This day was again an early one and again I stuffed myself at breakfast. This day was promising to be another full day of sight seeing and fun. However, today, most of Beijing was resting under a nice blanket of snow. It proved to be a very cold yet great day.
Our first stop was to Tiananmen Square. I was actually expecting something a bit different from all the pictures I've seen, but it was still great. We were told by our tour guide that there were many undercover police officers in the area so we should be careful not to say or do anything stupid. We all paused and took the obligatory photos and such. I marveled at sheer openness of the place. It truly is huge. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't going to Chairman Mao's mausoleum, but I guess we already had tons on our plate.
After about 20 minutes or so of photo taking and slowly freezing we headed into the Forbidden City. On our way from the square to the city itself we passed by army personnel doing drills with brooms. It was pretty interesting and I felt a bit bad for them.
So we enter the city and boy was it huge. I have truthfully never been in a building that large before. I've been to castles, both European and Japanese. I've been to huge cathedrals and temples, but never have I been somewhere like this. This place was expansive. We spent most of the day there. I think we were there for just about 4 hours. After a while I was getting tired of the constant march and the seemingly same scenery. We did see some interesting things though. There were several beautiful gardens and walkways and other places, but I was pretty cold and just wanted to get warm again.
Something that I enjoyed the most was getting to go to the traditional wall scroll workshop. There were a lot of neat pictures and I really wish I had the money to buy one, but alas I didn't. If I ever go back there I'm definitely going to make sure that I have the money to get one. That was the only thing that I saw while there that I really wanted.
Actually I'll take a little time now to make a little gripe. Because we were on a tour we were taken to several areas to buy souvenirs. I like getting something from my travels, but this time it was all ritzy crap that I didn't care about. I never saw anything that said China to me. We were taken places that would appeal to Japanese, which was fine as we were on a Japanese tour, but it seemed like the same mass produced junk that I could buy just about anywhere. I was just a bit disappointed that there weren't more items that had a more traditional feel to them.
After the long, cold and tiring trek through the city we finally emerged on the other side and quickly headed to a nearby park. This was pretty cool as there was a huge hill from which you could get a great view of the Forbidden City. I took some pictures and headed to the rendezvous point. I was by this time tired and pretty hungry and just wanted to get some food in my belly and to sit down for a bit.
This lunch was to be yamcha style food. I wasn't quite sure what it was and actually I still don't know why it was so special, but I wasn't impressed. I ate my fill and was happy, but the taste just wasn't as good as the other places had been.
Once lunch was done we shot over to The Temple of Heaven. It was nice and very picturesque but we were there too long. I got bored quickly and wanted to see other places. Sadly, we were done for the day. Dinner was next on our agenda and then rest time.
Dinner was another disappointment. It was Shanghai style and was sweet. I dislike sweet foods. I also felt that the stuff was all pre-made junk. I ate and was happy, but I felt a bit cheated.
Once back at the hotel Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure. I had seen a McDonald's a little ways from our hotel and since we were both unsatisfied with the dinner we had, we decided to pop on over. The walk was less scary than the night before, but we had to walk through a tunnel and I was a bit apprehensive about that. I come from a big, pretty dangerous city and tunnels are not fun there. So when I saw the volunteer cops I felt better. We got to McDonald's and that's when we realized that we don't know any Chinese outside of greetings and other simple phrases. We basically ordered by smiling, pointing and nodding. We both got Big Mac meals with Diet Coke. It was good. It was basically the same as Japanese McDonald's and thus better than what you get back home.
We crashed at our hotel and just watched movies till sleep called our names.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Hamamatsu Festival
So last week was Golden Week, a week long holiday in Japan where almost everyone goes traveling. As to not feel left out I decided I needed to go somewhere too.
I had originally planned to go to Koga in Shiga prefecture. Koga is famous for ninja. I figured since I'll be going to Iga ninja town I should probably get the other famous place out of the way as well. Well I was vetoed by the girlfriend and we settled on Hamamatsu.
