Yunessun Onsen

The weekend before Christmas, Glenn and I joined an MWR tour where we went to the Yunessen Onsen. Onsens are very popular in Japan. Think of it as a naked hot spring. I've described them before. This place was a little different though. It was more of a swimsuit friendly water park hot spring.

You wear your swim suit and then they also give you a towel and small jacket. Since there are spa rooms, restaurants and rest/relaxing areas you can wear your jacket everywhere.


Inside there were hot tubs, a large child-friendly water park and Dr. Fish (you put your feet in a pool and these small fish eat your dead skin and it tickles!).

Outside was the best part. It was only about 40 degrees so it was cold going from pool to pool, but once you were in the water, it felt great!

It wasn't just water though, the outside pools were filled with coffee, wine, green tea, sake and charcoal water!

Glenn in the coffee pool that they brew right next to it.

 

Me in the red wine pool.

Glenn and I in the green tea (/ectocooler) bath.

We had a great day relaxing and enjoying all the goofy people at the spa. I would definitely recommend you make a trip!

Hakone Roadtrip

 Glenn had a 4-day weekend thanks to Veteran's Day so on Friday we decided to head to Hakone for some lunch and to check out the area. Stella is a pretty good navigator so she came along too! We took the Tomei expressway south from Ebina to Gotemba and drove along the mountain roads til we reached Gora station. You can take the train pretty easily to Hakone as well, but for 1500 yen and only about an hour and 15 minutes of driving, it was faster and cheaper to drive.

 First stop: Lunch! We stopped at Gyouza Center.  A place we had heard much about. The entire menu is different types of Gyoza (aka fried/steamed dumplings). Glenn's favorite were the Chicken Roll Gyoza where they took a chicken wing, filled it with the normal gyoza filling and then fried it. Delicious! We also tried the Stamina Gyoza (90% Garlic filling), the original, the crab meat and the kimchi gyoza. We took a few of those kinds for takeout. I definitely recommend this place if you are in the area!

 Our next stop was Gora station area. We took Stella for a walk and enjoyed the beautiful leaves. It didn't occur to me that it would be 20 degrees cooler since we were closer to the mountains so a jacket would have been nice. :) The leaves were just perfect though. I didn't really think about the leaves, I just wanted to go to Hakone with Glenn, but our timing was just perfect!

 Next we went to the Hakone Open-Air Museum. It is a huge sculpture garden and a substantial Picasso exhibit as well.

 A beautiful day exploring Japan with Glenn! Too bad Stella had to stay in the car at the museum. :)

 

I love this time of year

Hakone, Japan. Friday November 12, 2010.

Hakone

Glenn and I went on a sightseeing tour on Sunday to Hakone. Hakone is SW of Atsugi but still in the Kanagawa prefecture about 2 hours away.
This tour was jam-packed, and a little long, but we still enjoyed it. I think we would have enjoyed it even more if the weather had been nicer. Hakone is known for being a great place to view Mt. Fuji, but it was covered in clouds the whole time we were there. At least it didn't rain.
Our first stop on the tour was the Hakone Shrine. This shrine was very pretty because it is in a park and surrounded by gorgeous, tall trees. The shrine also had a long set of stairs that led down to a torii gate in the lake. Hakone is a region known for its volcanic activity and lake Ashi was formed by volcanic eruptions. Later in the day we took a boat ride from one end of the lake to the other. On a pirate-themed boat no less.
After the Hakone Shrine, we went to Owakudani Valley which was the last point of volcanic activity/explosion in Japan and still has boiling hot springs. This area is known for their black eggs. The legend says that if you eat one egg you will live an extra 7 years, 14 years if you eat two. The eggs are just hard boiled eggs, but they turn black because they are boiled in the hot springs (hydrogen sulfide + iron in eggs = black eggs). Glenn and I each ate 2 so we'll be living longer now! (The inside was still white and yellow, fyi).

After extending our lifetimes, we took the boat cruise to the other end of Lake Ashi and visited the Sekisyo Checkpoint and the Detached Palace Gardens. The checkpoint was established in 1619 and was the gateway to Edo (Tokyo) from Kyoto in order to keep travelers and imports under control. The place we visited was a replica of what stood in the same place hundreds of years ago. Here I am at the lookout tower, keeping an eye on things:
At this point of the tour, Glenn and I were ready to go home, but finally we visited the gardens. This garden used to be a summer vacation spot for the imperial family. Now it is owned by the Kanagawa prefecture. Again, this would have been much prettier and more enjoyable in warmer weather, but I still enjoyed getting to see it.

Maybe Glenn is sad the tour is over...