.

Steamed vegetables and grated radish ponzu sauce.

Hot pot dish: Chicken ball and grilled green onions with fried tofu.

Yoghurt with fruit and agave syrup.

Breakfast everywhere we have gone has been amazing, I haven’t managed to finish a single one of them, but it’s always beautifully presented and often filling enough that we skip lunch.

Some more photos around the reception while we get ready to head to town for the day.

When we returned to the ryokan, we had been moved to a different room – the Internet in our room kept dropping out. It was attached to the back of the television and was overheating and turning itself off and back on again once it had cool… not a problem when you’re on holiday, quite a big problem when you’re on a work trip mixed with a bit of holidaying. We didn’t really want to move rooms – we were super happy with our enormous day bed and lovely balcony onsen, but they upgraded us and moved us from the first floor to the fifth floor… to an even bigger room!

Same tasteful decor.

I swear the first time we stayed in Japan we stayed in an Airbnb with four of us in a room a fraction this size… and the second time we came to Japan we stayed in an APA hotel with a double bed in it and not enough space on the floor to open a single suitcase! 🤣 Things have changed.

This room had an enormous walk in close that could be used as a dressing room, with paper screen doors that closed together for privacy.

It also had a traditional Japanese living/sleeping room with a handful of futons in the closet in here.

Talk about lux… they could have just popped to a BIC Camera and picked up a ¥7000 modem and we would have been quite happy where we were.

The staff even moved all my saké stash to the fridge in the new room too. Score!

Good to know we weren’t suffering with a ‘lesser’ hairdryer down in the other room. 🙂

Okay, then for the star of the show for this room: a fabulous outdoor lounge and a much larger onsen bath… sweet.

It was lovely… and so was the saké.

We had spent the day showing the Messrs Stokes around Hakone and they had come back to our ryokan to have dinner with us tonight. With a bit of pre-planning, the staff at Hatsuhanna were only too happy to help us have a fancy kaiseki dinner party. So we had booked a private onsen for the guys to go have a bath and relax, while Mr K and I had a soak on the deck. Then it was time to go to dinner all relaxed and chill.

We had an excellent photographer capture us a happy group pic.

It’s difficult to see in this image, but this peanut sized dish it double stacked high, and has a lid on it. The top level comes off, and gets laid across the bottom level leaving a “+” shaped dish.

Such a creative serving concept. In the centre above: Ayu sweet fish and rose with herbal medicine stew; and char-grilled Pacific saury with tomato.
Below: Pinchos sushi with Kinatarou trout, avocado, and chopped wasabi.

Sweet shrimp with maple leaf; Boiled crab and chrysanthemum daisy leaf salad; Glutinous barley tofu.

This may have been before the attempted mass monetisation of an effort to save Australia’s honey bees..? Hard to say.

Chrysanthemum soup with shrimp Shinjo (or cake), leafs and bud.

Sashimi course was awesome: tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, konjac under there and sweet boiled shrimp.

Grilled marbled rock fish with rock salt, Kabous (citrus) fruit), Japanese ginger, ginko nuts, Ginko biloba rice crackers.

Above: Japanese pickles. Eggplant pickled in sweet vinegar and watercress from Hakone, and red miso soup.

Charcoal Joshu beef loin with porcini sauce served with small turnip, King trumpet mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms, Maitake mushrooms.

Seasonal Odawara Harumi rice.

Deep-fried sesame tofu with grated names mushroom, green beans, cart shape like momiji.

If someone had told me twelve months ago, that these three people would be dining together in Japan in 2024, I would have been damn near been ready to bet our house against it… it’s so weird how things work out. We had a lovely evening, I hope it was a memorable experience for the Messrs Stokes also.

Woke up to a simply gorgeous morning! Wish it had been this clear yesterday while we were out hunting for views of the mountain… but from the warm and comfort of our large onsen bath – I won’t complain

At breakfast this morning we were lead to a dining room with a view!

Boiiled seasonal vegetables; Ganmodoki (deep-fried tofu mixed with thinly sliced vegetables); Grated yam with Yukari, Minced raw tuna; Kamaboko mad in Odawara; Pickled Japanese horseradish; Simmered prawn in seasoned broth; Boiled whitebait; Grilled spicy fish eggs; rolled tamago; Pickles; Salad made in Hadano and fruit… holy shit that is a lot.

Homemade tofu with soy and ponzu sauce. Plus there was broiled miso soup and miso-marinated black cod.

