Tamasei Ski Trip

Every year a group of us goes skiing ususally right after the entrance exams. This year the days didn't fall right so we moved the trip back till the end of the month. As we headed out of Tokyo it was raining and by the time we got close to our destination it had turned into snow. We were a little worried that they were going to make us stop and put on tire chains but we made it through before they forced everyone into one lane to put onto chains.





So the ski conditions on Saturday were great. A fresh sprinkling of snow and clear skies.

This is the view that greeted us at the ski resort. Is is always a spectacular view, and if you are lucky it last through the day. But for the most part we were only lucky enogh to see it in the morning. Maybe it will be better next year.


On the way back we always stop for a bath at Yurari, and of course a dinner of Houtou nabe, a speciality of the area. It is a great meal and always fun for the kids because the the rice and tororo is brought to the room by a miniature Locomotive train. This time it mad 3 trips to the room. It was a good trip but now back home I am so tired and sore. I may be young at heart but the body is shouting not anymore!

Here we all are ready to hit the slopes.

With Takatori sensei and his boys at the beer restaurant.

Hakone Food

One of life's most enjoyable pleasures, food.

After talking about Hakone I have said little about the food. Here is a sample of how our meal at the hotel started off. Of course this is just the appetizer. Shige said that the cost of the meal was supposed to be 11,000 yen.

Of course there was more to the meal. There was a crab doria in the shell that was really good, also a fish 鰆 sawara, spanish mackerel, that was quite tasty.

The next morning this was our breakfast.

I guess since we had such a big breakfast we were good until we got our light lunch at Watanabe's. when we finally made it back down to Odawara we ate at little restaurant, if you can call it that in the station building. They had great yakisoba, something that I was really surprised to be sold but we had gone by the store on the way there and the smell was so good that I was really glad we stoped on the way back. Too bad I didn't take any pictures.

Hakone: Day Two

After 2 more bath sessions, breakfast, and a quick tour of the 4th floor it was time to check out of our hotel. The main banquet room was really beautiful, and it is a shame that probably most people that stay here never see it. I really thought that it would be great to serve all the guests dinner in that room, at least people could appreciate it and it would eliminate the need for the use of the tables they set up in the halls to serve people in their rooms.


We got the train from Tonosawa and headed to Gora. We decided to try our hand at glass blowing.


It was fun even though you really didn't have much control over the process, they pretty much did everything for you and just let you sort of experience it. We got to blow in the pipe to expand the glass and with just a cotton glove and some folded newspaper between our hands and the 1000 degree glass, we got to help set the shape of the glass.




Next we set off to Miyanoshita, home to the Fujiya hotel. We thought that we would eat lunch at a bakery that I had heard of on TV that serves beef stew in a bread bowl. On the way there we stopped into 小林商店 (Kobayashi shoten)a store that is famous for it's wood crafts. If that is the right word for them. The owner of the shop came out and procedded to give us a historical run down on the area and the shop and the relationship with the royal family. This area is home to a former Imperial residence.　Actually I thought we might never get out of the store, but lucikly we did and found our way to "Watanabe Bakery". It is a very small store and there was room for only 8 people to sit and eat. Of course they were selling fresh baked goods. The restaurant just seems to be a side thing.


We enjoyed a quick light lunch then back to check out a couple more shops before we headed back down to Hakone Yumoto.

Hakone Onsen Trip

Took a short trip to Hakone with Shige. A time to relax and soak away stress in a nice hot spring. We stayed in this old inn, Kansuiro, that was about 100 years old, dating back to the Taisho era. In fact one of the Taisho emperors daughter stayed here for rehabilitation. The picture above is from our room, which was called "Maki" after the giant tree that stands in the court yard outside the room.

Of course the main reason to be at this inn was to enjoy the hot spring. The inside bath was very rustic. The tile in the bath was all imported from Germany probably during the Meiji era. There were three stained class windows also, one above the entrance to the mens bath, one outside the womens bath, and one that we saw on the outside that was probably on the outside of the womens bath.



The inn has a lot of character and there could be a lot more done to make it even nicer. Over the years there have been many additions some good and some very haphazard. I would have loved to ripped out the tacky florescent lighting in the beautiful 100 year old ceiling of the lavish hall on the 4th floor. Luckily or unfortunately that room didn't seem to be used to much. Stuck back in a back room that wasn't in use either was a very 60's style bar, that I would loved to have taken a crow bar to, it was right outside the beautiful new stone sauna, and would have been a great space for relaxing after the sweating in the sauna.

One great addition was the rotenburo, or open air hot spring. It was really nice and the water that runs 24hrs. was very soft and soothing. All the baths are open around the clock, so of course besides the soak upon arrival and the soak after dinner, there was the 4 in the morning soak where I took this picture below.


And because of the late hour I took the opportunity to soak in the women's bath also, I'd post that picture too but I need to do some touch up on it so you don't... well just say the water was very clear.