I had been to the outskirts of Hamamatsu years ago for some mandarin orange picking. I didn't really get to see the city in depth. On our list of sites were Hamamatsu castle and the Unagi Pie factory (unagi pies are famous in Japan and are made in Hamamatsu).
We took local trains into Hamamatsu and arrived around noon. After a brief stop at the local tourist information center where we learned that there was a festival going on, we decided to to scrap our plans and head to the festival.
Festivals are almost always fun be it a penis, kite, or rice festival. This turned out to be a kite flying festival. In the old days people who had a newborn baby would donate money to make a kite to be flown for the child's sake. The tradition remains today.
It was pretty amazing to see all the kites in the air and to see how big some of them were. Some were about 2 meters in length. I've never really been one for kites, but I enjoyed this festival. I also got to see the ocean. I realized that it's been nearly three years since I stood on a beach. It made me a bit wistful and I immediately got the itch to travel to a tropical beach somewhere.
After we had our fill of kite viewing we swung by some of the food vendors. It was of course overpriced, but I always like festival food especially when it's meat on a stick. I had a tasty Asahi Super Dry and a skewer of beef. Once lunch was finished we decided to head back to the station and then to the castle. Little did we know that our plans would not be fulfilled.
The line for the return shuttle was just under an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the station any chances of going to the castle were gone. So we decided to take in some of the local area before heading back. I liked Hamamatsu. It's not a huge city, but it's no village either. It seemed like it would be a nice place to live, but I'm a long way away from settling down.
We wandered around the streets and got to see many festival participants wearing ancient Japanese attire. Finally the parade started and things took up a lively atmosphere again. After about 45 minutes of watching the floats go by and listening to taiko drums and shamisen, we headed back to the station to get dinner.
Dinner was disappointing. It took almost an hour to get our food and it was just so-so. But what do you expect from a chain restaurant?
With dinner digesting in our bellies we headed back to Nagoya. I got home and hit the hay.
This wasn't a big, stress inducing trip. I highly recommend Hamamatsu for anyone in the Nagoya area who just wants to get out and see something new.
Something I learned on this trip is to ask the station personnel if they have any deals on tickets to my destination. I was originally going to pay about 30 dollars for a round trip train ticket, but once the guy learned I was only going for the day he changed the discount I got a ticket for roughly 24 bucks. It was a nice way to start the day.
I had originally planned to go to Koga in Shiga prefecture. Koga is famous for ninja. I figured since I'll be going to Iga ninja town I should probably get the other famous place out of the way as well. Well I was vetoed by the girlfriend and we settled on Hamamatsu.
I had been to the outskirts of Hamamatsu years ago for some mandarin orange picking. I didn't really get to see the city in depth. On our list of sites were Hamamatsu castle and the Unagi Pie factory (unagi pies are famous in Japan and are made in Hamamatsu).
We took local trains into Hamamatsu and arrived around noon. After a brief stop at the local tourist information center where we learned that there was a festival going on, we decided to to scrap our plans and head to the festival.
Festivals are almost always fun be it a penis, kite, or rice festival. This turned out to be a kite flying festival. In the old days people who had a newborn baby would donate money to make a kite to be flown for the child's sake. The tradition remains today.
It was pretty amazing to see all the kites in the air and to see how big some of them were. Some were about 2 meters in length. I've never really been one for kites, but I enjoyed this festival. I also got to see the ocean. I realized that it's been nearly three years since I stood on a beach. It made me a bit wistful and I immediately got the itch to travel to a tropical beach somewhere.
After we had our fill of kite viewing we swung by some of the food vendors. It was of course overpriced, but I always like festival food especially when it's meat on a stick. I had a tasty Asahi Super Dry and a skewer of beef. Once lunch was finished we decided to head back to the station and then to the castle. Little did we know that our plans would not be fulfilled.