Thus endeth our stay at Hakone’s Hatsuhana. Loved every minute of it… gorgeous place, amazing staff and excellent food and accommodations. I have to say though… I kinda prefer the more traditional ryokans, this one is definitely designed to impress people who are kinda over the traditional Japanese way of doing things. We are checking out this morning and starting the transit home. Again.

Hakone Part II

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There is quite a lot to do in the Hakone area, last time I was here, I went to the Open Air Museum, the Venetian Glass Museum and had driven around from Atami through the mountain pursuing views of Fujisan. This time, we were in Hakone proper – down town to taste the delights; and I mean ‘taste’ quite literally. Hakone has become rather Insta-famous for its local food offerings.

The Haya River that we followed all the way down from Nishiyama yesterday.

More Hakone marquetry… it’s everywhere and I love it and want to take it all home, but I know the minute it leaves here and I attempt to juxtapose these things into my home, it will feel out of place, and I will wonder why I bought it. So I was restrained and didn’t buy any kitchen trays, or coasters, or a tissue box cover, or desk set items. Very mindful. Very demure. Very 2024…

Recontextualised Kokeshi dolls… Star Wars. Made me wonder though : where are the shelves of Pokémon cross over Kokeshi?

The whole main drag of Hakone is shops and famous snacks, shops and famous snacks. One of the most iconic (and Instagram’d) snacks are the Castella-yaki Hakone Manju mini-cakes made by Kikukawa Shoten… try saying that five times fast after a bottle or two of saké. They are a small western-style manju cake – a lightly sweetened sponge cake encasing a white bean paste, stamped with a cute onsen symbol and literally saying ‘Hakone’. The machine making these was really quite neat, loads of people were video’ing the machine working, and taking photos of themselves eating their fresh and warm ¥80 manju cake. Yes, these things are so famous everyone who comes here buys one to put on their socials, and they are still only AUD$0.80 each.

Further up the street is a hippy dippy crystal shop – you can’t seem to get away from these. They are in every corner of the globes… I’ll have to tell Col Dazzles it’s here – he loves these places.

Japanese Dango snacks – sticky savoury rice dumplings on a stick. They come in a bunch of different flavours and are cooked over charcoal… we thought we would try the miso walnut flavour.

Oishii! Miso-y, walnut-y, gooey goodness… also comes in sesame and onsen flavours? No idea what ‘onsen’ flavours are, but if it’s kinda local sulphuric goodness, no thanks!

This guy was in this box all day, packing soba noodles into small packages for sale. I’m not sure why he had to be in a box like a zoo exhibit, but man he was quick with his task.

Daruma cups… cranky faced Daruma. I like him (he ended up coming home with us).

Kamaboko is another type of Hakone local snackage – it’s a type of fish cake made from processed fish paste. They’re very popular and we have seen kamaboko appearing in our breakfasts in particular over the last few ryokans. They’re apparently a specific produce known from this region (Hakone, Odawara, Numazu) – there’s even a museum around here somewhere showing how they’re made. And like all things in Japan, anything worth doing is worth doing excessively well, or artistically. Here they have definitely raised their kamaboko fish paste snacks into an art form!

We decided to have a a late lunch today as we planned to skip dinner. And planned to do so in two stages – because I wanted sushi, and Mr K wanted tempura or a donburi. So first, we found a little izakaya where Mr K could find something yummy to suit his preference, and in a couple of hours, we are going to hunt down some sashimi for me.

Of course, while I was there ostensibly to make sure Mr K got himself some tempura and donburi or similar, I did have time to get myself a wee bottle of Hakone Mountain saké and some super rare, wagyu nigiri… nice entree to my sushi later! I love how they always assume I need two cups with my saké even when Mr K has ordered a beer! 😛

Mr K managed to find himself a pork tonkatsu and some nice fresh chicken karaage. After Lunch Stage 1, we kept wandering the street checking out all the shops… saw this awesome foot bath just outside a random shop selling condiments and sauces! Love it!

I think cooling foot baths would go down a treat in downtown Brisbane in mid-summer, but if you saw a public water feature like this at home and put your feet in it, you’d likely get a talking to by the cops!

It was very overcast today and I was hoping things would clear for when we caught up with the Messrs Stokes tomorrow. It would be rather sad to not get any good views of Fuji in, but we can’t control the weather – and while we couldn’t see the mountain, I was enjoying the moody atmosphere it created in the town.

Lunch Stage II: Nakamuraya Sushi… great menu, obviously used to tourists who can’t make up their mind. Slightly expensive compared to seaside towns on the west coast, but oh so fresh and delicious!

