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Takasaki – Byakue Dai-Kannon and Daruma-ji

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Went to see the renown Takasaki Byakue Daikannon – or ‘Giant Takasaki White-Robed Kannon’, today. It is located on top of a small mountain, Mt Kanonyama in Gunma Prefecture and has an elevation of 190m. Colloquially it is called Kannonyama and sometimes they call it Byakui, and it is also known as the Goddess of Mercy… so I am just thinking of it as Kannon Of the Many Names! The Kannon (not the actual statue, but rather the concept of the Kannon), came originally from China where she is named, Guanyin, and people come to the Kannon to pray mostly for protection and peace, particularly for protection from natural disasters… which makes a lot of sense when you live on islands prone to volcanos, earthquakes and tsunamis.

The Kannon can be seen from quite a distance away as you approach as it is 41 metres tall on top of Mt Kannonyama. You can see the whole of Takasaki City proper in addition to all the most well-known mountains in Gunma from the top. You can go inside the Kannnon and climb up as high as its shoulders – there are nine floors inside that house 20 Buddhas along the climb.

The Byakue Daikanno was built by Yasuaburo Inoue in 1936, originally as a memorial for fallen soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army who were stationed in Takasaki. It was always intended to eventually serve as a tourist attraction, and the promotion of the Kannon for tourism began as early as 1937. At that time it was the tallest Kannon in Japan, but has since been superseded by a number of other Kannon (the tallest is currently the Sendai Daikannon), and it is now the tenth tallest in Japan. At 41.8m tall, it has a 48m waist measurement and a 0.4m thumb circumference (though why tourists need to know that, I’m not sure!); she weighs a whopping 6000 tonnes.

Stunningly gorgeous day today. Blue skies, cool breeze, 20°C… just like a Brisbane winter!

We chose not to select some fortunes today… it looked like there was a lot of bad luck being left behind at this shrine! And I, for one, do not need any bad luck.

Every Valentines Day, a giant red string is tied around her finger and couples come to pray for blessings and happiness as well as longevity in their relationships.

Mr K looking chill under a Japanese maple tree… busy deciding how empty my cup is. Apparently, one shouldn’t remark on the fact that the maples haven’t turned this year and they should be bright orange by now, as this means your cup is half empty all the time. Le sigh… 🙄

Takasaki off in the distance there.

Around the base of the Kannon were some smaller shrines which (from what I could understand from the poorly translated signs) housed the graves/remains of much beloved temple authorities.

Nearby was the ubiquitous souvenir shop selling Daruma dolls. The Shorinzan Daruma-ji temple is nearby (and our next stop), so it’s not surprising to see them everywhere in Takasaki. The Daruma doll are a hollow, papier mache, round traditional doll modelled after Bodhidharma – the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism. Traditionally, they come in red and are designed to represent the Indian monk, Bodhidharma, but now they come in a wide range of colours and vary greatly in designs depending on regional variations and artistic interpretation. Lots of people consider the Daruma dolls to be a toy, but they are also believed to be a good luck talisman for many Japanese.

You can see in the images that the dolls have blank eyes – I’ll explain this a bit later below. The dolls have become a bit commercialised by many Buddhist temples and even co-opted by politicians as aspirational images for their campaigns. Now, you can buy your fav colour to meet your fav goal… vicarious airy-fairy meanings applied to each colour for the rose-quartz crowd.

This morning as we left the ryokan on our way to the Kannon, I had mentioned to Mr K that we may need to hunt down a supermarket to buy some Japanese pickles… generally speaking I abhor pickles (particularly American gherkins!) and other pickled things at home. Even in Japanese restaurants in Aust they are really ordinary, but here, they are so flavoursome and come in such varieties, that I wish we could get good quality Japanese pickles at home. Wouldn’t you know it? Mr K parks us to go visit the Kannon right beside “The Pickle House”… home to a wondrous selection of Japanese pickled EVERYTHING!

Well, once you are buying stuff that needs declaring at customs (something we usually avoid like the plague!), you may as well have STUFF to declare at customs! So in for a penny, in for a pound, I stocked up on pickles and am now free to peruse the Japanese marquetry too. Bonus! 😀 If we are going to be standing in the queue at Sydney Customs with pickles… may as well stand there for timber products too!

Just outside the pickle house was a steamed bun shop making miso steamed buns. Thankfully, they warned us that ’1 is cool for one person’, and as we were only after a wee snack, we decided to share a stick, rather than have one each. Delicious, burnt miso flavours; but rather starchy.

I loved this little guy on the bridge that crossed over the river to the temple area of town… good thing they don’t sell big stone painted Daruma like this one or I would want to take one home!