The line for the return shuttle was just under an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the station any chances of going to the castle were gone. So we decided to take in some of the local area before heading back. I liked Hamamatsu. It's not a huge city, but it's no village either. It seemed like it would be a nice place to live, but I'm a long way away from settling down.
We wandered around the streets and got to see many festival participants wearing ancient Japanese attire. Finally the parade started and things took up a lively atmosphere again. After about 45 minutes of watching the floats go by and listening to taiko drums and shamisen, we headed back to the station to get dinner.
Dinner was disappointing. It took almost an hour to get our food and it was just so-so. But what do you expect from a chain restaurant?
With dinner digesting in our bellies we headed back to Nagoya. I got home and hit the hay.
This wasn't a big, stress inducing trip. I highly recommend Hamamatsu for anyone in the Nagoya area who just wants to get out and see something new.
Something I learned on this trip is to ask the station personnel if they have any deals on tickets to my destination. I was originally going to pay about 30 dollars for a round trip train ticket, but once the guy learned I was only going for the day he changed the discount I got a ticket for roughly 24 bucks. It was a nice way to start the day.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
China Day 2
The wake up call was right on time, 0630. It took me a minute or two to realize that I was actually in China rather than home in Japan. It was a bit disorientating. Aaron and I headed down to breakfast and man it was a treat.
There was just about every breakfast food imaginable down in the restaurant. It was a buffet. For those of you who don't know me, I throw down at buffets. It's like I go into a "I'm never going to be able to eat again" mode. I had bacon, sausages, steamed buns, stir fried vegetables and tons more. Finally it was getting time for us to head out for the day.
Aaron and I both decided to pack lightly. We took with us our backpacks and just enough clothes to get us by for five days. So we basically took our entire luggage with us wherever we went.
The first stop of the day was to get some pictures of the Olympic buildings. The stadium itself was only so-so in my opinion, but the cool dragon building across the way was really neat. After our picture break we were taken to a jade store where we could buy jade on the cheap. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.
45 minutes of wandering around later and we were on the bus heading to the Great Wall of China. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. I had seen pictures of it before, but nothing can compare with actually being there and seeing it for yourself. The scope of it is amazing. Standing on something that was built so many centuries ago was very awe inspiring. I wish I could have spent the rest of the day just walking around and looking at the wall from different aspects. We wandered around the wall, trying not to fall (it was cold and some parts were icy). We also avoided the numerous souvenir vendors trying their hardest to sell us silly hats.
We hiked around a couple of the more nearby hills and took our fill of pictures. And then our hour and a half was over. Aaron and I headed for the rope way and actually ended up with the same group of people we went up with.
Shortly after descending, it started to snow. The snow continued for most of the day and gave the area a nice ambiance. The Great Wall would have looked amazing with the snow, but sadly, I was not to see it.
The next stop was lunch. After the huge breakfast I had I was a bit surprised to find myself hungry. But hungry I was and greatly welcomed the Chinese lunchbox which had been prepared for us. There were several items in there and the only thing I didn't eat was the fish. Also during lunch we were treated with some Chinese alcohol. I'm not sure if it was meant for drinking or cleaning engine parts, but it did the trick and after only three shots, I was feeling nice and warm. After lunch we had another, shorter shopping break. I decided I needed to get something for my girlfriend so I hunted for something to get her. The place was obviously geared for Japanese people of means. All of the vendors spoke Japanese and would hurry around trying to get people to buy stuff.
Once back on the bus we headed to the Ming Tombs. That was also a very pleasant area, but I think that it was made more attractive due to the freshly fallen snow. It gave the entire area a nice charm that I am glad I got to see.
The tombs were of course very elegant and I marveled at the detail of the place. However, I was pretty cold at this point so I was having a hard time keeping my mind focused on the scenery. To actually enter the tombs we had to pass a security check where all bags had to be in the left hand. I thought it was a bit excessive for something that isn't very famous or popular. The inner areas of the tombs didn't hold much. There were some thrones and then a "tomb" section which had nothing but large, red, metal boxes. I didn't find this as interesting as the outside.
