Tag Archives: food

Kusatsu

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We had work all morning at the Nakanojo Town Office, and afterwards stopped at a local tourist hub for some drinks and snacks before heading onto Kusatsu. I was looking forward to a scenic drive, and some quality leaf peeping with a bit of luck!

I couldn’t find any information on Nakanojo’s mascots. These large stone statues were really well done -I think we could all use more mascots back home. 🙂

Our server brought us some drinks – coffee for Mr K and a Ume soda for me, and some cake, because there were limited options at their coffee shop. It doesn’t matter what the Japanese are doing, it is always done with precision. The staff member put down the cups and turned them until they rested in this position, then did the same with the plates to make sure they were lined up and the forks were aligned… I actually really enjoy the Japanese peoples’ propensity for meticulousness in all things.

After work, we drove to Kusatsu. The delayed autumn foliage this year is a bit sad for us – predicting when the cherry blossoms are going to start appearing, or when the leaves are going to turn in autumn is going to be an ongoing crap shoot each year given that climate change is responsible for the unpredictable weather patterns.

This time last year we were treated to vibrant red landscapes even much further south and at lower altitudes than where we are here, heading towards Kusatsu. The downside with the delayed cold conditions is that apparently the tress with get hit with the cold too fast, and that causes the leaves to just die and fall off, rather than turn red for a few weeks and then fall from the trees… it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but for a country that increasingly relies on tourism, predicting the blossoms and the autumn leaves has wide economic effects as they are widely published to attract visitors.

Still gorgeous countryside and a lovely day for a drive through the mountains.

Of course the first truly red Japanese maples we see all day are the ones carefully planted and cultivated at our accomodation in an ornamental garden.

The next morning we had a bit of time so decided to go on a pickle hunt! Last night we had some truly delicious mushroom pickles with dinner and the staff told us where we could find them – at a local farmers market that is held at a Tea Cup (Roadside services centre) not far from Kusatsu, so we decided to go for a drive. Had some better luck with the autumn colours on this route!

Would you believe that this one very specific farmers market at this one very specific roadside service centre has its own mascot? Nyagahara is his name… so Japanese, so cute! I particularly like his little onsen modesty lap-lap. I think if I ran a business here, I’d create one too.

What a marvellous view… at a roadside toilet stop!

The farmers market was quiet – but had lots of lovely local produce available. Well, it was quiet when we got there, but a bus load of domestic Japanese tourists turned up TO THE ROADSIDE SERVICE CENTRE, and then it was bedlam.

Local named, Gunma rice.

A wide variety of locally made noodles.

Nyagahara has his own range of dam cookies and sweets! This is mad. 🙂

So the Yamba Dam is nearby – hence the ‘dam cookies’ that were printed with images of Nyagahara and the dam. We found a bakery selling this interesting Dam Curry Bread, so of course Mr K had to buy one to try it out. I had a small bite (of the curry end – potato salad in a fried breaded roll sounded a bit much for me!), it was very tasty for all that it was as touristy as it gets.

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Sweet buns designed to look like a local rock mountain called Maruiwa. We did not buy one of these, as it sounded way too sweet stuffed with Hokkaido melon cream.

Weirdly, this stop at the Tea Cup services was a lot of fun. 🙂 They also had a heavily patronised foot bath there to enjoy the views – I did not take a photo, as there were lots of people using the bath.

More beautiful red foliage, and of course no where to stop.

Over the couple of days we were in Kusatsu, we did find the time to go spend a couple of hours in town. Kusatsu is probably the most famous onsen town in Gunma. It attracts loads of tourists every year due to its famous medicinal waters, and the ‘yubatake’ in the centre of town where they have a famous system of elevated water pipes and channels to cool the geothermal waters to a more palatable and useful temperature.

Kusatsu is the first town we have come to on this trip with that typical sulphurous smell that you often get in volcanic and hot spring regions… it’s kinda strong here. There are 13 public onsen baths here, and most of them are free to enter for tourists and residents alike. They’re managed by the town and locals townsfolk, and several of the public onsens (ie: ones not in private ryokans) are tattoo friendly, including the three main ones: called, Sainokawara, Ohtaki-no-yu and Goza-no-yu.

