Land of the Rising Sun Day #5. “Hakone Heaven”

Before I tell you about today let me catch you up on last night. We had a very enjoyable food tour (Arigato Travel) with a local guide from the city of Ottawa. In what part of Japan is that located you might ask, the part that is in Canada. Our guide Hanna, was not Japanese but she was very nice and quite knowledgeable about the local cuisine and culture. It was nice getting the insights from a native English speaking person who has lived here for 6 years.

This was a good food tour but not our favorite (Lance and Tasting Round Town in Memphis remains our favorite by far). We visited 5 establishments (that seems the usual number for most food tours and we have been on a lot). At the first stop we had appetizers. See below.

The mochi was okay but the others were not to my liking. I had a draft beer (yes, I had a beer) and it was very good. We then moved on to another restaurant for the main course. This place was much better. We had a number of small dishes. See below.

At the next restaurant we enjoyed some udon noodles followed by a stop for some sake at a different location. I would describe the sake as “Yuck”.

We finished the tour with a dessert of a waffle in the shape of a fish filled with custard. It was delicious.

This morning we arranged for our luggage to be shipped to Kyoto and took some clothes in our backpacks to wear for the two nights we will spend in Hakone. Our experience with trains paid off today as we walked to Tokyo Station and found our train very quickly. This was one of the so-called bullet trains and that is a very appropriate description. These babies move and if you are sitting in a window seat when you pass a train going the opposite direction it is quite the thrill. The trains have a reputation of running very efficiently and today was no exception. We left on time and reached every stop on schedule. It took us 33 minutes to go about 50 miles from Tokyo to our destination, Odawara (stopping twice to board new passengers and let some off). At the Odawara station we were greeted by our driver who was waiting for us when we arrived in the lobby (a major improvement from our experience at the Tokyo Haneda Airport). The drive from the station to our hotel took about 50 minutes. The driver was great and we didn’t die, both good outcomes. We didn’t get to see much of Hakone on the ride but what we did see was very beautiful. Upon arrival at the Ten-Yu hotel we were informed that we couldn’t check in for 3 hours. In retrospect it would have been nice to spend more time in Tokyo instead of hanging out at the hotel waiting to check into our room.

Making the wait a little more pleasant was Patrice’s discovery of these lovely machines with a sign saying “Ask the front desk for a free token”.

Luckily we were able to go to our room a bit earlier than the expected time of 3:00. We were checked in by a delightful young man named Ken who after having us sign some forms escorted us to our room. He told us that our luggage was already there. We pointed out that our luggage was right next to us which prompted him to give us a very endearing laugh of slight embarrassment. Ken then brought us to the room and proceeded to explain all the amenities. See below.

Patrice and I opted for the public baths called “Onsen”. We got prepared but neither of us was clear if we wore the socks to the bath, or sandals, or both. The women’s Onsen is on the same floor as our room so I suggested that Patrice go into the bath and ask the correct protocol. Before Patrice was able to enter the spa we met a hotel employee named, Hideki. Unfortunately he didn’t speak English but he seemed to understand our question. He explained everything we needed to know at about a 1,000 words per minute but I can’t give you an exact count since it was all in Japanese. Hideki followed us to our room but never stopped talking (seemingly not even to breathe). When we opened the room door he pointed to the sandals and then escorted us back to the women’s Onsen. Lots of arigatos (thank yous) and bowing followed and we parted ways. Patrice went inside the Onsen and I got on the elevator. Upon reaching the lobby I made a right turn and waiting for me outside the Men’s Onsen was Hideki. He restarted his Japanese instructions and explained where I should put my sandals. Then he showed me the lockers for my belongings, where to get a towel, and where to enter the spa. This entire time he spoke continuously in Japanese and the weird thing was that I understood everything he was telling me. I got into the water and it was indeed very hot (40 degrees Celsius according to the thermometer) and so very relaxing. I also experienced the outside spa and dipped my toes into the cold tub.

Patrice and I are now back in the room telling each other about our experiences which were very similar. Neither one of us want to move. Yesterday we spent the day taking a train to another town and walking for hours. Then returned to Tokyo and took a walking food tour. Today we took a short train ride, a rather long car ride and then a spa experience beyond belief. No question which we prefer. We already informed our children we won’t be leaving this hotel until we have spent all their inheritance.

Dinner is approaching. I need to rest up.