Mr. Lee hurried us out of the tomb and back to the bus to begin our drive back to Beijing and dinner. Dinner was simply amazing. We had Peking Duck and it was just great. I've had Peking Duck in the States, but there's no comparison. The chefs made a big production of cutting the duck and we all got to take pictures. The duck of course went fast and I ended up a bit disappointed at not getting to eat more of this delicious bird. The side dishes, though, were awesome too. I filled up on the many stir fries and other concoctions that came throughout dinner.
We headed back to the hotel and Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure of our own. We grabbed our money and went into the night.
That was an experience. It was still part of the Chinese New Year so people were shooting off fireworks and such. That coupled with the falling snow made me feel like I was in a war movie. Every time a firework shot off, I would jump. The steam and mist in the cold air gave an eerie atmosphere to the entire place. After walking for about 10 minutes we decided that we did not want to get lost or stabbed so we headed back. I of course wanted beer. So we popped into the little convenience store down the road and proceeded to buy snacks and liquids. The girl working there was mean. She literally tossed our change at us and just came off as being rude. Outside we ran into some nice Japanese guys who were on our tour and they bought us beer. That made me happy.
Back at the hotel Aaron and I ate our snacks and watched some TV. We finished our stuff and decided to go to bed to prepare for our third day: The Forbidden City.
There was just about every breakfast food imaginable down in the restaurant. It was a buffet. For those of you who don't know me, I throw down at buffets. It's like I go into a "I'm never going to be able to eat again" mode. I had bacon, sausages, steamed buns, stir fried vegetables and tons more. Finally it was getting time for us to head out for the day.
Aaron and I both decided to pack lightly. We took with us our backpacks and just enough clothes to get us by for five days. So we basically took our entire luggage with us wherever we went.
The first stop of the day was to get some pictures of the Olympic buildings. The stadium itself was only so-so in my opinion, but the cool dragon building across the way was really neat. After our picture break we were taken to a jade store where we could buy jade on the cheap. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.
45 minutes of wandering around later and we were on the bus heading to the Great Wall of China. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. I had seen pictures of it before, but nothing can compare with actually being there and seeing it for yourself. The scope of it is amazing. Standing on something that was built so many centuries ago was very awe inspiring. I wish I could have spent the rest of the day just walking around and looking at the wall from different aspects. We wandered around the wall, trying not to fall (it was cold and some parts were icy). We also avoided the numerous souvenir vendors trying their hardest to sell us silly hats.
We hiked around a couple of the more nearby hills and took our fill of pictures. And then our hour and a half was over. Aaron and I headed for the rope way and actually ended up with the same group of people we went up with.
Shortly after descending, it started to snow. The snow continued for most of the day and gave the area a nice ambiance. The Great Wall would have looked amazing with the snow, but sadly, I was not to see it.
The next stop was lunch. After the huge breakfast I had I was a bit surprised to find myself hungry. But hungry I was and greatly welcomed the Chinese lunchbox which had been prepared for us. There were several items in there and the only thing I didn't eat was the fish. Also during lunch we were treated with some Chinese alcohol. I'm not sure if it was meant for drinking or cleaning engine parts, but it did the trick and after only three shots, I was feeling nice and warm. After lunch we had another, shorter shopping break. I decided I needed to get something for my girlfriend so I hunted for something to get her. The place was obviously geared for Japanese people of means. All of the vendors spoke Japanese and would hurry around trying to get people to buy stuff.
Once back on the bus we headed to the Ming Tombs. That was also a very pleasant area, but I think that it was made more attractive due to the freshly fallen snow. It gave the entire area a nice charm that I am glad I got to see.