When we arrived at the Shorinzan Daruma Temple, the first thing that we were met by near the car park was a cemetery… complete with a little booth containing a sales representative that was ‘selling plots’. Hmmm… I’ve long been looking for a place to sprinkle my ashes, maybe this is the place! 🙂

The Shorinzan Daruma Temple is a small temple not far from the Kannon in Takasaki. It was built originally in 1697 but the Obaku Zen Buddhists as a school. It is known as the original birthplace of the Daruma and it is believed the original Daruma dolls came from this region. Legend has it that the Daruma of Shorinzan are especially lucky, so much so that the city of Takasaki has been leaning on that reputation and Takasaki is known as ‘The Lucky Town’.

Originally the temple was believed to have been built for the Soto school of Zen Buddhism, but int he Meiji era was converted to the Obaku sect. In the late 18thC, the 9th generation Zen Master of the temple offered aid and comfort during the Great Tenmei famine, for whatever reasons, he taught them how to make papier-mache dolls based on the Daruma dolls. These become known as the Shorinzan Nanakusa Taisai Daruma Market Festival which is held every January. In more recent years, the festival has attracted thousands of visitors who come to buy new Daruma dolls and burn their old ones as offerings.

The Daruma dolls are often associated with the phrase, ‘Nanokorobi yaoki’, which means: ‘seven times down, eight times up’, which speaks to the resilience of the dolls – the Daruma are light due to their papier-mache construction, but they are weighted in the bottom so they always bounce back up to an upright position when they are tilted or rocked over. In Japan, these are called ‘okiagari’, which means to get up (oki) and rise (agari). They symbolise the ability to overcome adversity and recover from falls or find success and uprightness.

The eyes of the Daruma are often blank when people buy them. They have large oversized symmetrical round white eyes. The purchaser is encouraged to paint in one of the eyes, and focus on a goal. The aim is to complete the next eye when one meets the goal or finishes the big task in mind. They are commonly given as gifts at the beginning of the year or to students, and the recipient of the doll will fill in one eye upon setting their goals, then the other upon fulfilling it. This way, every time they see the one-eyed Daruma, they remember the goal and hopefully work towards it… steadfastly in spite of possible setbacks.

When dolls have both their eyes filled in, marking the completion of one’s goals, some people return them to the Shorinzan Daruma-ji Temple… hence the large collection here at any given point in time. (I wonder if they are cleaned out once a month, like locks on a Florentine bridge or coins from the Trevi Fountain).

After the temple visit we stopped at a konbini to grab some saké and beers – as you do! And I was curious to know what was in these steamed buns… gotta love Google Translate. It comes up with some real corkers.

Another quick and accessible sight in the Takasaki area are the Doukutsu Kannon Caves. These are a 450m deep man-made cave system that have 39 statues of the Kannon Goddess of Mercy on display. Each piece of sculpture is an artwork by the sculptor Rakuzan who devoted his life to creating this unique gallery. The caves appear to be a philanthropic project of a wealthy kimono maker and trader named Tokuzo Yamada. He was apparently quite generous with his fortune and spent half his life on this huge undertaking with the goal of making Takasaki a pilgrimage destination, such that visiting the Doukutsu Kannon would confer upon visitors the same blessings as visiting prestigious temples.

Tokuzo was reputed to have been quite knowledgeable in the design fields and was heavily involved in the layout and design of the Doukutsu Kannon statues he commissioned from teh sculptor Rakuzan. The statues and their posture and clothing are very similar to the aesthetic used in Buddhist art to this day. The entire cave system is considered a masterpiece of modern Buddhist art.

Usually depictions of the Buddhist goddess, Kannon will depict her with a varying background – among rocks, waterfalls, upon mountains, in the snow…. the Doukutsu Kannon created by Rakuzan and Tokuzo are the only Buddhist artworks where the ‘world of the gods is made real’. That is the backgrounds are created by using materials like local Gunma Prefecture volcanic rock and Sanbaseki stone, to create entire environments to glorify the Kannon.

Some of the statues and their vignettes are said to have take the artist more than a year to create.

The work on the caves and their artworks continued until Tokuzo passed away in 1964. The goal had been to make a 800m deep cave, but encountered limitations when they discovered hard ground, which hindered the continuation of the project. They current walk through the caves is 450m and is completely accessible… very unusually for a manmade cave system, it has not steps, but rather is cut into an existing mountain.

This wall may exemplify the difficulty that was found with the tunnelling project.

Right by the caves are the Tokumeien Gardens – considered one of the best Japanese gardens in the northern Kanot region and covering a 20,000sqm area. It is built on the slopes of the Kannonyama Hill using a large amount of the of rocks, soil and sand that were excavated during the creation of the cave.

The garden was designed by Yamada Tokuzou and the master Japanese architect, Kaneko Seikichi. The landscaping was completed by Goto Sekisui II, who was also involved in the beautiful gardens surrounding the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.

The garden is a beautiful relaxing space filled with giant Sanbaishi stones, a huge amount of lava stones transported from Mt Asmara, red pines, Niigata black pines, and seasonal plants.

