Well, I’m back from my two day trip to Tottori, a two hour train ride northwest of my area. It sits on the Japan Sea, and generally a lot colder than my part of town this time of year.
Kuniko and her co-worker Risa planned the trip as a way for all of us to meet each other’s significant others, and to eat lots of crab. We accomplished both.
Kuniko and I met up in Himeji for a quick lunch, and then we went to the station to get ready for the train trip. Risa and Anthony came a little bit later and met us at the station gate. It was the second time that I’ve met Risa, and the first time that either Kuniko or I have met Anthony.
Anthony is from the country of Brunei, which is located on the island of Borneo. He is a very interesting guy – he’s been living in Japan for the last five years, so his language skills are great. He’s working as an engineer for a Dutch firm in Kobe, and he met Risa a couple of years ago. They are engaged to be married this year back in his country.
We got on the Super Hakuto 7, which is a very space age name for the really fast special express train that takes you north through the snow to Tottori. The coolest part of the trip for me was the chance to watch a special TV feed from the camera mounted on the front of the train. There was also a long tunnel that we went through – 5.6 kilometers long. Also, plenty of snow – the landscapes were beautiful.
Although there was a lot of snow on the trip there, Tottori itself didn’t have any snow – it was just really cold. The wind was blowing pretty hard, and that made it seem even colder.
We got to the station and our ride wasn’t there yet, so we went into the local convenience store and bought alcohol there, since we figured it would be a lot cheaper than what the hotel would sell. As it turned out, we were quite right.
We arrived at the hotel and checked in. It was a really nice hotel, and they set us up with some tea and told us all the rules and regulations; what we were expected to do and where we were expected to be at what time. We picked a time for dinner and they set it up for us downstairs in a private room.
Dinner was crab – it’s what the Tottori area is known for. I ate lots of crab – hot crab, cold crab, crab salad, you name it. We smuggled in our beers and had a toast, and chatted the evening away. We were using English, which I guess is to be expected with two native English speakers and two Japanese English teachers.
We headed up to our rooms after the long dinner and got ready to try out the baths. They had a couple of “public” baths, and a couple of private ones, too. We set out to visit the outdoor private bath. It was really cool – we walked through a forest on the side of the lake and came to a gate. Beyond the gate was a wooden structure, and inside the structure you could take off all your clothes, wash up, and jump in the bath. The water was super-hot – Kuniko took a guess that it was around 115 degrees Fahrenheit. No kidding – it was way hot. Once you got in it would take a minute for your body to cool the water around it. If you moved, then it would be super-hot again.
It was very relaxing, though, and the patio was open to the fairly large lake. You could make out the lights of other buildings on the other side, and occasionally ducks would fly overhead.
We also tried the indoor bath, which was actually two baths, one that was inside and one that was outside. We spent a long time in that one using the built in shower to wash up, since our room only had a toilet, no bath or shower.
The next day we were up early for breakfast. We had hoped to get up even earlier and take another bath, but we didn’t get up in time. We had a pretty traditional Japanese breakfast, and then went over to a Chinese garden that was built near the hotel.
We walked through the gardens and enjoyed seeing some Chinese artifacts. We happened to be in time for a special show, and it turned out to be Chinese acrobats doing lots of different tricks. When the show first started, we were the only ones in the room, but later more people showed up. The whole thing only cost 500 yen – it was a pretty good deal and it didn’t feel too “touristy”.
Finally we went into town and had lunch at a place known for it’s rice cake (mochi). Kuniko and Risa ordered up a special mochi dish that was really good – I stole a lot of Kuniko’s food from her plate. It was so good that I bought some mochi home to have for dinner later.
We wrapped up our trip by catching the Super Hakuto 8 back to Himeji. We were lucky enough to get seats – our tickets were unreserved for the trip back, but it was no problem.
Now I’m back and getting ready to get back into a working schedule. This has been a really relaxing holiday. Tomorrow is another secret trip to Yashiro for the Board of Education. Thursday I’ll make my first appearance back at school in more than a week. I hope they remember me.