The tombs were of course very elegant and I marveled at the detail of the place. However, I was pretty cold at this point so I was having a hard time keeping my mind focused on the scenery. To actually enter the tombs we had to pass a security check where all bags had to be in the left hand. I thought it was a bit excessive for something that isn't very famous or popular. The inner areas of the tombs didn't hold much. There were some thrones and then a "tomb" section which had nothing but large, red, metal boxes. I didn't find this as interesting as the outside.
Mr. Lee hurried us out of the tomb and back to the bus to begin our drive back to Beijing and dinner. Dinner was simply amazing. We had Peking Duck and it was just great. I've had Peking Duck in the States, but there's no comparison. The chefs made a big production of cutting the duck and we all got to take pictures. The duck of course went fast and I ended up a bit disappointed at not getting to eat more of this delicious bird. The side dishes, though, were awesome too. I filled up on the many stir fries and other concoctions that came throughout dinner.
We headed back to the hotel and Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure of our own. We grabbed our money and went into the night.
That was an experience. It was still part of the Chinese New Year so people were shooting off fireworks and such. That coupled with the falling snow made me feel like I was in a war movie. Every time a firework shot off, I would jump. The steam and mist in the cold air gave an eerie atmosphere to the entire place. After walking for about 10 minutes we decided that we did not want to get lost or stabbed so we headed back. I of course wanted beer. So we popped into the little convenience store down the road and proceeded to buy snacks and liquids. The girl working there was mean. She literally tossed our change at us and just came off as being rude. Outside we ran into some nice Japanese guys who were on our tour and they bought us beer. That made me happy.
Back at the hotel Aaron and I ate our snacks and watched some TV. We finished our stuff and decided to go to bed to prepare for our third day: The Forbidden City.
Monday, March 8, 2010
China Day 1
About a week and a half ago my roommate, Aaron, and I left Japan and headed on a 5 day whirlwind trip of the Beijing area. It was a great trip and I got to experience a lot of stuff that I had wanted to for years.
The first morning I wake up and was surprisingly not hungover from the previous night's fun. I toss some stuff into my pack and we head off towards the nearest train station with a line to the airport. We get through the airport stuff, get some Chinese money and finally we get onto the plane.
Once we land in Tianjin (both me and my roommate thought we were flying into Beijing, shows how much we paid attention to the brochures) we went through the Immigration stations. I was a bit worried since my stuff had been slightly misspelled (my passport has my middle name misspelled and even though it was corrected on an amendment page, no one ever pays attention to it so I'm constantly having problems). My worrying was for naught as nothing happened. I went through and met our tour guide.
Our tour guide Mr. Lee was a very nice guy and spoke great Japanese. Yup the entire tour was done in Japanese. That proved to be quite interesting. Once everyone was together we headed to a "cultural shopping center". Boy, was that a learning experience. This was the first instance where I could really see the difference between Japanese and Chinese people. I looked over in time to see a woman spit right on the floor. Now I don't mind spitting (usually), but inside? I mean that was pretty gross. After that we headed to Beijing.
By the time we got to Beijing it was dark and everyone was pretty tired. I was beat even though I slept most of the way from Tianjin. We make a quick stop at this shopping center with this huge television screen. It was pretty neat. I got a Starbucks coffee in order to make change. I made it back to the bus in time to make it to dinner. Dinner was good. It was Sichuan food. I think this was my favorite of all the meals we had. It was simply amazing. Everything was nice and spicy.
After dinner we were taken to our hotel. It turned out to be a Best Western. Now the Best Westerns I've been to in the States have been nice, but this place looked to be a 3-4 star hotel. There was a nice chandelier in the lobby, all the staff were wearing nice uniforms. I was pretty stunned. There was even a dance club on the third floor. So we check into our rooms and due to the stresses of traveling all day, we just lazed around.
The first morning I wake up and was surprisingly not hungover from the previous night's fun. I toss some stuff into my pack and we head off towards the nearest train station with a line to the airport. We get through the airport stuff, get some Chinese money and finally we get onto the plane.