Sadly, the autumn foliage is late this year – like, concerningly late. The predictions have been put down to a particularly hot and unusually long summer. The tourism industry each year tries to predict the turning of the leaves in Japan, much like they do for the sakura – cherry blossom season, but thanks to climate change it is getting harder and harder to predict.

The garden should have been full of deep orange and red colour at this time of year, but hardly any of the leaves have turned at all. I have heard news reports that the tourism industry is fearing that the leaves won’t turn at all, but that the weather will turn cold so quickly, the leaves will simply fall dead from the trees rather than give the month long colour people come to see.

The gardens were lovely – though unfortunately, not the vibrant colour way that you can normally expect in November. Below, November pic of the gardens stolen from the internet:

After this we opted for a quickie late lunch. Now, we have been in Japan a number of times, but have never been to a regular ol’ sushi train. So we thought we seek one out. Kura-Sushi is a reliable and well known chain across Japan.

It was exactly what we were expecting! Fantastic (and cheap!) food, quick service, hardly any interactions with the staff at all. It was also super noisy because today was Culture Day, which is a public holiday, and there seemed to be lots of families out who would probably normally at school and work. Was good fun though; I’d go again… lunch for two including drinks was barely AUD$30, and we were trying all the strange things on the menu.

Not a bad morning out – now back to work!

Hakone – Part I

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Driving from Yugawara to Hakone proper today, up some beautiful winding mountain roads. I noticed from my last trip to Japan that when you’re out and about in a car, and you encounter gorgeous scenery, there are rarely places to pull over and enjoy the view. In Australia, lookouts seem to be everywhere there’s even a slight elevation in the road, along with some big board of information to tell you what you are looking at. Here they seem very few and far between.

Looking back towards Tokyo.

The elusive Mt Fuji! Sadly, without any snow on top… apparently it’s the first time in 130 years there has been no snow on Mt Fuji in October. Signs of rapid climate change are all around us. The hovering low cloud is reminiscent of so many iconic Japanese prints and artworks.

These guys pulled up in their car and at first I was like, ‘Hey! Way to block the view!’, but they have a cute little K-car so we forgive them.

When we arrived in Hakone, we did a quick scout out of the Hakone Checkpoint area. The Hakone Checkpoint was originally an inspection facility during the Edo period (1603-1868) and was dedicated to keeping the city of Edo (Tokyo as was) safe. There were up to 50 checkpoints scattering across the country during this era but most were abandoned when the Edo Period ended. From what I’ve read the Hakone Checkpoint is the only one that has been restored. It was rebuilt and renovated in 2007, using the traditional building tools and techniques from the Edo Period. I am planning on coming back this way in a couple of weeks to visit the site – but so not going near it on a public holiday weekend!

The little shopping street leading up the Checkpoint has many craftsman who create the traditional ‘Yosegi Zaiku’ workwork that has its origins in the mountains of Hakone. The craft has hundreds of years of history and is designated as a special Japanese cultural treasure, and utilises naturally different coloured timber laid out in intricate geometrical designs and patterns to make complex and beautiful timber products.

Hakone Karakuri Musuem – showcases the techniques used to make the Yozegi Zaiku masterpieces. There is a small museum which displays how the history of the techniques date back to the Edo period, and it was as much as 1000 years ago that local craftsmen began to gather in Hakone to take advantage of the wide varieties of wood available in the mountains here. Initially, the timbers were used to create furniture, but around 200 years ago a noted craftsman named Jinbei Ishikawa developed a technique of co-mingling different colours and grains of woods to make boards and then cut them into thin slices of timber veneer. These thin boards containing the intricate designs are then glued to various boxes, trays, coasters and what have you, to create these beautiful marquetry pieces.

Planes used to create the thin slices of timber decorations.

The work is so beautiful, and showcases some serious woodworking talent.

After checking out the marquetry and resisting buying anything to carry around for the rest of the trip, we sought out something fishy for lunch. We found a sushi restaurant near the Checkpoint, called Daimasa Honten. It was rated 4.2 on the Googles, which is damn near impossible in Japan. The Japanese are notoriously harsh on rating restaurants, they will never complain about food they are served, but they have very high standards and seem to often feel, ‘things can always be better!’ Which seems to sit with the Japanese ideals of perfectionism quite nicely. Anyway, if you’re in Tokyo and see a restaurant with over 4 stars aggregate reviews on Google, just know that’s damn near impossible – and you should go there, the food will be amazing. This place however, could just be lucky enough to have lots of western tourists visiting who are more free and easy with their praise!

I chose a unagi and tuna rice bowl, that is supposed to look like a dragon.. and while the picture on the menu was sort of dragon like if you squint at it from the right – mind did not! 😀
Nevermind though, it was super fresh and really tasty. So all is good with the world.

Yale ordered a donburi set full of all good things. All up, a delicious meal and for a fairly reasonable price (compared to what we would pay for similar in Australia, though admittedly kinda touristy priced for Japan).