Another wee bottle of saké, though this time it’s was some mystery junmai that the landlady chose. I didn’t even ask! Wasn’t the cheapest on the menu, wasn’t the dearest either. 🙂

Mr K’s pickle baby nori rolls, and I ordered the Supreme sashimi bowl – complete with salmon, tuna, fatty tuna, scallop, ebi, uni, unagi, mackerel, yellow tail, cuttlefish, cod roe and god knows what else! Amazingly fresh, delicate and absolutely delicious! This is going to ruin sushi for me for at least the next six months in Australia! Oh wait.. in six months, we will be back. Brilliant! Carry on…

After a bit of a wander around the town some more, I told Mr K that we had to stop for a famous Hakone Terimisu ice cream… we had come past here earlier in the day and there was literally a packed rope line keeping patrons in line to buy their famous Terimisu ice creams. Now, I fucking hate coffee, but Mr K loves it, so *shrug* he took one for the team so I could take a pic of just one more iconic Hakone snack. Please note, none of the Insta-snackables actually ended up on Instagram. 😀

The hardships of it all! I did buy some strawberry and brandy flavoured puddings to take back to the hotel tonight – given we are skipping dinner tonight in favour of Lunch in Two Parts, some light puddings might be nice after the onsen later!

Hakone is really pretty – it feels rural, a bit like all the other little onsen towns we have been visiting, but it also feels a bit like Montville or Leura in the Blue Mountains, in that it is so heavily touristed, it feels like a totally fabricated place for the local city dwellers to get away to, to kid themselves that they’ve actually gotten away from Tokyo for a bit.

Managed to find a really nicely stocked saké shop so I could buy a few small selections to add to the ume-plum/pity saké I had bought in Minakami to share with ColDazzles when he arrives – apparently he isn’t into saké… Yet! But we have plenty of time to bring him around to the rice side! 🍶

Great selection.

We expected to see way more tanukis now we were back out of the Gunma region as they have been really prevalent when we were down this way before, but sadly, not many to be found until I spotted this 3’ cutie.

After this, it was back to the ryokan, and we will be back to a bit of Saturday morning sightseeing tomorrow.

Met up with the Messrs Stokes after they had what sounds like a trying morning of trains and no taxis. There’s a lot to be said for studying the public transport from ann objective distance! First stop after we got them settle was to head off for the Hakone-jinja shrine. Sadly, it was a lot more overcast than I had hoped, I don’t think we will see the mountain peeking through today.

The Hakone-jinja shrine dates to 757AD. Military commanders used to come to this shrine to pray which is what initially brought it nationwide fame. Another popular group of people who would come worship at this shrine were travellers and pilgrims who would come to pray for safe travels. Nowadays the shrine’s ’Heiwa no Torii’, or Red Gate of Peace which stands proudly tall out towards the Lake Ashinkoko has become a ridiculously Insta-worthy tourist spot… people line up here literally for HOURS to get their selfies in front of the torii gate. HOURS! I can’t fathom it when you have limited time in town.

When we arrived there were groups and groups of tourists lining up for their chance for a selfie, and it looked like it might be impossible to get a shot without anyone in it. A group of six Chinese tourists had just scurried into prime photo position and started taking their pictures of each other in small and large groups when I struck up a conversation with three Americans from Michigan who were next in line… I asked them if I might have 30 seconds to take some photos with no one in front of the gate, before they moved in. They were happy to let us take a moment, and in return I offered to take some group pics of the three of them together. What a zoo, though! These girls had waited an hour and twenty minutes for their photos in front of the gate; seriously, the weather is making for very average light for selfies in front of the gate, I don’t get it. 😮

More pirate ships. Fuji in the background all covered in clouds.

After a brief stop at the shrine, we made our way to the Hakone Checkpoint – but first a Tea Cup. But not just any Tea Cup, this one had a Great Wall of Saké. Amazing! 🤩

Felt just like being back in Takayama… I could have spent an hour here trying all the saké, but with one minor in tow, we kept moving.

The Hakone Checkpoint was originally an inspection facility during the Edo Period (1603-1868) which was designed to help keep Edo safe (Tokyo, as was). It was considered the major checkpoint for all parts of Japan, and there was a network of as many as fifty checkpoints across the country across the period. Nearly all the checkpoints were abandoned well before the 1860s. There is a lot of information here on the reconstructed Checkpoint itself, how it was constructed, what kind of tools and techniques were used to rebuild the medieval buildings, and how it was completed using authentic methods in 2007.

It took a little bit more digging to figure out what this checkpoint was actually used for. Turns out it was primarily a point used to control the proliferation of firearms (fair enough), and to patrol and control women attempting to escape Edo and their horrid arranged marriages (fuckers). Women have been put upon in every culture in every corner of the globe for ever.