Once we land in Tianjin (both me and my roommate thought we were flying into Beijing, shows how much we paid attention to the brochures) we went through the Immigration stations. I was a bit worried since my stuff had been slightly misspelled (my passport has my middle name misspelled and even though it was corrected on an amendment page, no one ever pays attention to it so I'm constantly having problems). My worrying was for naught as nothing happened. I went through and met our tour guide.
Our tour guide Mr. Lee was a very nice guy and spoke great Japanese. Yup the entire tour was done in Japanese. That proved to be quite interesting. Once everyone was together we headed to a "cultural shopping center". Boy, was that a learning experience. This was the first instance where I could really see the difference between Japanese and Chinese people. I looked over in time to see a woman spit right on the floor. Now I don't mind spitting (usually), but inside? I mean that was pretty gross. After that we headed to Beijing.
By the time we got to Beijing it was dark and everyone was pretty tired. I was beat even though I slept most of the way from Tianjin. We make a quick stop at this shopping center with this huge television screen. It was pretty neat. I got a Starbucks coffee in order to make change. I made it back to the bus in time to make it to dinner. Dinner was good. It was Sichuan food. I think this was my favorite of all the meals we had. It was simply amazing. Everything was nice and spicy.
After dinner we were taken to our hotel. It turned out to be a Best Western. Now the Best Westerns I've been to in the States have been nice, but this place looked to be a 3-4 star hotel. There was a nice chandelier in the lobby, all the staff were wearing nice uniforms. I was pretty stunned. There was even a dance club on the third floor. So we check into our rooms and due to the stresses of traveling all day, we just lazed around.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sake (酒)
Sake, the traditional alcoholic beverage of Japan, is something that is somewhat unknown back home in Tennessee. Of course a lot of people know about it, but it seems that they only know that it's a drink and it's from Japan.
There are tons of different kinds of sake. Almost every region in Japan has its own special brand and in many cases more than one. I've decided to use this blog to give people more knowledge of this great spirit.
The first one I tried was Yoshinotomo (よしのとも). It was very nice. It had a nice smooth flavor and didn't a strong after taste as a lot of sake does. It goes very nice with fish, especially tuna. I drank it at room temperature, but the nice old man at the liquor shop said you could drink it hot as well. I highly recommend this sake.
There are tons of different kinds of sake. Almost every region in Japan has its own special brand and in many cases more than one. I've decided to use this blog to give people more knowledge of this great spirit.
The first one I tried was Yoshinotomo (よしのとも). It was very nice. It had a nice smooth flavor and didn't a strong after taste as a lot of sake does. It goes very nice with fish, especially tuna. I drank it at room temperature, but the nice old man at the liquor shop said you could drink it hot as well. I highly recommend this sake.
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Onsen
When people think of winter they usually think of bundling up and staying in a nice, warm room with no desire to take a bath or otherwise get wet. Not so the Japanese. In Japan one of the greatest parts of winter is taking a dip in a steaming hot hot springs. Speaking from experience, these are great.
Generally an onsen is rather large and almost feels like a hotel. You walk in and pay the entry fee. The lobby is usually adorned with several chairs or sometimes sofas and other sitting areas. There is also often a restaurant on location as well. You can also buy towels if you did not bring your own before you enter the actual bathing area. In most cases the sexes are separated (co-ed ones are extremely rare). You go through a curtain, blue for men and red for women. You enter into a locker room where you must strip down. Yes, you are naked as the day you were born when you go into the onsen. Some foreigners might feel a big embarrassed doing this, but most Japanese won't pay any mind to a naked foreigner (most of the time).
Once you're done stripping you move into the primary washing area of the onsen. You see at ano onsen or other traditional Japanese bath, you don't use the bath itself to clean off, you do that before you even get in. So you sit down at a shower stall and begin to wash up. There is usually shampoo and soap provided, but you can bring your own. It is important to make sure that you rinse off any and all soap from your body. It is extremely bad manners to enter a bath with either soap or bypassing the washing stage entirely. After your clean up you can finally enter the baths.