After lunch, we took a drive to get to Kitanozake Saryou, and made a quick detour to a photo point on a small side road near the “Old Tokaidō ROad, Ancient Cedar Avenue”. We managed to get some beautiful views of Lake Ashi towards the famous Hakone Tori Gate, and Mt Fuji in the background. As luck would have it, one of the very touristy and famous pirate ships was coming past and made for some beautiful iconic Japanese photos.

Togendai Station – where the ships come in.

Had to do a quick stop at the konbini for some saké… and I’m always amused at the strangeness available at the local shop. Spam nigiri? Hotdog in a bun complete with ketchup and mustard, and how long has that been sitting in that bag? Yikes!

Yale found this enormous chocolate waffle ice cream monstrosity… don’t let the Yale for scale throw you off, this thing was easily as big as my hand!

While in the area for a few days, we took the opportunity to visit the Hakone Venetian Glass Musuem also known as the Hakone Glass Forest or the Ukai. It is located in Sengokuhara in the Ashigarashimo District and I thought the idea of a Venetian glass museum in Japan was going to be something seriously odd… and well, I always love me a bit of absurdity in the morning.

And all these objects are before you even enter.

This is an Insta-famous archway is made entirely of crystals. It is quite striking when the sun hits it, but today it was quite overcast.

I saw this curly white glass sculpture in the middle of the lake and was immediately reminded of Dale Chihuly’s work… but didn’t think that likely as it was a Venetian glass collection, yes? Only to walk around the corner and find a plaque confirming that yes, it is actually a Chihuly.

The Venetian Art Glass Musuem.

I don’t know what this cascade of glass flowers is called or when it was made – but it was interesting.

Glass perfume bottle in the carriage – Italy, c.1860.

Compote bowl and lid in filigrana a reticello techniques. Italian, undated.

Wine glass in filigrana a reticello. Italy, c. 17thC

Glass ship hot work. 18thC Venice.

Mosaic of Doge Niccolo Marcello. This mosaic has a portrait of Niccolo Marcello, who was Doge (admiral) from 1473 to 1474, in the centre. Marcello Marcello’s portrait was repeatedly painted by Venetian painters such as Gentile Bellini and Titian in the 15th and 16th centuries. This mosaic was probably modeled on a portrait painted in a Venetian workshop.

Bottle in rock crystal with two handles, c.16th.

Cave a parfum. c.1870.

Glass rose water sprinkler, 18-19th C.

Insense burner with painting cicada and chrysanthemums, c.1840.

Bottle enameled with figures parading, c. 1500 AD.

Core-formed glass fragrant oil bottle “arybollos” c.6thC.

Flask in opaque-white glass (lattimo), c. 16thC,

Porcelain perfume bottle decorated with florid motif. C. 1760.

Black figure aryballos fragrant oil bottle, c.6thC.

Glass bottle with decoration, c.1C AD.

Toilet bottle, c.1stC AD.

Double head glass flask, c.1stC AD.

Porlain perfume bottle with enamels, c.1891-1920.

Glass perfume bottle “boy hon Fleur’s de Pommies”, c.1919.

Pair of glass perfume bottles in an enamel case, c.1770. This portable perfume set, which was popular at the court during the reign of King Louis XVI, is an extremely elegant case made of octagonal gold with beveled corners and decorated with a tortoiseshell pattern of scattered gold stars. It contains two glass perfume bottles with gold caps. The small gold funnel in the center is used to pour the blended perfume into the bottle. This piece was made as a special order for a French aristocrat.

Set of four glass perfume bottles with ornament case. Italy 19thC.

Mirror in glass mosaics, c.19thC.

Pommander, c.1630… is this made of glass??? I’m not seeing it.

Lamps in Millefiori glass, c.1910.

The Venetian Glass Rose Garden…

All the roses are made in glass… it’s really quite pretty and unfortunately very Insta-worthy. It took some patience to get some photos without the selfie crowd about!

’Le Tre Grazie’, c.1996 : Three bubbles inside the sphere emit rainbows when exposed to light – a eulogy to purity and feminine grace.

’Compenetrazione Dinamica’, 1998. Livid Seguso, glass, marble stone.

The indoor, Chilhuly ‘Form from Light’ exhibit.

The gardens are really pretty and when the sun did peak out from behind the clouds, the sparkling in the glass forest was truly striking.

Onions and Reeds Installation, Dale Chihuly, c.1941.

Such a striking sculpture, and from the ‘40s – it’s hard to believe it’s as old as it is given the nature of the medium.

We also had a chance to go for a walk at the Hakone Open Air Museum. I am not super fond of modern art, but I think expected things to be a little less out of place than the Venetian glass!

”Sphere Mesh” – Francois Morellet, 1962-63, stainless steel.

“Tree Man” – Taro Okamoto, 1971. FRP and paint.

