Escape to the mountains

Matt here.

Well, the constant rain in Tokyo shows no sign of abating, so today's plan is to head to the Japan Alps in the hope that it's drier there. The chance of rain in Tokyo today is, according to the weather forecast, "100%", so we can't do any worse.

Enjoying the scenery in the rain

Karuizawa is a small resort in Nagano Prefecture, famous mainly for 2 things - hot springs and booze. What's not to like? It's only about an hour from Tokyo on the 'Asama' Shinkansen, so that's an easy day trip.

As is usual for our bullet train trips, I'm blogging while N & T carry on with his school scrapbook, which is coming along nicely. This morning's train is one of the "old" E2 type Shinkansen, which is nice enough, but we're hoping to come back on the very latest E7 type, which we haven't been on before.

Even if the rain doesn't let up in the mountains, sitting up to your neck in an outdoor hot spring bath is about the best way to put up with the situation.

Fast forward about 4 hours, and we're now on our swanky E7 Shinkansen, heading back to Tokyo after a very pleasant trip.

After arriving at Karuizawa station, we took a local train 1 stop and then a bus to Hoshino Onsen, arriving just after noon. We were all pretty peckish, so we went on a lunch hunt and ended up in a bakery, eating a selection of savoury and sweet pastries. All quite nice, and about a third of the price of the rather overpriced restaurants at the resort. You tend to get fleeced for food & drink at places like this. With tummies filled, we wandered through a forest alongside a river to "Tonbo No Yu" (Dragonfly Spring) for our main activity of the day.

Tonbo No Yu Onsen

Now, any decent, reasonably plush public hot spring should have the following features:

+ Elegantly constructed old-style buildings.
+ Large well-equipped shower facilities (for
   getting properly clean before your soak).
+ At least one large indoor bath at a relaxing
   temperature (I like 42°C or thereabouts).
+ At least one spacious landscaped outdoor
   bath where you can smell the surrounding
   foliage.
+ A sauna so hot that you could bake cakes in
   it.
+ A cold pool so cold that your legs feel as if
   they've turned to granite.
+ A fountain where you can drink the hot spring water straight from the source.

Red face

Tonbo No Yu had all of these features, which made for a lovely hour. It couldn't have been more different from the ultra-basic experience we had in Ito the other day. There were plenty of fellow bathers, but both baths were so big that it never felt crowded.

Floppy Matt

A good Onsen should leave you feeling floppy and slightly drugged, which I did, so I consider today a very successful trip.

As we were leaving the Onsen, we noticed a shuttle bus and asked where it was going. Straight to Karuizawa Shinkansen station of course, and free of charge, meaning that this morning's use of local train and bus wasted both time and money. Ho hum. しゃーないなー! as they say over here (well, in Osaka anyway).

Reviving beer

After reserving seats for the train back to Tokyo, we popped over the road from the station (still in the rain) to a little café, where Tom & Nik had a doughnut each and I had a draft beer. Cold beer never (and I mean never) tastes better than straight after an Onsen.

As has often been the case on this holiday, Tom nodded off on Nik on the way back. He's tired after so many stimulating days, and Shinkansen are very smooth and quiet.

Pint of water for the lad please

After dropping our stuff off at the flat, we then headed out to the streets of Hamamatsucho in search of dinner.  We found a likely looking izakaya and headed in after we were promised 10% off.  It was a dream of a dinner - everything exceedingly good quality.  We had:

+ Beef tongue on sticks
+ Chicken thigh on sticks
+ Chicken wings
+ Leek on sticks
+ Shiitake mushrooms on sticks (well Tom and I anyway!)
+ Edamame
+ Caesar salad
+ Croquettes
+ Chicken karaage
+ Pork stew
+ A grilled hokke

All washed down with 4 beers.

It was heaven, pure heaven.  The most expensive dinner yet, but wholly worth it.  We then headed back home to collapse, a good day.

Location: Karuizawa