The baths are generally extremely hot, often close to 30 degrees or higher. Some baths are infused with minerals or other helpful additives. You soak in these baths to relax and to aid in healing (some baths are renowned for their curative abilities). You can move around and try different baths. A cold bath is also provided for a cool down if you so desire. Another feature of the onsen is the outdoor area. This can be a bit intimidating especially in winter, but these are among the most relaxing of baths. The mixture of hot water and cold air is invigorating. A favorite of mine is the shallow water area in which you lay down and allow the water to barely cover your entire body. This is quite refreshing especially when you have someone to converse with. One of my most recent times at the onsen was with my host father and we talked about everything from philosophy to volunteer work with the Peace Corps.
After you finish your bath it's time to go and get changed. Before leaving the bathing area it is often a good idea to take a quick shower. Basically you want to cool down a bit and to wash off any mineral or what not that you might have on your body. Once back in the changing room and dressed, the traditional thing to do is enjoy a nice, cold bottle of milk. This is my favorite thing about the onsen. After being subjected to hot temperatures for an hour (and sometimes longer), cold milk is very comforting.
As awesome as onsens can be there are some possible downsides. One example is the glaring old folks. I don't know about women's experiences, but I've had a couple times where an older man often glared at me and I could feel the loathing from him. However, don't allow this to deter you. Angry, anti-foreign types are the minority. Go forth and enjoy a hotspring.
Great places to try onsens are Gero, Kurama and Takayama.
Generally an onsen is rather large and almost feels like a hotel. You walk in and pay the entry fee. The lobby is usually adorned with several chairs or sometimes sofas and other sitting areas. There is also often a restaurant on location as well. You can also buy towels if you did not bring your own before you enter the actual bathing area. In most cases the sexes are separated (co-ed ones are extremely rare). You go through a curtain, blue for men and red for women. You enter into a locker room where you must strip down. Yes, you are naked as the day you were born when you go into the onsen. Some foreigners might feel a big embarrassed doing this, but most Japanese won't pay any mind to a naked foreigner (most of the time).
Once you're done stripping you move into the primary washing area of the onsen. You see at ano onsen or other traditional Japanese bath, you don't use the bath itself to clean off, you do that before you even get in. So you sit down at a shower stall and begin to wash up. There is usually shampoo and soap provided, but you can bring your own. It is important to make sure that you rinse off any and all soap from your body. It is extremely bad manners to enter a bath with either soap or bypassing the washing stage entirely. After your clean up you can finally enter the baths.
The baths are generally extremely hot, often close to 30 degrees or higher. Some baths are infused with minerals or other helpful additives. You soak in these baths to relax and to aid in healing (some baths are renowned for their curative abilities). You can move around and try different baths. A cold bath is also provided for a cool down if you so desire. Another feature of the onsen is the outdoor area. This can be a bit intimidating especially in winter, but these are among the most relaxing of baths. The mixture of hot water and cold air is invigorating. A favorite of mine is the shallow water area in which you lay down and allow the water to barely cover your entire body. This is quite refreshing especially when you have someone to converse with. One of my most recent times at the onsen was with my host father and we talked about everything from philosophy to volunteer work with the Peace Corps.
After you finish your bath it's time to go and get changed. Before leaving the bathing area it is often a good idea to take a quick shower. Basically you want to cool down a bit and to wash off any mineral or what not that you might have on your body. Once back in the changing room and dressed, the traditional thing to do is enjoy a nice, cold bottle of milk. This is my favorite thing about the onsen. After being subjected to hot temperatures for an hour (and sometimes longer), cold milk is very comforting.