”Grand Striptease” – Giacomo Manzu, 1967, bronze.

“The Weeper” – Francois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne, 1986, Trani stone. Sadly her pond was empty and she wasn’t weeping today.

”my sky hole 84” – Bukichi Inoue, 1984, stainless steel.

I couldn’t find a description of these – there were four of them, and they seemed like kami to me. I will have to look them up when I find some time.

”Big Hand” – Rainer Kriester (German), 1973, aluminium.

“Girl with Rooster” – Shin Hongo (Japanese), 1962, bronze.

”Grandson of the General” – Seibo Kitamura (Japanese), 1918, bronze.

”Eva” – Francesco Messina (Italian), 1949, bronze.

”Pavillion Sculpture” – Max Bill (Swiss), 1969, white granite.

“Van Gogh Walking Through the Fields” – Ossip Zadkine (Russian/French), 1956, bronze.
As I approached this piece, I saw the worn face and the heavy accoutrement and assumed it was going to be a heavily laden fighter with weaponry, it was only as I got closer I could see it wasn’t guns he was carry, and wasn’t until I saw the plaque that it was like, ‘Oh wow, did I read that wrong.’

”Great Prophet” – Pablo Gargallo (Spanish), 1933, bronze.

There is a world famous Picasso museum here, which is full of paintings, ceramics and even tapestries – most of which is created by Picasso himself, and some of which is inspired by the movement. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan. I can understand and appreciate the intent and important of most modern art; it’s just not that appealing to me, personally. Also – no photos. Sad panda face ensues.

”Fairy Chapel” – Satoru Okamoto and Nsenda Lukumwena, 2005, stainless tell, float glass.

Symphonic Sculpture (below) – Gabriel Loire is an 18-meter-tall tower covered entirely in stained glass made from shards of thick glass broken by hand with a hammer. “The intricate designs and patterns allow the outside light to pass through it in complex refracting motions, creating a beautiful, fantastical world.” Oddly, we have perfect weather for this – bright contrast outside makes photographing stained glass tricky.

It’s pretty spectacular… but no Saint Chapelle!! 😛

”Two Piece Reclining Figure: Points” – Henry Moore (British), 1968-70, bronze.

”Family Group” – Henry Moore (British), 1948-49, bronze.

”Miss Black Power” – Niki de Saint Phalle (French), 1968, polyester resin, paint.

“Close III” – Anthony Gormley (British), 1993, iron. I LOVE this piece! It’s so simple and yet speaks to me. The artist’s statement, not so much, but the figure itself. 🙂 ‘The artist recreated his body in iron. The rotatation and orbital revolution of the Earth produces centrifugal force and gravity binding it to the ground.’ Sure… but to me it speaks of years of exhaustion and chronic fatigue and pain.

”The Boxing Ones” – Barry Flanagan.

“Two Eggs” – ??? I have a note here somewhere…

”A Grand Story” – Giuliano Vango (Italian), 2004, Carrara marble.

“Intersecting Space Construction” – Ryoji Goto (Japanese), 1978. FRP, iron and paint – inspired by wire mesh and in praise of human connections.

“Sturm (Storm)” – Matschinksy Denninghoff (German), 1980, stainless steel.

”Spatial Dynamics No. 22” – Nicholas Schöffer (Hungarian/French), 1954-1980, stainless steel.

”Arborescence” – Jean Dubuffet (French), 1971, epoxy resin and paint.

Hakone is lovely, and slightly odd… I look forward to coming back in a couple of weeks.

Hakone onsen – Hotel Okada

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Something a little different – Yale and I spent tonight in a large hotel rather than a small intimate ryokan. It’s a completely different experience, and yes, at a completely different price point! So I thought it would be interesting to make the comparison and see what your extra $250-300 a night gets you; roughly the difference in cost between this place, the Hotel Okada, and last two night’s ryokan accomodation rates.

With 117 rooms on 12 floors and a maximum occupancy of some 650 people, the ambiance of the hotel is nice, still very Japanese in the decor, but things are far less personal as soon as you arrive. Starting with what feels like a bit of haggling over somewhere to park.

The kumiko timber-work in the lobby makes for an impressive entrance. And straight away it feels strange not to have to take off my shoes… but I imagine keeping 600 people’s shoes straight would be a bit too much!

Yukata are available in foyer if you wish to borrow something other than what is provided in the rooms. Which is pretty handy if you are either, fuller figured like myself, or 6’9” like Yale. The check-in procedure was a little more involved too, I guess with so many people comes bureaucracy.

Our room for the evening was on the 4th floor, was a booking type, “SUISAI”; a Japanese/Western style room with open air bath… Yamabato (not sure what that means). I noticed the kumiko timber work touches are carrying on throughout the hotel.

The genkan (room foyer) was very clean and welcoming, with half a dozen pairs of slippers! I guess this is bookable as a family room, so more slippers the merrier.

