Onsen John: Trip to Ootaki Hotel

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Trip to Ootaki Hotel

This trip was taken 12/9/-12/10/13

This trip is about 2 hours south of Tokyo, near Atami. This is one of the express trains to take. There are a few others besides this one. A real nice train that I've ridden before is the Super View. Try and take it if possible.

Some of the views along the way

Beautiful day along the coast.

Here is the station to get off at.

One of the few stations I've seen that has nice soft cushions on the platform seats. It has the station name, Yugawara in Hiragana on the left.

The hotel is about a 20 min bus ride or 40 min walk from the station. Take the bus, it's less than 2 dollars and it's all up hill to the hotel, plus the stop is less than 100 feet from the hotel, so no getting lost!

The hotel is downhill from the bus stop about 100 feet or so.

The room was very clean and being up on the 8th floor, had a nice view of the hills across the way.

Looking outside. Shooting picture into the sun, sorry for the glare.

Here are the pictures of what everyone is waiting to see, the bath area!

Really nice.

Here is the changing room. This onsen changes the men's and woman's sides part way through the day. So be careful! Both sides are almost the same.

Below is the soap/washing area

Here is the outside bath. It has a nice view of the trees across the way.

There was a nice rain/hailstorm that lasted about 1/2 hour. It was so pleasent to sit and listen to the rain and hail hit the roof. Natures natural symphony, very relaxing.

There is a waterfall on the right hand wall (the green light area)

Another great thing about staying at an onsen is the great food they serve. This place didn't let me down!

Kanpai!

The girl in the above picture is setting up all the food. No one at the hotel speaks English, but not a problem.

Oiishi!!!

There is a nice road to walk along right in front of the hotel. turn right and go up the hill for some nice river views.

Not too far up from the hotel is a small shrine and waterfall. I missed it the first time I walked by.

It will be on the right hand side as you walk uphill. maybe 100-200 feet from the hotel. You will see a public restroom next to another building right off the road. That's the place.

Right near this sign.

This bridge leads to some trails that go up into the hills. Next time I'm down here, I'll have to go hiking and see what's up there.

Didn't take the bus to the station, walked instead. Took about 90 minutes as I stopped and looked at things on the way back.

The remains of an old hotel

Tanuki chan. On top of a restaurant in town

Lots of interesting old buildings

A Blue Heron

The statue in front of the station

Had some time to kill before the train arrived, plus it was cold and windy so went over to the Denny's across from the station and had chocolate lava cake and coffee. Yum yum.

What's nice about Denny's is that you get free coffee refills. Most places don't do that

This was a very nice overnight trip. Not too far from Tokyo, about 2 hours travel time. There are quite a few more onsen's in the area. I will be back and stay in another place next time. It's a great place to get away from the stress of the big city, plus you will probably be the only foreigners (if your not a native Japanese) in the area as it's not a tourist destination per say. Perhaps there are more foreign visitors in the summer, but judging from the way they looked at me, I don't think they are used to seeing too many round eyed white devils LOL.

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About this blog

This blog is to document my travels to variuos onsen (hotsprings) in Japan. I will also ramble on about different Japanese resturants I've been to in Southern California in the LA area and in Japan.

An onsen (温泉, onsen) is a Japanese hot spring. Many springs are developed, having an associated outdoor bath (rotenburo (露天風呂, rotenburo) or notenburo (野天風呂, notenburo)) and/or indoor bath. Baths may be either public run by a municipality or private (uchiyu (内湯, uchiyu)) often run by a local inn (ryokan (旅館, ryokan)) or B&B (minshuku (民宿, minshuku)).

Onsens are often found out in the countryside, and are a major tourist attraction drawing Japanese couples, families or company groups who want to get away from the hectic life of the city to relax. Japanese often talk of the virtues of 'naked communion' (裸の付き合い, hadaka no tsukiai)) for breaking down barriers and getting to know people in the relaxed homey atmosphere of an onsen inn. The presence of an onsen is often indicated on signs and maps by the symbol ♨ or the Chinese character 湯 (for hot water).

People often travel to onsen with work colleagues, as the relaxed and open atmosphere helps to break down some of the hierarchical stiffness inherent in Japanese work life. However, most visitors to onsen are not work groups but friends, couples and families. It is not unusual to see a father or mother introducing a small child to the onsen for the first time. Very small children of either gender up to about 10 years old can often be seen in both male and female baths. Mixed-gender bathing is a tradition that persists at onsen in the more rural areas of Japan, although these days there is usually a separate bath for women only in addition to the mixed bath, or a time period designated for female-only bathing.

Onsen etiquette

Ensuring Cleanliness

At an onsen, as at a sento, guests are expected to wash their bodies and rinse themselves thoroughly before entering the hot water. The indoor baths have faucets with removable shower heads and little stools to sit on, for showering and shampooing.

Swimsuits

Many traditional onsen out in the countryside have rules forbidding wearing swimsuits into the bath, saying that these make it harder to clean. Some modern onsen in larger towns though have more of a waterpark atmosphere, and actively encourage the use of swimsuits, especially in their mixed baths.

Towels

Onsen guests generally bring a small towel with them to use as a washcloth. The towel can also provide a modicum of modesty when walking between the washing area and the baths. Some onsen allow one to wear the towel into the baths, while others have posted signs prohibiting this, saying that it makes it harder to clean the bath. In this latter case, people normally set their towels off to the side of the water when enjoying the baths. However, some people place their folded towels on top of their heads.