One of the things the town is famous for is their, Yumoni shows; the water comes out of the ground here extremely hot 90°C plus and often close to boiling. So they use a couple of techniques to cool the water – they have a large open channel structure in the Yubatake that transports the water from the source along to the various onsens, and they use manual yumoni stirring techniques to cool the water… in which women (of course it’s the women) use the long wooden planks to lift and stir the water to cool it.

There are locals who demonstrates how it was performed in the traditional manner – and the ladies with their planks are the mascots and symbols of the town, so you see this imagery absolutely everywhere. On manhole covers, on bathing towels, on socks, on souvenirs, on cookies!

Ooh! The Great Pickle Hunt of 2024 continues… picked up some amazing leek in miso here. 🙂

Street directions into town show you exactly where the Yumoni show, and the Yubatake is…

Lots of tourists that need keeping an eye on… gotta let them know what’s hot and what’s not! 🙂

While not as steep as Ikaho with its 365 heavenly steps, Kusatsu is up hill and down dale, some of the streets are stupidly steep for pedestrians and I imagine they become quite hazardous when winter arrives and it is all covered in snow and ice.

The steps to the Kōsenji temple which overlooks the Yubatake and blesses the waters.

The Yoritomo Palace…

In the centre of town is the Shirahata Yubatake and Oasamiya Shrine, both cultural properties designated by the town. This is a particularly odorous pool of bubbling hot spring water!

It seems to have a small wishing well, though I dare say no one is collecting these coins, the water is so hot and acidic here.

Sign with a bit of history… if the translation is poor, blame Google Lens!

“In the fourth year of the Kenkyu era (1193), in Kamakura, Shogun Yoritomo entered the Rokurigahara area of Mount Asama. It is said that during the hunting season, he rode horseback to Kusatsu, renovated the lost hot spring source, and bathed in it himself. Since then, this hot spring has been called Goza-no-yu, and at some point, a shrine was built to enshrine Yoritomo. The current Yoritomo Palace was rebuilt in Yao in 1782, and according to the Kusatsu Onsen Tradition (Kosho-kai Shu Onsen Ondoki, It continues to convey this tradition to the present day and has attracted the deep faith of bathers at Kusatsu Onsen. In 1887, it was renamed Shirohata no Yu, but the old source is thought to be inside a small pool of water submerged in the Yubatake. It is a historic site linked to the Sekiyu legends and hot spring faith of Kusatsu Onsen. Also, up the stairs is the Yugurei camp.”

The Yubatake with its exposed channels of water trying to cool the waters before they get directed to the onsens.

‘From the Place of Mt Shirane – the flow of Kusatsu water’… which is supposed to be good for whatever ails you. No shit, the locals believe the waters of Kusatsu can cure everything ‘except love sickness’.

Lots of lovely little footpath cafes are dotted around the town. Have a matcha latte and a foot bath!

We went hunting for some lunch, preferably sushi or steak… I’m not fond of the soggy noodles, and this town seems full of ramen! We ended up at a place called Zen Steak, and I’m happy to report it was delicious! I chose a beef rib set that came with the most outrageously weird yellow salad I’ve ever seen (but totally offset with delicious pickles and a tasty red miso soup).

Mr K chose some Joshu beef that came with some lovely light and crispy tempura veggies – I love that he doesn’t like mushrooms that much! Totally works for me, every time.

Back outside things are very smelly!

The water bubbles up at one end of the main town square and is directed along these timber channels to cool.

Kusatsu is quite a bustling busy place, full of foreign tourists as well as domestic tourists… we believe this is possibly because of its accessibility. Yes, the Yubatake is interesting and iconic in its purpose and design, and people come to see the ladies and their water stirring planks, but Kusatsu is also far better serviced by trains and buses making it the easier onsen town in Gunma to visit if you don’t have access to a vehicle or don’t have much time for transferring from trains to buses to shuttles.

At the end of the channel system, the water cascades down in a steaming hot waterfall. The source is from nearby Mount Kusatsu-Shirane and the water can be clear or cloudy, but definitely the most sulphurous water we have encountered in Japan so far. We found it to be way too acidic for our liking : the pH levels range from as low as 1.7 to 2.1 (usual ‘simple alkaline hot springs’, which are super soft on the skin are somewhere up around a pH of 7 or 8), and the temperature the water comes out of the ground at is between 51°C and 94°C… hence the need for all the cooling channels and the beating of the water with planks!