Bags to take your things to the public onsen – which we definitely did not use, as this is a 100% not tattoo friendly facility. The hotel is very family oriented, and as such definitely, ‘NO TATTOOS!’

Our room had two western beds, a sofa, a Japanese tatami sitting area with another small couch and chair.

Large TV (which we never turn on because you can rarely even get the BBC World News in English in hotels here, and everything else is not just foreign but also strange and foreign). We have coffee and tea making facilities, small bar fridge and all the needful things.

I’m always pleased to find a range of glassware – so I can find something suitable to take my saké into the onsen with me without having to use teacups or resort to swigging from the bottle! We were also provided with pyjamas, bright and comfortable hanten coats, and some lovely navy yukatas.

The lighting and decor is very warm and comfortable… compared to many large western hotels which tend to feel like you’ve walked into a fucking IKEA – so I love this!

The sitting space is surrounded by large picture windows to allow for views of the mountain stream outside… I have over the recent years come to appreciate just how much Japanese domestic tourists value being able to feel as though they are ‘enveloped by nature’. Living in the large cities like Tokyo or Osaka and to a lesser degree Kyoto, it must be common for them to spend most of their lives in a the concrete jungle glitzed up with loads of neon and animated and noisy talking street lights, train barriers and even toilets! Seeking out gardens in Japanese cities takes time and effort, compared to Australian cities which are heavily designed with green spaces everywhere in both the inner cities and the suburbs. The Japanese have a keen appreciation and connection of being ‘in nature’ and find it calming and restorative to be surrounded by the changing seasons.

The bedroom is warm and Japanese, the toilet could be Danish! 🙂

The bathroom is also bright and modern with all the amenities you could possibly want. His and hers washcloths, lotions and potions, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, cotton buds, hair bands, razors and more.

The hairdryer looked like something from a sci-fi film! Which I am sure is impressive to the hairdryer obsessed Japanese vloggers! The showering/washing room was very nice too… bit warmer with timber and slate.

And of course, the piece de resistance! The open air bath… smashing! The design and lighting in this space is gorgeous! You can see straight into the tatami sitting area though, so if you had a family here, you might need to draw the curtains.

First things first, always barely unpack, have a shower and straight into the onsen… pure bliss! Hakone Mountain Road saké – not bad.

Dinner here is buffet style, which I imagine is where the price reduction is going to be evident. The Sky Lounge on the 7th Floor is where our allocated buffet dining is… the hotel is quite large and has more than one large dining room.

I didn’t want to take photos of people eating their meals or hovering around the buffet – so I plucked this image off the internet. Let’s just say this promotional image is doing some heavy lifting. The room was large, bright, noisy and not even remotely as orderly looking as this image implies.

Food choices were odd… there were lots of hot boxes, with various foods in them, but no vegetables available that weren’t sitting in stews? Which made a lot of the veggies look like my grandma boiled them, or they’re the leftover bits from Asian dishes after everyone came along and took the meat out! I did find some nigiri which was nice and fresh and the rice was lovely, but the rest of this, was all a bit hit and miss; temperature-wise nothing was quite right – hot foods a little too not hot, and I couldn’t find the right accompaniments to any dish. So dinner was a hasty affair.

After a very quick dinner (oh dear lord it was so noisy in there!), it was back to the onsen to relax.

Next morning we had moody mountains, a light drizzle and the rushing river below our window.

Breakfast was another noisy affair that I would have preferred to make avoidable if possible. I can understand the appeal of staying in a large hotel like this if you are bringing the family away for a weekend and were after a more affordable option, but seeing how far we have a travelled, I definitely prefer the smaller ryokans at this point.

And we exit through the gift shop…!

Yugawara Onsen – Ashikari Ryokan

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Yugawara is a small onsen town in south-central Japan known for its beautiful hot springs and numerous traditional ryokans. Its easy distance to Tokyo makes it a popular weekend getaway for city dwellers wanting to get away from the fast pace of one of the world’s biggest cities, and it’s not hard to see the appeal.

The area is known for Makuyama Park which has thousands and thousands of plum tress which blossom in the spring, but sadly they wont be on display at the moment in October. We should normally be able to expect a bit of autumn colour, but the 2024 summer has been particularly long and very very hot, so the leaves aren’t really turning on time this year.

Our accom for the night is at Ashikari Ryokan – https://www.ashikari.com/top.html – which I booked for their beautiful family room which has a fabulous open air bath. This ryokan is on booking dot com and can be booked there, if the Japanese website is a struggle – I have gotten use to their websites now, but I know they can be complicated when first faces with them. Like most ryokans, the room booking comes with half board, so we get to have a kaiseki dinner tonight, and Japanese breakfast tomorrow.

The reception set the tone for our stay – and looked very warm and welcoming.

I completely forgot that it was Halloween, and the Japanese love to adopt traditions from other cultures – Christmas is pretty big here, even though hardly any of the population identifies as Christian.