The six meter-high Kyoguchi Gomon gates.

Sadly there were not a lot of plaques with English available for translation, and the ones I did translate seemed more to be about the reconstruction of the site rather than the period use of the site.

Diorama showing the women attempting to escape Edo being inspected – reminded me of traversing Pakistani customs!

The site of the checkpoint is really quite beautiful by the lake, definitely a nice spot to stop and enjoy the natural surroundings. Each summer, large fireworks festivals are held on the lake that set off tens of thousands of fireworks with Fuji in the background, and attract loads of visitors.

After our potter around the checkpoint, we head for a quick spot of lunch and then head back to our ryokan for the evening.

Hakone – Odakyu Hotel Hatsuhana I

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Every trip we try to find one place to stay that is a little cut above and special. This trip, I chose Odakyu Hatsuhana in Hakone. From everything I had read, this place is one of the most sought after ryokans in Hakone with incredible facilities, five star service, fabulous onsen baths and an amazing restaurant.

Being a larger (though not large by Western standards – with only 47 rooms) it had some impressively spacious reception areas with gorgeous modern Japanese interior design. We were greeted and led to the lounge area for check-in, which was all warm tones, a fireplace and flower arrangements.

Mr K opted for a welcome beer and I chose a yuzu tea.

Our room was a Deluxe Room type A with a private bath on the balcony. The genkan was large – to the right was a closet and the toilet, and before us was a sliding pocket door the living area.

The living area had a typical western couch and an enormous day bed, huge television and sliding screens that led out to the balcony.

A dresser in the corner came well equipped with coffee machine, kettle, a teapot and cups for making Japanese tea, a marquetry box with snacks, drawers with wine glasses, drinking glass, coffee cups, and a fridge full of beer, soft drink and juices that were all included.

To the left of the genkan was the sleeping area with two double sized beds – it was a very LARGE room.

Beside the day bed was some sliding screens that rolled back to reveal the bathroom.

The private views to the gardens from the balcony were lovely – even though this was the 3rd floor, it felt like we were in a ground floor garden.

The bathroom was lovely and modern with gorgeous lighting, all modern tile, timber heated floors and sooo many amenities available.

Big waffle weave bathrobes and a sleek black hair dryer that I’m sure some Japanese blogger would approve of mightily.

Through the bathroom was the shower room – which I gotta say had *the* best shower head I have never encountered. I meant to find out what brand it is, and find out if I could get one installed in my bathroom back home!

Step through the shower and onto the balcony – this is the private bath we are going to have to suffer with for the next three days! OMG… just gorgeous!

The water in Hakone is known as simple alkaline springs, so it is soft and feels silky. Not as hot as some onsen baths, but they have provided a button to press for cold water if you find it overheating. So lush!

The water looks so inviting.

Unpack a little, shower for a bit, and then soak with a saké for a lot! I love it!

Infinity pool onsens… this is gorgeous. Though most of the garden should be orange and red by now, I didn’t mind one bit.

The marquetry box contained some mocchi and weird little local buns. Hakone mountain local treats.

The genkan closet with the toilet to the right. The layout of this room was really well thought out.

These must be very high end toilets – it would spritz, and self open as you walked into the toilet, sound running water when you sat down, and sing a little song as it was flushing. 🙂

The closet contained, soft hanten coats, yukata in numerous sizes, samue for wearing around the room, and a small sign saying there was a dress code and that samue were not welcome in the dining room. Hoity-toity!

Before dinner we went down to the lounge for pre-dinner cocktails. The lounge is available for guest pretty much all day. There is tea and coffee, a fairly solid bar of alcoholic beverages, saké, red and white wine, champage, juices, iced tea options as well as a small buffet of savoury and sweet snacks.

The restaurant was on the fifth floor and was decorated in lush but subdued purple and gold tones.

Another full bar here servicing the restaurant, though there seemed to be price list for drinks in the restaurant… and when we opened the wine list we found out why. There is a hugely impressive cellar of foreign wines and local sakés.

The private dining room were created with timber or glass walls with beautiful designs on them.

Our meal started with an aperitif of yuzu liqueur – oddly enough served in these very familiar Swedish Kors shot glasses.

Personally boxed cypress chopsticks… the card that came with them said they were a gift and could be reused along with instructions on how to care for them.

I ordered a sakê tasting flight of local Hakone sakés – they were all excellent. Though it wasn’t cheap… possibly the most expensive tipple we had ordered the entire trip; ¥5300.

Smoked salmon and marscapone mousse; Salmon roe and French parsley; Albaone and abalone mushroom parmesean sticks.

