We arrived a little after 5:30. Japan is so small, the middle of nowhere is just over an hour away. Our accomodations consisted of a sleeping area, eating area, bathroom and two baths, indoor and outdoor.
After enjoying our welcome snack, and arranging dinner and breakfast times with the room lady who would not stop talking, we got right down to it...soaking in the hot sulfur smelling water. It was glorious!
Just as the tension of the week was melting away, we had to get out and make ourselves decent for the room lady to bring us dinner. It's really not everyday you get served dinner in your bathrobe. I felt like a princess!
First course: lots of small Japanese things, including some tofu and potatoes dressed up as Hina Matsuri dolls.
Next: Pumpkin "fondue" with vegetables to dip into the secret soup. The room lady who wouldn't stop talking about everything else (including the annoying gaijin questions "Can you eat Japanese food?") kept her trap shut when it came to the recipe. It tasted a lot like pumpkin puree, water and butter to me.
Obligatory raw creatures from the sea. I wasn't so sure about this tentacled guy, but shut my eyes and swallowed him without too much trouble.
We finally got some cooked meat and rice to round out the main course. Dessert was the juicy citrus below. Normally, I think fruit is too healthy for dessert, but this was delicious. I hardly noticed all the vitamin C.
More soaking. Sleeping on large fluffy futon. Breakfast at 9 AM sharp. What kind of vacation is this! !
Keizo trying to look awake with our bountiful breakfast.
In addition to delicious food, this place had an amazing collection of ceramic dishes. I loved the little shoyu (soy sauce) duck!
Sadly, they made us leave around 11, so we hopped in the car and drove towards Kumamoto city. We hadn't gotten far when I spotted a large head peeking above the trees in the hills. Keizo asked for directions and we shortly arrived at the base of this:
Ewwww. Much tackier up close than from the road. Oh well. Next stop, Kumamoto Castle. As you may recall, this was the first Japanese castle I saw, way back in September of 2007. It is also the first Japanese castle Keizo has ever been inside of. He has seen/walked around Osaka-jo. That's it. I have been to nine Japanese castles! There's something not quite right about that.
The castle had some nice ume trees.
After the castle, it was back in the car for the drive home, which we broke up stopping to buy some of the delicious oranges we had for dessert and a box of taiyaki, fish shaped wafers filled with sweet beans, which we ate in the car, and for breakfast the following two days. All in all, an excellent escape; one that I would love to be able to repeat every weekend.
Once a month?