As awesome as onsens can be there are some possible downsides. One example is the glaring old folks. I don't know about women's experiences, but I've had a couple times where an older man often glared at me and I could feel the loathing from him. However, don't allow this to deter you. Angry, anti-foreign types are the minority. Go forth and enjoy a hotspring.
Great places to try onsens are Gero, Kurama and Takayama.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A Japanese New Year
This year I took time off of my typical New Year's partying and clubbing scene to spend a more traditional time with some of my friends in Osaka.
I learned a lot this year like if you're going to travel somewhere in Japan for New Year's don't wait for New Year's eve to go. The trains and subways were extremely busy and it made traveling very difficult. Also, when you go home don't wait for the day before everything starts up again because you'll run into even heavier crowds and will thus have an even more hectic trip than before.
Aside from the crazy traveling and manic crowds I had a great time. I met my friends near their house and helped pick out that evening's dinner and beverages. Once back at their house the feasting began. We had kimchi nabe (a dish where everything is cooked in a large pot and everyone takes what they want, similar to soup). It was awesome. There were tons of stuff in it, sausages, tofu, pork, green onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts and cabbage. On top of that we had traditional New Year's food made by my friend's mom (who is an excellent cook). So we ate and watched K-1, drank, ate more and finally passed out around 2am.
The next day we went to the local shrine to pay our New Year's respects to the gods, but when we got there the line was too long and my friends didn't want to wait as it was pretty cold. After returning home we ate more of the New Year's food and watched more tv.
Around dinner time my friend decided he wanted to go to yakiniku. Back home in the States we usually refer to this as Korean bar be que. Yakiniku is one of my favorite things in Japan. It's just so good. The place we went has just one type of sauce (other restaurants may have several different kinds you can choose from) and it was delicious. We loaded up on beer and tons of beef and pork. After dinner my friends and I decided to hit a local karaoke box where we sung out hearts out for about 3 hours. It was great. Our designated driver took me and her husband back to their house and we promptly went to bed.
The next two days were much more sedate and I just lounged around with my friend and watched wacky Japanese New Year's TV. I finally packed up my gear on the 3rd and headed back to Nagoya.
Overall it was a pretty great time. I had a great time with great friends and I feel that I got a good view of Japanese tradition and home culture.
I learned a lot this year like if you're going to travel somewhere in Japan for New Year's don't wait for New Year's eve to go. The trains and subways were extremely busy and it made traveling very difficult. Also, when you go home don't wait for the day before everything starts up again because you'll run into even heavier crowds and will thus have an even more hectic trip than before.
Aside from the crazy traveling and manic crowds I had a great time. I met my friends near their house and helped pick out that evening's dinner and beverages. Once back at their house the feasting began. We had kimchi nabe (a dish where everything is cooked in a large pot and everyone takes what they want, similar to soup). It was awesome. There were tons of stuff in it, sausages, tofu, pork, green onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts and cabbage. On top of that we had traditional New Year's food made by my friend's mom (who is an excellent cook). So we ate and watched K-1, drank, ate more and finally passed out around 2am.
The next day we went to the local shrine to pay our New Year's respects to the gods, but when we got there the line was too long and my friends didn't want to wait as it was pretty cold. After returning home we ate more of the New Year's food and watched more tv.
Around dinner time my friend decided he wanted to go to yakiniku. Back home in the States we usually refer to this as Korean bar be que. Yakiniku is one of my favorite things in Japan. It's just so good. The place we went has just one type of sauce (other restaurants may have several different kinds you can choose from) and it was delicious. We loaded up on beer and tons of beef and pork. After dinner my friends and I decided to hit a local karaoke box where we sung out hearts out for about 3 hours. It was great. Our designated driver took me and her husband back to their house and we promptly went to bed.
The next two days were much more sedate and I just lounged around with my friend and watched wacky Japanese New Year's TV. I finally packed up my gear on the 3rd and headed back to Nagoya.
Overall it was a pretty great time. I had a great time with great friends and I feel that I got a good view of Japanese tradition and home culture.
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