It is a gorgeous startling deep turquoise though, which is really pretty, photographically speaking.

I may have done that thing where I take too many photos and can’t pick the ones I like the most.

I’m looking at these photos and all I can think about is the patience required to stay the course until an utterly self absorbed family of Chinese tourists took their fifty fucking selfies and got out of the way so I could take a picture of the thing I came to see. *rolling my eyes constantly* Selfie sticks are so anti-social, I think they should be banned.

Like most small Japanese tourist centres, Kusatsu also has its ‘Instagrammable’ viral food trends… here, it is the onsen buns and the Tamago puddings! Gotta try the local shrimp ice cream or onsen buns or damn, twist my rubber arm, eggy pudding.

It’s called Kusatsu Tamago Pudding, but I prefer to think of it as Kusatsu Startled Cock Pudding… I loved the design so much I brought the jars home. 🙂

Fortuitously, (because my stocks were getting low!), I found a very cool saké store right near the Yubatake.

They had an excellent range with good descriptions – I was even complimented on my choices by the lady at the point of sale!

Oooh… do not need more saké cups, oh goddammit, a couple of them slipped and fell into my shopping anyway.

Around the corner I found this cafe with a wall of Daruma dolls creating a vibrant and interesting wall of colour… what a great design idea! If only they weren’t papier mache and hard to transport. Mr K was probably immediately glad that that is the case; no one really needs a wall of beady eyed Daruma dolls staring at you in the office. 🙂

Kusatsu is a lovely town, though I think because it’s so popular, I probably prefer Ikaho.

Kusatsu Onsen – Tokinoniwa

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Kusatsu is a very popular destination with both foreign and domestic terrorists, I mean, tourists (or do I?), and as such has soo many accomodation options; it was actually quite difficult trying to decide where to stay here.

I ended up booking us into a large hotel called,Tokinoniwa. It’s not directly in the centre of town and is located on a hill overlooking the whole area. The photos of the place made it look like a large traditional and atmospheric ryokan, while having all the modern conveniences and several options for well priced rooms with private baths which has been my main priority, given that my tattooed and criminal appearance has been keeping me out of the public onsens!

I’m really loving that we finally seem to have found some autumn colours. I’ve been to Japan once in summer, and it was not my cup of tea at all! Too much like sweltering it out at home in mid-summer. I much prefer the crisp autumn air, with the blue skies and the beautiful colours of the turning foliage. 🙂

Tokinoniwa is a large hotel with about 60 rooms, and the entire ryokan is tatami mat floored, which is catered to by a shoe check-in system at the large front genkan. I think it might be one guy’s entire job just to keep track of people’s shoes! They have a serious numbered tray system. It does slow you down a bit when it comes to leaving for the day, but if you just want to wander around the pretty grounds, there are geta sandals provided at all the exits to the gardens. 🙂

I saw this enormous green Daruma with his one eye painted and it made me wonder if it was the owner/manager of the hotel who had chosen it, and what was the goal for filling in his other eye? The setting of goals with Daruma seemed to be such a personal thing, that it seemed odd to me that a large establishment might have one like this… Maybe it’s to win hospitality awards? Maybe it’s to meet revenue targets? Who knows. I was kinda curious about it though.

The Lobby/Reception, check in area was really lovely – most chairs were facing large picture windows into a pretty walled garden, and a tea and coffee station was all set up waiting for you.

Unusually, we were handed a laminated card to ‘familiarise yourself with how to use the onsen’. I haven’t seen these before, there are often some signs up in public onsen areas but not so much in private ryokans, but this is a large establishment, so I guess? (Edit: this info card made much more sense when a large bus load of Chinese tourists turned up and each of them was given a card like this in Chinese!)

The ryokan is built around a large central Japanese garden which has a pretty little hot spring creek running through it. Every time you walked the corridors you were walking past large glass picture windows that showed views of this garden – I imagine it looks amazing in the snow too.

We were a little early, so we took some time to explore the ryokan and found ourselves some drinks in the Lounge, complete with a traditional (though perhaps decorative?) irori hearth with a view into the gardens also. The Japanese penchant for design incorporating elements of nature is evident everywhere here.

