During Obon holiday, Lee and I went to Chuzenjiko, the mountaintop lake about 1.5 hours from my home (see previous posts. . .). We planned to camp, but as I’m currently without a tent, that proved a bit difficult, so we spoiled ourselves and stayed at a small onsen hotel instead. The Yumoto Hot Springs area has excellent onsen, very hot sulphur water, which stinks (literally) until you begin to associate the stink with the smooth, soft skin it promotes! Since there were no other people there and we had the onsen to ourselves, Lee and I took the opportunity to get some photos so that you (poor deprived foreigners) see what you’re missing. I go to one of the local onsens nearly every day. The onsen I frequent has 5 indoor baths (a cold bath, a mineral bath, a massage bath, an electric-shock deep-muscle therapy bath, and a black-silica bath) and an outdoor bath, also a regular sauna and a salt-sauna (which I love, it’s like a regular sauna but you scrub yourself all over with salt and your skin feels GREAT afterward!) Most onsens have indoor baths and outdoor baths. First you sit on one of the stools and shower, shampoo, brush teeth, etc., and then you soak in the baths for as long as you want (for me, usually 1-2 hours), usually moving from bath to bath and (in a very hot onsen like this one) occasionally dipping in the cold bath or taking a cold shower. Of course you`re usually with many other people (yes, it IS separated between men and women. . . unless you go to the most remote areas, which I haven`t had the opportunity to experience yet ;) The onsen hotels usually have great food, and this one was no exception—owned and run by a small family, we were served full Japanese dinner and breakfast by a cute little grandmother and grandfather! The rooms have tatami flooring (heavy woven-straw panels) and we sleep on futons (thin matresses on the tatami). This is the fourth onsen hotel I’ve stayed at, and it’s definitely my favorite! The other photos show yet another venture into the realms of absurdity (which happens quite often living in Japan. . .) we took a giant swan-shaped paddle-boat onto the lake—which explains why we’re laughing so hard. It’s impossible to keep a straight face when you’re paddling around the top of a mountain in a giant plastic swan.
