Hakone
Me & Eri took a trip West of aTokyo to the tourist mecca of Hakone. It is famous for it's onsens (hot springs) and the view of Mount Fuji. Eri borrowed her mother's Toyota Estima for the trip, which was pretty cool in itself because over here satellite navigation is standard.
After the one and a half hour or so drive we headed straight to the biggest onsen: Funesans. A typical onsen has a few different baths you can soak in but Funesans is more like an onsen amusement park with maybe thirty different baths and pools to enjoy. We enjoyed indoor and outdoor baths, spas, waterslides and a variety of themed baths, such as milk, wine and green tea baths. We even went in a bath with salt water imported from the Dead Sea (Israel). The craziest one was a foot bath with little fish who come and eat the bacteria off your feet but the queue was too long.
After soaking it up for a good four hours it was time to head to the nude section. It was my first time to bathe with a bunch of naked Japanese men (they don't trim the bush) but it wasn't uncomfortable because there were so many naked dudes, I was just another one. You do have a hand-towel you can use to casually conceal your manhood when walking but not so much as to look like you care. These hot springs are about 40 degrees and are indoor and outdoor. Outdoor was much better, especially under the full moon. Ah, so fresh and so clean! After a good five hours soaking we couldn't do much except eat, shag and go to bed.
Sunday was the touristy sight-seeing day, so we hit up the Ropeway cable car to the top of a mountain for views of the area, to hike around a little and take some photos. Then it was into town to take a look at the local jinja (Shinto shrine) by the lake and then the Hakone Open Air Museum where they have a big Picasso gallery with about 300 original works and a bunch of photos of the man in his French house. There are drawings, lithographs, a tapestry, lots of ceramics and some paintings; very inspiring stuff.
In a different installation work by a Japanese artist, you walk down some stairs into darkness, along a small corridor and then up & out a different staircase. I scared the shit out of these two girls who came into the exhibit and didn't know we were there by yelling 'boo!'. Man, I've never heard anyone scream so loudly then they ran out the entrance. It was funny as hell. Much funnier than I expected it to be. They screamed so loud that I got a fright too.
After that we headed to a local gyoza restaurant to avoid the traffic and then back to Tokyo. Great weekend, great getaway spot and not too expensive. There are a bunch of nice places around Tokyo you can get to easily for a weekend retreat. I look forward to the next time.
After the one and a half hour or so drive we headed straight to the biggest onsen: Funesans. A typical onsen has a few different baths you can soak in but Funesans is more like an onsen amusement park with maybe thirty different baths and pools to enjoy. We enjoyed indoor and outdoor baths, spas, waterslides and a variety of themed baths, such as milk, wine and green tea baths. We even went in a bath with salt water imported from the Dead Sea (Israel). The craziest one was a foot bath with little fish who come and eat the bacteria off your feet but the queue was too long.
After soaking it up for a good four hours it was time to head to the nude section. It was my first time to bathe with a bunch of naked Japanese men (they don't trim the bush) but it wasn't uncomfortable because there were so many naked dudes, I was just another one. You do have a hand-towel you can use to casually conceal your manhood when walking but not so much as to look like you care. These hot springs are about 40 degrees and are indoor and outdoor. Outdoor was much better, especially under the full moon. Ah, so fresh and so clean! After a good five hours soaking we couldn't do much except eat, shag and go to bed.
Sunday was the touristy sight-seeing day, so we hit up the Ropeway cable car to the top of a mountain for views of the area, to hike around a little and take some photos. Then it was into town to take a look at the local jinja (Shinto shrine) by the lake and then the Hakone Open Air Museum where they have a big Picasso gallery with about 300 original works and a bunch of photos of the man in his French house. There are drawings, lithographs, a tapestry, lots of ceramics and some paintings; very inspiring stuff.
In a different installation work by a Japanese artist, you walk down some stairs into darkness, along a small corridor and then up & out a different staircase. I scared the shit out of these two girls who came into the exhibit and didn't know we were there by yelling 'boo!'. Man, I've never heard anyone scream so loudly then they ran out the entrance. It was funny as hell. Much funnier than I expected it to be. They screamed so loud that I got a fright too.
After that we headed to a local gyoza restaurant to avoid the traffic and then back to Tokyo. Great weekend, great getaway spot and not too expensive. There are a bunch of nice places around Tokyo you can get to easily for a weekend retreat. I look forward to the next time.
posted by Dave Tran at 5:52 PM
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