The slippers were hilarious – mine were fine, but Yale is a size 15 wide, and barely fit the balls of his feet into these things! 😀

From watching YouTube videos, I know that the landlady (usually the wife or daughter of the owner of the ryokan) will have been trained in traditional flower arranging and that any flowers seen on display in ryokans in public areas or in rooms will have been very carefully chosen and arranged with Japanese flower arranging traditions in mind… this involves the thoughtful choice of flowers in accordance with the season, flower meanings, aesthetic design, and lighting design – the fall of the shadows from the arrangement is as much a part of the art as the as well as the flower placement themselves.

A bowl of candy was out for trick or treaters I guess… though we are in a quite remote little part of the town, so I don’t imagine there will be many children coming past.

The lobby had a number of small couch spaces that faced a gorgeous large picture window that overlooks a well cultivated Japanese garden. It’s a beautiful serene space and I imagine if you just arrived here from the JR station from Tokyo, just the sight of the calm garden would immediately start to lower the blood pressure.

Tea and coffee and refreshments are available for guests in the lobby at any time through our stay.

After we checked in, we were led down a stone stairway into the garden. Our room was in a separate villa to the main building, and we were surrounded by greenery.

Hatsuse Room… I think it was called. It was immediately noticeable that this is not a mobility friendly room option, but with my new knee, I’ve been practicing going up and down the stairs – so hopefully it will be okay. Geta to wear around the garden or for on our way back up to the restaurant etc.

WOW! Such a beautiful relaxing space full of timber and traditional Japanese design elements. I could feel myself relaxing as soon as we walked into this room. I love it!

The beds were on a wooden floor area, but we also had a traditional tatami mat space with a ‘chabudai’ (low Japanese table). Super cute! So gorgeous! Squeeee…! I’m so excited to be here.

A little ‘yokan’ welcome snack (red bean jelly candy).

The room was well equiped with tea and coffee makings, glasses for beer, saké, wine, whatever you might have brought with you – it’s quite common for people to bring their favourite things with them when they come to stay at ryokan. A stop at the konbini is pretty much expected.

Selection of teas, a range of coffees, a fridge full of complimentary beer, juices, and spring water.

We were also provided with yukata (lightweight kimono style robes), samue (light Japanese pyjamas), and hanten (overcoats), to wear to and from the public onsens and to the restaurant, or for lounging around the room. Plus slippers, obi belts, tabi socks and a basket for taking your things to the onsen.

The bathroom and showering space is very well appointed and super modern. Everything you could possibly need. They provide so many amenities in the ryokan, it makes me wonder if Japanese travellers don’t travel with their own toiletries, and rely on using what the hotel will provide.

All the lotions and potions you could possible want – plus some sheet face masks, fluffy bathrobes, soft soft Japanese cotton towels, and a wee bag full of onsen towels.

The hairdryer spotting begins! Japanese travellers seem to have strange obsessions with their hairdryers – I am determined to get to the bottom of it this trip, but if you ever seen a Japan travel video done by a Japanese creator that doesn’t tell you what type of hairdryer is available… I’d be pretty sure theyr’e not Japanese! Hairdryer = super important hotel information!

And the star of any room tour – the private bath on the balcony! Oh, so good!

I have no patience whatsoever, after taking some photos of the room, it’s straight into the shower for me to get clean, so I can have a soak and a little Hakkaisan saké in the onsen. The water here was beautiful and soft… I felt the tension leaving my body within minutes!

Berfore too long it was time for dinner… first things first, choosing a local saké to have with our meal.

Matsu Midori Daiginjo (Nakazawa Sake Bazu Ashigami-gun) – this is a locally produced daiginjo often used also as a ceremonial toast of the Tokyo Summit. It was flavourful and kinda fruity, a little crisp without being dry. Very nice!

Appetisers considered of: Kurokawa Nanjing egg tofu; Marinated mackerel sushi, Maitake and Matsutake mushrooms dressed with chrysanthemum flowers; Mini radish and bonito crust, sweet shrimp marinated in koji; Squid with pine ball shell and grille bonito in warm saikyo sauce.

Sashimi course: Hokkaido scallop, sweet shrimp, mackerel served with various garnishes.

Yonezawa Pork ichiban shabu-shabu, served with burdock, fried tofu, chrysanthemum, ponzu sauce and yuzu pepper.

Spanish mackerel Naruto roll; Clam wrap grilled served with vinegared mayoga.

Tsumari soba with nori seaweed, grilled eel and condiments.

Five coloured tempura Sagami beef, served with Matsutake mushroom, asparagus, potato and yellow soy sauce.

Soup: Lobster, moon viewing rice balls, lotus root, grilled scallops, winter melon, and yuzu.

Rice, red miso soup wit eggplant and ostrich (?), served with assorted pickles.