Sashimi course – yellow tail and mackerel.

Wild Japanese red snapper and grated turnip in a bowl of carrot, bok choy, chrysanthemum and yuzu.

Roasted Kiyokawamegumi pork; Burdock with balsamic vinegar; zucchini, King trumpet mushroom. Hakone water cress; red Beniimo potato chips.

Grilled rice ball with bonito in salt, served with Japanese parsley, cracked rice, toasted seaweed, selected pickles, and wasabi.

Local clams with white wine, leek, beans, onion and chili.

Hot pot dish: Sashu beef stew with red miso, potato, carrot, onion and broccoli.

Fugu karaage (deep fried puffer fish), served with lemon and light chili.

Dinner was finished off with mango, dragonfruit and matcha gelato… it was a really delicious meal, so beautifully presented. I noticed a lot of the crockery out meal was served on showcased the rabbit and the toad of Japanese mythology – no doubt it was very deliberate that the motifs were carrying through many of the courses.

After dinner, we spent a little more time in the lounge having an after dinner drink and letting our meal settle before coming back to the room for a bath. Hatsuhana has a number of private onsens available for guest use, but we had some language issues trying to book it, so have a booking to use one of the larger spaces in the morning before breakfast. 🙂

The weather had been overcast since we arrived, but the rain had stopped and it had turned into such a beautiful evening.

That didn’t mean however, that we didn’t have a wander around and find the beer and ice-cream stash for after onsen chilling out.

In the morning we went into the building next door which housed all the onsen baths. It is connected via the long stone pathed walkway pictured above and below.

There is actually a slope car or we would probably call it a funicular to take people down to the first floor where the main public onsens are and some of the other private onsens.

This morning we had booked the Shijima bath – which I believe means ‘silence’.

The rooms smelled like beautiful fresh cut cypress. There is exposed timber everywhere, and a lovely seating area to use after your bath. Bookings are for 45 mins so that staff can come tidy up, and replenish the towels and amenities after guests have vacated the bath. We never saw any staff in these spaces – the reception gave us a keycard programmed to open the door at our allotted time, and in we went!

WoW! This bath is amazing! It is about 60cm deep, and large enough to easily accomodate six to eight people… and we have it all to ourselves!

Above us was like a 30’ ceiling with open timber rafters.

The design of these spaces is truly impressive. It is so beautiful and serene. My only hopefully constructive comment here is that while, yes I understand they are largely catering for a sophisticated Tokyo crowd with the Western classical music, I would have preferred a more Japanese ambient soundtrack. It seems incongruous somehow to be listening to what largely sounds like Muzak while enjoying this beautiful Japanese bath.

We popped upstairs to the lounge before breakfast to find ourselves in the clouds… sadly this would likely mean no views of Mt Fuji today as we spent our Saturday pottering around Hakone.

Back down in the dining room for breakfast… all the private dining rooms coming left and right off the corridor.

Carrot juice, Tamago, shrimp, Yubara, pickled plum, minced tuna, grated yam, pickles to have with rice, steamed tofu with ponzu sauce, whitebait and grated daikon radish, salad and some fruit! Delicious and so beautifully presented.

Of course when the rice was delivered, it also came with a small piece of grilled fish, and so miso soup.

Some morning photos of the reception area as we waited for the shuttle to take us to town for the day.

Hatsuhana also had a small gift shop – a little more upmarket than we have seen elsewhere. Pricey glassware and expensive marquetry items, as well as some of the local Hakone snacks that we were served in the rooms on check in.

We have a three night stay here, so for our second night we chose to find some local restaurants in town to have some dinner rather than the fine dining experience here three nights running! There is apparently too much of a good thing, though I’m not sure it’s fine Japanese cuisine that slots into that idiom so readily for me!


When we came back from town, we had some work to do and a late 10pm booking in another of the hotel’s private onsens. This one accessible via the slope car I mentioned earlier.

Minamo was the name of this onsen – which means ‘water surface’ and we would see why very shortly.

Another perfectly appointed dressing and changing area for getting ready for your bath and relaxing afterwards. They’ve thought of everything you could possibly need.

OMG the bath..! It was dimly lit, about 3x3m and 60cm deep, and stretching out before it for about 5m is a long reflection pool only a few inches deep.

Just such simple and yet stunningly gorgeous design… I went looking for a photograph of what it looked like in the day (though we thought we would try and book it again for tomorrow) and this is what I found:

It’s beautiful by day but by night it just feels like a dreamscape…

It was getting quite late by the time we finished in the bath so I thought I would go down further on the slope car to have a look at the large public use onsen – those are not for those tattooed amongst us, so I was going for a look around, but would not bathe there. The onsens swap at 3pm each day here so the men’s becomes the women’s and vice versa. Most ryokans do this swap at some designated time each day so people can see the entire facilities.

