February 1st & 2nd

It’s Thursday and we’re headed to Chikuma! A quaint onsen town situated in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, in the mountains. We hopped on the Shinkansen out of Tokyo to Ueda, just over an hour – going 320km at top speed. It was noticeably chillier so we found a little udon shop for lunch before grabbing another more retro train to our final destination of Togura. We’re heading for a wholesome & authentic ryokan onsen experience that I found while browsing Airbnb. We’re staying at small place called Kamesei Ryokan that’s run by a lovely couple that came to the rescue when the place was going to be bulldozed (!) into a parking lot. The wife’s family had built and run the establishment for 100+ years, and it was either being torn down or Tyler & Mari would relocate from Seattle to take over the family business. That was 18 years ago now, and renovations are still happening, but the traditional vibes remain strong.

Here’s a snippet from their website explaining the history & design:

“Originally built as an okiya (geisha house), Kamesei Ryokan’s oldest building dates back to the early 1900s. It has been added on to and added on to since, with the lobby built in the late 1960s. In the middle is the central garden and koi pond and there is a passageway crossing over to the semi-detached guest rooms. While many ryokans have torn down such structures and built multi-storied concrete boxes, Kamesei Ryokan still has many of the original wooden buildings intact and we intend to preserve them for generations to come to enjoy their warmth.”

Just before our arrival the very old carpet in the spacious foyer was removed and replaced with wood, which is beautiful. The inn features 3 onsen rooms – natural sulphur hot spring /& slightly alkaloid – the options: men’s, women’s and a private couples/family onsen, which is located outside. Upon arrival Tyler gave us a quick tutorial on how to properly wear the yukata (which translates to “bathing clothes” – misleading – we’ll get to that), lots of rules, left flap of the robe on top, unless you’re dead, sort of rules. I already knew the onsen rules from prior research, bring in small towel, big towel in basket. So we’re checked in and settled, Tyler sets up the futon beds as Thors going to have a little lay down while I explore the women’s baths.

I bundle up in my yukata and yukata jacket, clip up my hair and head downstairs. First things first, you’re naked, there’s a basket to leave your stuff except the little towel, hand towel size, to barely cover your nethers while you scoot to the women’s showers. Showers and onsen are in the same steamy room, it’s forbidden to put your small towel down, so it gets balanced on your head while you soap up and rinse off pre bath, then hop in. The water is perfection, not too hot to immediately sink into, like I’ve heard some can be. So I tuck in and relax. Some of the many mineral soaking benefits (provided by google) are as follows: soothing sore muscles/stiff joints/bruises, improving sleep quality, reducing anxiety, calming sprains, calming stomach and intestinal problems, quick recovery from illness, general improvement of health, improves blood circulation, helping skin conditions & boosts the immune system. What a list! I soak for 10 inside in the tiled bath, which I have to myself, but would comfortably fit 4. There’s also an outside bath, made of wood, a relatively new addition, that fits one person nicely, so I enjoy some cool fresh air outside as well. I don’t linger too long, which, in hindsight I could’ve because someone was sound asleep upstairs. It’s customary to onsen for 10-40 minutes depending on the temperature. Too long can be dehydrating.

I toodle upstairs and write a bit of the Tokyo blog before finally waking up the mister at 630. We decide on yakitori, can’t go wrong with grilled meat on sticks, and as we depart Tyler recommends one shop just a stones throw down the alley, Yu Ki Izakaya, which was legit. We start with pork loin, chicken w/ spring onion – traditional, wagyu. No pictures of that round – looked too good. Eventually we get a second and third round, including “tsukune”, local specialty – which is seasoned mince chicken with a sauce, like flame grilled chicken lollipops – very delicious – then a round of yuzu tsukune – even more delicious. More wagyu of course. More of all the good things, and before you know it we’re almost late for our onsen reservation! Luckily there’s no one scheduled in after us, still though, bad manners! We zip back, fail at our yukata a couple times, forget towels, quick showers, change slippers for the outside onsen slippers and dash outside. Also, it’s storming! Not rain or snow, but there’s a cold strong wind whipping through the bamboo! It’s dark, the water is soft and perfectly warm and the most wonderful end to the day. It’s quite hard to force ourselves out, but eventually we do, I fill a Japanese hot water bottle with onsen water, as you do, and snuggle into our little futons on the floor. In the sake of transparency, it wasn’t comfortable, but for the sake of being immersed in tradition, we did it. When we got up I snagged another soak in the women’s baths & had the place to myself again. Tyler gave us a lift to the train station and we were on the road again, off to Nagano to see the snow monkeys! I was originally going to include both topics in one post but I feel I’ve droned on long enough for one post, but I’ll get to it soon!

Sayonara for now!

Fun Bird fact – I thought sayonara was Spanish, but it’s in fact Japanese 🙃