Dessert: Melon mochi, match jelly cake, and fresh grapes.

What an amazing meal! Gochisousama deshita! Compliments to the Head Chef, Yasuo Suzuki.

Decided to talk a short walk around the ryokan after dinner to let our lovely meal settle before heading back to the room. So I had a look at the public onsens available here. This ryokan is not particularly tattoo friendly – when I enquired, they said to please cover or to try and use the baths very early or very late and not when busy. That is basically, I know and they know that tattooed people can make other guests uncomfortable, so please be mindful and try to bathe when no one else is in the space. It’s always advisable to ask, especially in the women’s onsen where you will often find yourself bathing with small children as well.

There were large, clean and well laid out locker spaces, dressing tables and showering areas.

I love the lighting design in this ryokan, you can tell someone has put an inordinate amount of thought into how the shadows will play in a space.

The baths themselves were not very large – likely because many of the rooms here have a private bath available to them, and the ryokan is small and intimate with only 18 rooms in total.

I popped back in the following morning – the view in this space is even prettier during the daylight.

I was in and out of the onsen at least twice more before turning in for the night! This is my idea of the most relaxing type of holiday stay. Screw beaches.

The following morning the clouds seems to have largely disappeared, and the bath was super inviting.

Sunrise, sunrise. Looks like morning in your eyes!

Breakfast time. After the meticulous service of course after course of a kaiseki dinner the night before, breakfast feels like a casual affair. All dishes will be brought out at the same time and you can pick and choose what you wish to eat first.

Tamago; Yuba melon and orange slices; Tuna sashimi; Chicken dumpling in a light dashi soup; Salmon pickles, yuba and wasabi for the rice.

Miso cod! So buttery and delicious. Served with pickled leek.

What an amazing stay! We managed to make use of the bath at least two more times before it was time to check out. I didn’t want to leave at all… I could have stayed for two or three nights quite happily. 😉

Onward we go…

Transit day again – Japan!

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Off adventuring again. A few days hanging out in Hakon with Yale before Mr K comes over and we get stuck into some work and some serious onsen hopping. Having this trip booked has been MAJOR motivation to stick to the rehab program on my knee and make sure I am ambulant enough for this.

Hmmm Qantas slacking off on the menu again. Lane Lois Blanc de Blanc is the sparkling wine on offer atm, and I made the mistake of noting the step down from the Grant Burge to Yale, who relayed it to his wine-snob friend, Gamer. Gamer who immediately started hanging shit on me for preferring Grant Burge! Yes, I do! To this swill… but only because it isn’t the Vintage Dom Perginon I’ve become accustomed to on Emirates flights this year! Sheeesh. When I asked when we were coming over to raid Gamer’s wine racks, I noticed he backed down pretty quick!

Made it into the Qantas First Class Lounge in Sydney and thankfully, there was some superior French offerings here… a bit of Pommeray and Tattinger. Phew that was close!

I only had some nuts with my wine on the plane, so had some salt and pepper calamari and tried a mushroom dish. Tasty, and they serve you so quickly here, which is nice.

2A.. it’s my favourite in the A330. Closer to the window than the aisle. Yes, even in business class there are ‘better seats’ on the ‘right side of the plane’.

More champagne, yes please.

Pyjamas for the people…

The Japanese set meals on the flights to and from Japan last year were really nice… this one was a little on the ordinary side. I was wondering if maybe it’s because it was prepped in Australia rather than Japan. I guess we will get a chance to compare with the meal on the way home.

Still very pretty presentation though – and there’s saké so we aren’t writing complaint letters just yet!

Arrived safely in Japan! Oh no… it’s stupid early in the morning and we can’t pick up our hire care for hours yet. But, guess who skipped breakfast so we could hunt down some breakfast sushi! This chick. Not my first 0600 arrival in Haneda! 🙂

Oh dear god – how much trouble are we going to get into!

Okay, it’s official. There are ZERO ‘on-airport’ rental cars at Haneda airport. In fact, I’m not sure the companies operating from here understand the concept, because they will tell you they are ‘on-airport’ but you’ll find they mean, ‘yeah, there’s a desk cut you’re going to need to take a shuttle to collect a vehicle’, which will e somewhere in a nearby industrial neighbourhood. Oh well, guess that means we can stop hunting for ‘on-airport’ rentals in future. Hired this cute little Nissan Kicks… nice little car actually.

The drive to Yugawara onsen, which was down the coast past Yokohama… overcast and moody.

First things first though… it’s not a road trip in Japan until your first visit to the konbini, and because it was cool and overcast (compared to Brisbane at least) that means, sweet caramel tea and curry bread! 😀 Curry bread quota: no more than one per week in country. That’s a hard rule!

“Don’t judge crime!”… but why not?

We didn’t have much of a wander around before making our way to our ryokan. We were tired, and both hoping to check in a little early… can’t wait to slip into the onsen with a saké!