Winter Travels

I've been remiss on accounting my traveling as of late. I delay in recounting these experiences mostly because it takes so much effort to remember all of the things that happen during a trip, especially a good one.

So, two of my winter trips:

:Nikko:
On the 22nd of December, I caught a train and started my long trip to Nikko. What was originally supposed to last 3 hours took me an extra 2 to accomplish, mostly because I wasn't completely comfortable in some of the transfers I had to make. Still, I took this as half of the fun of the adventure, and arrived in Nikko happy, albeit tired.

While in Nikko, I stayed in a ryokan - a Japanese inn. While this is usually a costly affair, I found a wonderful place that was not only affordable, but was run by an amazing couple who treated me extraordinarily well during my stay. The inn itself was just the house next to the one in which the couple themselves lived, but was converted to the purpose of housing several groups of people at once. The innkeepers themselves spoke some English, more than I can manage in Japanese, and yet they delighted in my attempts. I managed to translate for them a bit when their spoken English went below my level of Japanese comprehension, and offered to write down a warning about the kerosene heaters they use so that they could give them to their future guests rather than risk a communication barrier. For this small task, they gave me a present of a beautiful necklace, one that has never failed to earn me compliments when I wear it, and this is by far the best souvineer I've ever received.

Nikko itself is hailed as one of the most beautiful places in Japan, and I have a hard time discounting this opinion. To begin, the town is home to some of the most magnificent temples in Japan, having won the favor of the first Shogun of Japan, Ieyasu Tokugawa. He requested that his ashes be enshrined there, and his grandson not only followed these instructions, but made himself a shrine for his own ashes, making Nikko the "Mausoleum of the Tokugawa Shoguns." Nikko is also known around the world for one particular carving: the three monkeys, known in English as "Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil, and See No Evil." These are carvings featured on the horse stables, and were (along with the other monkeys carved on the building) to be able to protect the horses from harm.
Along with the beautiful shrines is the beautiful scenery. Nestled into the mountains and surrounded by tall ceders and beautiful maples, it's hard to beat the scenic surrounds of a place like Nikko. On top of this, the river running through the town is a blue-green I have only seen before in the Mediterranian. In short, Nikko is truly breathtaking.

Unfortunately, the breathtaking scenery was hard to see past the mass of tourists that constantly clog Nikko's paths. My favorite spot, by far, was the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, a pathway along the river featuring many jizou statues, and I think the great appeal of this walkway was the utter lack of pressing tourists along the way. (It helped that I liked the jizou themselves; the story goes that Kanmangafuchi looks different every time you visit, as the statues move when one is not looking.)

I spent 7 hours walking around on Sunday, enjoying the scenary and the sights, and it was well worth the expense of the weekend (which I considered a Christmas present to myself). I won't make an account of everything here, as it'd be entirely too long, but I'm very glad I went and experienced not only the sights but the company of Nikko.

:Kusatsu:

On 12 January, the 6 lady ALTs of Ota set out for Kusatsu, a small town in the north of Gunma that is one of the most famous places for onsen. Onsen, natural hot springs, are loved by the Japanese as a way of relaxing, but are somewhat frightening to a foreigner as they are generally public bathing areas. As foreigners stick out like a sore thumb most everywhere, the ante is only upped by the naked factor. So, we braved the dangers in true girl fashion: traveling in groups.

Getting to Kusatsu took most of the day; trains for hours, followed by buses, followed by walks. It was a scenic trip, going through mountainous areas and into a thickly falling snow, but a long one, and we were all a little rough around the edges when we arrived at our hostel. Of course, the best way to recover from a long trip is in an onsen, so we packed our bath things and made our way to the Now Resort Hotel, a few hundred meters away from our hotel.

Resort spas are amazing places. After paying for entry into the spa area, we went downstairs and disrobed. There was a lot of naked flesh around, most of it middle-aged or pre-pubescent. The rule in onsen is that one walks around with a small towel, about the size of a dish towel, which one can use to hide under (somewhat) and then use to keep one's hair out of the water of the onsen. Many of our group, who were not fortunate enough to have tenure in "hannah's School of Flesh Desensitivisation," used this protective towel as they could, while Reina (who was born and lived her early years in Japan) and I were pretty well all out there from the start.

Onsen-ing is a process. First, you shower to rid yourself of any dirt that might be brought into the bath. (This is a common practice at private baths, too, as the practice is for the whole family to soak in the same bath of water in succession so as to save water and heating for the water.) Then, you soak in the onsen itself, moving from warm pools to cooler pools and back as the fit strikes you, and then showering once your done. While this whole process normally takes around an hour for the average Japanese person, we were not to be outdone, and ended up staying for three or so hours before we left for the evening.

The spa onsen hosted one thing I can't continue without noting: an outdoor onsen, which allowed us to enjoy both the hot water and the snow while we soaked. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me, to sit up to my shoulders in hot water and watch the snow fall while enjoying the company of friends.

The next day, after an early wake-up call for breakfast and a random wandering around the area of the hostel, the girls and I went into the main of town and tried out several other onsens - the town is full of them, and one could literally stumble upon them at the oddest of places. I got naked in front of more (somewhat scared at the number of foreigners) Japanese women than I can number, but it was all in good fun. We did a little shopping, too, as we walked, sampling the wares of the onsen town, and ended our day in true fashion - back at the onsen in the resort hotel. We made our way back on Monday (a holiday) in high spirits, relaxed and wishing that school were not nearing ever so steadily once more.


These are abbreviated accounts, to be sure, but the highlights are there. Pictures are up on my facebook profile, too, so you should take a look at those as the notion strikes you. In fact, I recommend it! ^_^