The locker room, change room, dressing tables, and showering station spaces were enormous! I swear they’ve tried to see if they can cater for the entire guest roster at any point in time.

There was a Hutti-putti verandah (I don’t know what else you would call it, a space with armchairs facing a garden where you could relax before or after your bath, and have a drink, an ice block or wait for your hair to dry. Perhaps just sit and be social if you are here with friends wanting to cool off after your bath.

A large infinity pool onsen bath that could easily accomodate a dozen people.

A huge bath made of river rocks with soft lighting and the sounds of running water were just so relaxing.

There was also a large round cypress bath under a gazebo – I’ll have to try and come back down during the day, but of course it is impossible to take pictures in these spaces if there is anyone here and they tend to be in use during the day hours.

We popped up to the lounge for a late night snack seeing we had had a late lunch and skipped dinner. There was G&Ts and some Japanese snackage and the lounge area was actually quite busy given it was now rather late.

Hakone Terimisu puddings… the last of our pudding consumptions! Strawberry for me and brandy for Mr K. They were really really good and totally deserving of their Insta-worthy reputation. 🙂

Nishiyama Onsen – Keiunkan

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Nishiyama Onsen and a stay at Keiunkan was a bit of a last minute addition to our itinerary and took us somewhat out of our way, but this particular ryokan has been somewhere that I have wanted to visit for a few years now. The drive to get there was beautiful and we chased views of Fuji though the mountains and the clouds throughout the morning.

Ducks heading north away from Fujisan… though I thought when you’re in the northern hemisphere, ducks were supposed to go south when it gets cold?

The afternoon light as we followed the Haya River towards Nishiyama was less than stellar – I am hoping we get some better opportunities to stop for some photographs of the stunning landscape on the way back out tomorrow.

Gorgeous…

Nishiyama Onsen Keiukan… unsurprisingly with some very established and well placed Japanese maple trees at their entrance.

We arrived at Keiunkan about 2:30pm – and even though we were early, the staff were extremely welcoming and accommodated us immediately. Keiunkan has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records, to be the oldest and longest established, continuously running hotel in the entire world and as such has an extremely long history of exceptional hospitality.

Known fully as Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, it is located in Yamanashi Prefecture and was founded in 705AD by a man named Fujiwara Mahito. It is an exemplar of the Japanese ‘shinise’ concept, which means, ‘long established business’, and is possibly the oldest independent company in operation after a Japanese shinise construction company, called Kongō Gumi, was sold/merged in 2006. It’s amazing that they have continuous records of the hotel on this site for so long.

I was curious to know what was so special about the location or facilities of this particular ryokan that allowed it to remain a viable business for so many hundreds of years. Built originally by Fujiwara Mahito, who was the son of a counsellor to Emperor Tenji, the 38th Emperor of Japan, the onsen gained popularity for the quality of its waters, and as a way station between Gunma and Tokyo. Many famous guests have stayed here, including the current Emperor of Japan… and now us! 😉

The ryokan was in the same family for 52 generations, (including having been passed down to some adopted heirs), right up until fairly recently when in 2017, when none of the extended family members wanted to take over the ryokan. When this occurred, a special company was set up and the ryokan’s long standing general manager, Kenjiro Kawano was selected as the new president. Because he was unrelated, he was unable to inherit the company that owns the ryokan, so ownership was transferred to a new holding company which allowed continuity of business, but sadly, the chain of family ownership was finally broken after an impressive 1300 years.

The lobby and reception area are on the top floor of the ryokan, all the guest rooms are down towards the gorge. We are on the first floor, which is the same level as the onsens.

I have no idea what this object is… it is covered in representations of so many artistic symbols, I couldn’t make head nor hide of it, but it attracted my attention nonetheless.

The hotel in it’s current incarnation was completely refurbished and some sections rebuilt entirely only a few decades ago – I imagine in it’s long long history, it has seen many sections closed and rebuilt in order to stay current to the needs of contemporary guests.

Our room had a small indoor rock garden by the front door.

Having added this stay to our trip only a few weeks ago, I had only managed to book a standard Japanese style room. Rooms with private open air baths are limited, and there are only 37 rooms in total in the entire hotel, which is larger than many of the places we are staying but still considered a small hotel.

Our room was a well appointed Japanese style room with tatami mats and low Japanese table and chairs. It takes a bit of getting used to, having all things at such low levels in the room – all the tea making facilities, phone, artworks, drawers; everything is designed to be at eye level, when you’re seated on the floor.