Unlike most of the other smaller ryokan we have stayed in, here they have a, (I want to call it a library?) closet of sorts where you can come and borrow yukata and samue for your stay. Instead of all uniform coloured yukata, there was a wide variety of colours and patterns available, though a bit limited in sizes for the big or tall people.

While we were waiting, I decided to go exploring the onsens. This ryokan has large public onsens for men and women as per usual, but it also has three private baths that guests can use to bathe in small family or friendship groups. So off a-wandering I did go!

I checked out the public onsen first, seeing it was not yet 3pm there would be no guests in the onsens so it’s a good time to go poking around for some photos. Obviously cameras and photography are not allowed when people are using the baths. There are similar sections to every large onsen – locker room for storing your things and changing, beauty stations for tidying yourself up when you go to leave, and showering stations for washing yourself before getting into the onsen… and usually a dry relaxation space for having a drink or an ice cream after you bathe.

So many lockers! I can’t imagine bathing all nuded up with so many random strangers – but then again, maybe I can, because in Iceland I did plenty of getting nekkid with strangers before using the hot springs… *shrug*

Also – so many hairdryers! It’s become quite the thing, but Japanese tourism videos always, and I mean, ALWAYS make a big point of showing you that there is 1) a hairdryer available, and 2) the exact brand and model of said hairdryer, and 3) whether this is a good brand that you will be happy with. I have NFI why hairdryers are such a big deal here??? But they are! Each of these dressing table stations has their own hairdryer under the bench. Oh, and they were fairly chunky heavy duty Panasonic units, (like the one in our room), for anyone who gives a shit. LOL.

There was another three of these showering stations directly opposite these also – this places is designed so no one is waiting for a space.

This is the first time I had seen a dedicated ‘baby bath’ in the onsen. I have seen women bring their small children into the onsen – boys and girls, but haven’t seen anyone bringing a baby in. I imagine the peeing in the onsen would be an issue much like public swimming pools seeing you can’t really tell a non-verbal toddler to not pee in the water.

This might be the largest indoor onsen I have seen yet… There were two stone pools (above) on the left side of the room, two large pools in the centre of the room (below), and one large infinity style pool in front of a huge picture window (below that), all in the one space.

Then, you stepped outside through an air trap and could use the large outdoor onsen – which was just gorgeous! The poor staff must have been fighting a never ending battle with the wind and the leaves today. You could tell they were constantly cleaning them out, as none of these leaves were soggy or problematic to the water – they were light and crunchy and floating on top of the water. So someone must have been at it all day.

Back out from the public onsen, I walked further aroudn the corridors and the central garden to find the exit to the area where the private onsens were…

There are three private onsens, that probably fit about four people quite comfortably, maybe more if you’re super friendly, and they’re not bookable – you just turn up here and wait to see which are not in use. When you enter one and lock the door, it lights up out here as unavailable. They request that you keep your time short so that you’re not hogging the baths from other guests.

Into some geta and out the door into a large garden with beautiful winding little paths that lead to the private cottages that house the private onsen baths. This is so cute!

Ni No Yu – Chikura. Each of the baths have a change space and a shower and a different private bathing space. They are all really lovely in design… but I gotta say, this one was quite exposed and with this wind, it didn’t feel super inviting right now! Maybe tomorrow.

Ichi No Yu – Iwamuro. The next little cottage held a larger bath with large rock surrounds and very well designed lighting. It would be really relaxing and almost fantastically Disneyeque here, in the evenings.

Just magic! These places feel like something out of movies, not just baths in random hotels.

San No Yu – Korin. Despite its steps, this next bath was the most appealing at the moment – mostly because it was more built in and less open to the wind! 🙂

Having spent all these days chasing the autumn leaves, I am certainly not going to complain about them. They look gorgeous everywhere, even floating in the water.

Then it was back to the Lobby to get out key to check out our room. We had booked a Deluxe Twin Room with an open-air bath. The first problems we encountered was finding the right place! Usually, staff in the smaller ryokans will guide you to your room, spend a few minutes showing you all the available amenities, letting you know what in the fridge is included (often everything), and even making you a cup of tea and telling you about the facilities the ryokan has to offer. In this larger establishment, they had taken our luggage up for us, but with my meandering through the onsens, I think I missed any welcome wagon.

