For last weekend's ski trip to Yuzawa we stayed at the Naspa New Otani, which is next door to the ski school and about 200 yards to the nearest chairlift. We opted for a Japanese-style room: tatami mats on the floor, sliding screens in front of the windows, low table with legless chairs, and extra robes and slippers to wear to the onsen downstairs.
In the onsen, or hot springs bath, you check your modesty at the door. No bathing suits or even towels are allowed, though you can carry a "humility towel," a small hand towel to hold against yourself while you make your way to the shower and then across the stone deck and into the water. I noticed that some people wrap their hair in the small towel while they soak; others rest it folded on top of their heads. I left mine in the locker room. I guess I am humility-challenged.
So the onsen itself is....hot. Very hot. Not bubbling like a jacuzzi, just a shallow, clear, hot bath. At this particular place you could soak in the large stone one inside or a smaller stone one outside. I preferred to be outside, where the air was cold and you could really see steam coming off the water, and it wasn't quite so hot, and you could see a bit of the snowbanks and a tiny glimpse of mountain scenery. But I couldn't take it for more than 10 minutes. As I sat there, wondering, as I often do, how did I get here? (with that Talking Heads song playing in my head) I could feel myself fading. Later I noticed my pores were so wide open it looked like someone had taken a black ballpoint pen (and a pot of rouge) to my cheeks.
It did make me feel good all over though. They say the water is mineral rich and so has healing powers; it definitely feels restorative. The reason Japan has so many onsen (3,000, according to one Japan Times article I read) is because of the volcanoes. The country is 75 percent mountainous, and many of its peaks are volcanic; most of the springs are heated groundwater near those volcanoes. Some derive their heat from something else, though: the decay of naturally radioactive elements going on inside the Earth's mantle (Word of the Day: geothermal). Going to the onsen has always been a big part of Japanese life, a bonding ritual to be enjoyed with family and friends; I saw lots of little girls in the hotel onsen with their mothers. There's a Japanese expression, hadaka no tsukiai, or "naked companionship." True friendship means getting naked and going to the onsen together. It's where you can relax and take a break from the formality and social restraint. That's not to say that it's party time in the onsen; everybody was still pretty quiet and reserved sitting there in the bath. I suppose it's difficult to chat while you're boiling yourself.
Anyway, after the onsen (the boys went to the boys' one, I went to the ladies'), we went to dinner, to the family-style buffet, which had big signs directing you to "Japanese Food" (sushi, grilled crab legs, tempura mushrooms, miso soup, udon noodles, pickled daikon, a savory egg custard) on one side and "Western Food" (broiled fish florentine, chicken, steak, pasta, salad bar) on the other. The boys made multiple trips to the ice cream case. While we were eating, somebody came into our room to roll out and make our beds, turning it into a scene from a tween-age slumber party. The beds were actually quite comfortable and of course the kids dug it.
On Sunday morning we had a little Easter egg hunt. I put tiny cookies and 10-yen coins in our plastic eggs and T hid most of them inside slippers and snowboots. Here the boys are looking over the bounty and discussing what they are going to do with the 300-plus yen they've just scored.
No comments:
Post a Comment