The ryokan is said to have an extensive collection of art that has been accumulated over the many years, and of course it gets cycled in and out of use in accordance with the seasons.

Arrival snacks – something sweet, and unusually something savoury to try later. Mushrooms… my favourite and thankfully Mr K is ambivalent. 🙂

Japanese tea making set, coffee, and a thermos of ice water.

Our room also came with a pair of comfortable couches with views from the large picture window down to the gorgeous Haya River.

We had pyjamas and yakuta, hanten coats and tabi socks provided; Keiunkan has their own custom yukata designs that showcases a lovely maple leaf design.

The bathroom was small but well appointed, including a Japanese style tub (small, but deep – perfect for a short arse like me!), that fills with hot water from the onsen. God, what I wouldn’t give for unlimited high alkaline, natural, hot spring water on tap at home!!

I’ll never get used to the bathroom slippers here… you leave your outdoor shoes at the genkan (front entry way), have some slippers to wear around the ryokan, then some different slippers (or sometimes just socks) to wear in your room, then if you step outside near the onsens, geta wooden sandals, and these random slippers that are just for wearing for the two minutes you might be in the bathroom! The toilet sorry, not the bathroom.

Most of our ryokan experiences have been in rooms with private open-air or semi-open air baths, due to my tattoos. Even onsens where they are happy to let people with tattoos use the public onsens, I am aware that my rather large dragon tattoo makes other people around me uncomfortable – so one of the first things we did on arrival was to book to use one of the private onsens available here. We booked the Seoto bath for 3:30pm, while many guests were still arriving and checking in.

The entrance above to one of the large public onsens – was set up for men at the time, and like most ryokans, they change the spaces at some point in the day so guests can use all facilities at different times of day.

I could see these covered passageways from up in the Lobby and Lounge are which is located on the third floor. The onsens are on the first floor and you take a lift to get down to these floors.

There was a small change room, and a small shower space outside, but we had chosen to shower up in our room before coming down.

Wow! The Seoto No Yu is such a beautiful space! It is said to be large enough to accomodate ten people, and I can imagine if you had ten friends you wanted to nude up with, yes, you could all fit in here, but we had the place to ourselves and it felt so luxurious.

It must be a never ending battle for the staff to be scooping the leaves out of the waters, but to be honest, to see these deep red leaves floating in the water, they looked very seasonal and added to the autumn feel of the whole garden space. Feeling thoroughly spoiled.

Cum pot saké… that’s not really what it is called, it’s just our long running joke with the super cloudy sakés.

I could certainly get used to this!

Even with the leaves floating delicately on top of the water, the water was so clean and hot and fresh… I noticed a couple of leaves that had slipped to the bottom of the water, and it was like looking at them under glass.

You come out of the onsen feeling like you have bones of jelly, and sometimes a little lightheaded. There is a small room to relax after your onsen bath, complete with vending machines full of alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, to rehydrate and cool down before heading back to your room. They recommend not drinking too much when using the onsen baths – but I notice nearly every ryokan provides plenty of alcohol should you wish to imbibe!

We tend to think that rehydrating thing is for suckers – so more saké for the people!

Decided to try the weird little pickled mushroom snack that was provided as a small arrival gift… OMG! One of the most amazing things I have ever tasted, such strong earthy, umami flavours – absolutely delicious! I immediately jumped on the internet trying to find these mushrooms so I could take some home. I even had Yale who was on a train heading back to Tokyo on the job – his Google-fu is often unparalleled in such things. Turns out that these are a rare snack – rare to have them offered to us as an arrival gift in the onsen, and even more rare to find in shops! FFS of course they are. Yale found that there was a shop he could have bought them in – in Takayama where he was yesterday, if we had known about them then.

Le sigh… always the way. Keep your eyes peeled when in Japan people! These were OISHI!!

While I was busy translating my mushroom package, I also took a moment to try and figure out what exactly was in the hand lotion I bought in Kusatsu. There are many many skin care products made in Japan that are created from the by-products of saké production – I haven’t looked into it too much, but they make for lovely smooth products that 1) don’t reek of roses, lavender or other random flowers and 2) tend not to be oily or leave residue over everything you touch. I bought this hand lotion as the water in Kusatsu was quite acidic and my hands felt noticeably dry… translating the bottle didn’t help me figure out what was in it though!

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Mr K and I getting ready for our kaiseki dinner in the ryokan’s restaurant – here, they use a large banquet space, and screen spaces off for privacy rather than purpose built private dining rooms; I believe it is because this is a popular wedding destination and the ryokan has been used for state occasions, so they need the large room for large or important occasions.