So, we knew we were on the third floor, but the map of the floor didn’t help us much, and the signage with directions to the different room numbers didn’t help us much… we ended up navigating by hieroglyphics. Yet again, I am cursing that I know hardly any Japanese and can’t read a lick of kanji. I really want to work on this, but it’s so difficult when you have a head full of Romance languages already.

Eventually we found the right spot. The genkan was long and narrow and more of a hallway than a traditional foyer.

The bedroom was light and comfortable (turned out to be a little too light – that window on the left didn’t have a darker cover and there was a street light out there somewhere that never turned off).

Also in the bedroom was this little dressing table space, which opens up for a mirror.

The main room in our small suite was just gorgeous… comfy little table, another pair of slightly taller chairs towards the balcony, and another pair of chairs on the actual balcony (which might be nice once the wind dies down!)

We had some snack and tea making goodies provided.

And I loved how the TV (which we never use anyway) was hidden behind these lovely decorative paper screens.

Japanese ryokans seem to love these old school phones – I’ve seen some made of timber, or full on Bakerlite, they’re so kitchy it’s not funny, but they are quite the feature of Japanese hotels. Also in the handy little hutch was tea cups, beer glasses, and other useful things.

The room is designed to accommodate families if needed, and the large closet held enough bedding for four more futon beds if required.

We also had a small kitchenette – which had a separate sink, a fridge, and coffee making equipment.

Also in this little alcove was another closet filled with yukata, samue, hanten coats (nice ombré ones!), baskets for taking ourselves down to the onsens… and in that yellow bag is: emergency slippers! Because everyone’s shoes are at the front genkan, they’ve very thoughtfully provided slippers in case we need to evacuate. 🙂

I’ve noticed a lot of hotel room design here very pleasingly has the toilet separate from the shower and bathing areas, and where possible, it’s usually not near the bedroom either! Western hotel designers should take some hints from these guys – no one wants to hear their partner or family member on the loo while they’re in bed! Ensuites are great, but not always well located!

The bathroom was lovely and felt really kinda personalised; ie: not huge hotel chain cookie-cutter style. The sink with its white and blue porcelain desing felt like it could be at your grandma’s place.

*drumroll please*

The Hairdryer! And some small amount of amenities… the hotel has an eco policy that says to please go down to the yukata ‘library’ to collect any amenities you night need, rather than loading up each room with them. Which I think is a good plan. So many places we have been to are loaded to the gills with soaps, shampoos, conditioners, face wash, toner, moisturisers, cotton swabs, ear buds, dental kits, toothpicks, shower caps, razors, luffas, sponges – you fucking name it, they’re trying to provide all of it. Makes me think Japanese people never travel with a toiletry kit (wait, maybe they don’t?!).

The showering room … complete with non-image forming spectral highlights from the afternoon sun.

And of course the private open-air bath on the balcony… happy place!

First order of business is always to unpack a little, scrub yourself clean, and then soak in the onsen bath for a while! With some local saké of course – it’s becoming our little tradition. It’s awesome when the hardest decision before dinner is figuring out where to pop your saké bottle to stop it from getting too warm! 😉

Tokinoniwa has a large restaurant filled with small private dining rooms, and we had arranged for half board for one night of our stay, but not for the second night – we want to go to town tomorrow and see what we can find in the local dining scene. The decor leading into he dining rooms was interesting…

A huge antique stove greets you as you walk in…

More local saké with dinner.

”New Year’s Eve Evening Meal”… no idea what New Year that is referring to, seeing it’s November!
Appetisers of : Shrimp, Enoki and cucumber with sesame vinegar and miso; Simmered autumn salmon with gravy; Grilled mushrooms and lotus root in and saury; Chinese yam tonkatsu with saké kasu.

Sashimi course: Mahachi tuna, squid, sea bream, small rolled yuba served with soy and fresh wasabi.

Off menu surprise dish: tempura mushrooms served with a light ponzu sauce.

Left: Yamato pork wrapped in Chese cabbage and stuffed with ginger paste and red maple leaf shitake mushrooms. Right: Eggplant gratin, shrim, sweet potato, and baburika.

Teppanyaki Black waguy beef loin, thigh and Yamato pork, with Maitke mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, king oyster mushrooms.

18grain rice, Nametake mushrooms, grated yam, pickles and red miso soup.

Fresh melon, tiramisu (for Mr K) and a blancmange type jelly dish.

What a delicious dinner – courtesy of the “Head Chef of Heavenly Garden, Yukitaka Tsutsumi.” Great job title!

After waiting a respectable period of time to let dinner settle, it was back to the room for the usual after dinner bath.

Saké fuelled, kawaii onsen selfie!

I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the sounds of the onsen water.

Thanks to comfy beds, or maybe it’s the saké, I slept really well. Then it was back to wandering the halls and past all the beautiful gardens, to find our way back to the restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast here was ¥2,200 per person (which sounds kind of pricey, but if you think about what you pay for brunch out at home, add a couple of coffees, it’s actually really reasonable), so we had arranged breakfast for both mornings of our stay.

The small private dining rooms are the best – if you aren’t used to Japanese cuisine, you can muddle through the menu and what to eat first, and what to eat mixed with what in privacy! If you are not morning person, Japanese breakfast is amazing… they bring all the things to you when you arrive and then bugger off and leave you in peace to enjoy your breakfast at your leisure. If you want a tea or coffee refill, you’ll have to flag someone down, as they won’t be bothering you after dropping off the food.

Mr K looking relaxed… as if work hasn’t been blowing up and occupying way too much brain space!

Japanese breakfast is always full of all good things! Fruit/vegetable juice, green tea, coffee, black tea… Tamago, salmon, mackerel, tofu dumpling, salad, miso soup, rice, pickles, yoghurt and fruit.

Except for this abomination… the dreaded natto again! Bleurk! I think it might be the only Japanese food that I simply can’t stomach at all. Fermented soy beans – I’ve tried it a couple of times, and it smells awful, and tastes even worse:

Just say ”No to Natto!” #FreeAdvice

I could really get used to Japanese breakfasts… it doesn’t matter what they bring (except the dreaded natto, which I didn’t know was a breakfast food until this very day!), it’s always delicious and nutritious, and someone else has prepared it! Yay.

Also, the view out the window in our little breakfast dining room was promising a gorgeous day!

I got a better look at this enormous antique stove this morning – it must weigh a tonne! We are on the second floor… how did they get it up here?

The amenities station in the yukata ‘library’… still with all the packaged disposable things you could possibly need.

We spent the morning doing work and the afternoon pottering around in Kusatsu Onsen proper. Lovely late afternoon colours from the balcony.

We had a late lunch in town so were skipping dinner tonight, but that doesn’t mean I’m skipping the pre-dinner soak and saké!

I think I was in and out of the onsen about four times tonight. Having a piping hot little plunge bath available to hop in and out of as often as you want is the ducks nuts. I love it… we had a late snack of Kusatsu Tamago pudding, an an early night.

The sunrise over Kusatsu made the deep red hues of the leaves even more vibrant. It’s a visually arresting way to start your day; wake up early, and quietly slip into the bath to soak until your body feels like jelly.

I watched these tendrils of steam caused by the fresh hot water rising through the cold air for far too long… just fascinated by the uniquely beautiful curling and writhing patterns created by the sunlight coming through the timber slats surrounding the onsen.

Second day’s breakfast was equally impressive… tempura tofu, grilled river fish, salad, miso soup, rice, pickles, mackerel, squid and all good thing. Also, bonus: #NoNatto ..!

Sadly it was time to check out of Tokinoniwa. I really enjoyed our stay here. The ryokan was lovely, the food was delicious, the staff were friendly (far more foreign staff than we have encountered everywhere else – some Filipino and Argentinian staff working in the restaurant), though my skin was feeling rather odd. I later discovered that Kusatsu has some of the most acidic hot spring waters in Japan and that means lengthy soaking isn’t really recommended.

Oh no! I guess I’ll have to quickly find myself an alkaline bath pronto!

Toshimaya Ryokan – Shima Onsen

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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.

Shima Onsen

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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.

Minakami and Takaragawa

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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!