I really love the designs on the yukata here, and they’re made from a lovely cotton fabric also.

Of course, we started off dinner with some… saké. My body would be complaining something fierce if I had been drinking this much wine, but for some reason the sugars from rice wine don’t seem to bother me as much.

Feast of Shimotsuki Menu, starting with an apéritif of plum wine.

Layered construction: shingen minobu toso; mackerel.

Steamed duck with salt; Boiled Komatsuna Mushrooms; Salmon roe sushi; Sweetfish roe and small Ishikawa potatoes; Grilled miso vegetables.

Sashimi course: Akane konjac stacking: Shingen, Minobu Yokei, Various wives??? Hmmm interesting translation! Pretty sure it’s referring to the condiments.

Koshihikarai rice from Minamiuonuma (Niigata) with chestnuts; Ichika’s Thing: pickled bettors, spicy cucumber and wine radish; Red miso soup.

Little bit of onsen + little bit of saké = very relaxed for a change.

Turnip kettle with minced beef and miso paste.

Chestnut noodles.

Grilled mountain fish with salt.

Joshu beef grilled on lava rocks. Specially selected Joshu black A5 wagyu beef, garnished with vegetables and served with ponzu sauce, and yuzu pepper and salt pepper.

Hot spring Jelly Minobumoto …

Clear onsen water jelly, added some molasses type syrup and matcha flavoured powder, and dip in yuba and fruits… very unusual, but super tasty.

While we were at dinner, the staff had turned out futons for us. I filled the small tub in the bathroom and had a good long soak… the water quality here is excellent. I love it.

In the morning, we had booked to use the other bath, Kawane No Yu for 7am before breakfast… was a great plan. One of the best laid plans!

The bath was identical to the other private bath we used yesterday, only we could tell the staff had an easier time with the leaves this morning as it wasn’t as windy today. These lovely rock surrounded onsens are like something out of a movie… you can tell the spaces are so carefully designed to take full advantage of the natural surrounds, and the gardens have been very specifically planted to provide shelter and beauty. I just love it… I could onsen hop every year, I think.

My biggest challenge with the yukata at any of these ryokans? They’re not designed for the busty! Thankfully I picked up a packed of safety pins at a Family Mart on our second day here and I’ve been able to pin myself together rather than go off to breakfast looking like some blond bimbo anime whore!

Breakfast this morning consisted of carrot juice, miso salmon, chicken dumpling, steamed tofu with ponzu sauce, konjac sashimi, rice porridge, marinated eggplant, grated yam, miso soup with baby clams, assorted pickles, local rice, green salad and yoghurt with blueberries and raspberries! At home? Breakfast is a cup of tea… and I might remember to eat something around 11-11:30am.

The salmon this morning was really lovely – subtle miso flavour and perfectly cooked.

I made some of it into little nori rolls… so fresh and delicious.

Steamed vegetables wrapped in Tamago.

We hadn’t had this dish before served this way before, I think perhaps it’s not particularly common in Gunma… steamed tofu that you tip a light ponzu sauce onto, stir it in and eat with a spoon. Delicious and savoury in the morning. More usually, you will hav cubes of tofu served with a ponzu sauce to dip the tofu in.

Rice porridge… not a fan. It’s like eating a consummé with barley floating in it or something.

Miso soup with nearly every meal is a genuinely wonderful element of Japanese cuisine, and in these ryokans, even the ordinary miso soups are far superior to anything I’ve had back home.

After breakfast I stopped by the reception to fix up our bill… it’s often best to do this earlier in the morning before everyone is trying to do the same at check out time. Happened by the gift shop for a sticky beak.

I must not buy saké to take home! I must not buy saké to take home! Last year, my saké brewery hopping resulted in the buying of a whole new suitcase to bring home with us last year! I mUSt NOt buY sAké tO TaKE hoMe!!!

I totally bought some ‘hot spring violence’ to take home though! It’s little packages of onsen minerals to add to your bath. LOL.

OMG THE MUSHROOMS!!!!! Feels like a find of the century – to add to my already impressive pickle hunt. YES!!! Umami mushroomy goodness for the people… who knew fungi could bring such joy?
*happy dance*

I may have also bought myself a yukata in Keiunkan’s special custom design. Before too long, it was time to pack up and head off to our next stop… what a lovely stay at a truly traditional ryokan. Everything was exquisite – the rooms were beautiful, the onsens were amazing, the food was top shelf, and the staff were so friendly and so very welcoming and helpful. I highly recommend this ryokan. 10/10.