Naked bathing and ten course feasts

Our quest to experience as much Japanese culture as we possibly can inevitably led us to the wonderful world of the onsen. An onsen is a natural hot spring bath whose waters have to contain at least one of 19 designated minerals and be a minimum of 25°C when they come out of the ground. My Japanese friends visit onsen with their families, friends or on their own for an invigorating and relaxing break away from the city. Good onsen areas are at least a couple of hours by train from Tokyo so we decided to go away for a few days to make the journey worthwhile, and truly experience the relaxation that a break at an onsen hotel can offer. What better time to do this than Golden Week at the beginning of May, when four public holidays fall within days of each other, meaning that people all over Japan have the opportunity to kick back, relax, and enjoy the onset of spring in and out of town. Simon had a whole week off work so all we needed was to find an onsen hotel that we could reach by train, and that hadn’t hiked its prices to astronomical levels because of the holiday season…Tsuruya-Kisshotei on the east coast of the Izu Peninsular was the one for us.

Tsuruya-Kisshotei, right on the sea front

The hills behind the village of Izu Hokkawa

The end of our bay

What we thought we were booking: two nights in a smallish room in a hotel with a couple of hot spring baths; dinner on both nights; breakfast both mornings. The website also assured us that every room had a sea view but, having been brought up on a diet of Fawlty Towers and the like, I was expecting a glimpse of the sea from the top corner of the bathroom window, maybe. What we actually received was way beyond my expectations, and was some of the best service, food and accommodation I have ever had.

Fishing harbour of Izu Hokkawa

Village shrine

On arrival on Monday lunchtime we sat in the lobby and were very gently taken through the check-in procedure. I was invited to choose a yukata (light cotton version of a kimono) from the beautiful selection provided in reception; we were also told there were more in the room for Simon. Having been booked in for dinner that evening, we were informed, to our surprise and pleasure, that lunch the next day was also included! Next we were taken to our room, which we discovered to our continuing delight, was a small suite of gorgeous Japanese-style tatami mat rooms, the larger one of which even had an enclosed balcony. And the sea view? Well, Fawlty Towers eat your heart out – this was a sea view and a half!

The Pacific, right outside our window!

Super-cool entrance to our room

The living area of our suite

Our futons were put out both evenings, and put away both mornings

After the member of staff had gone through everything with us (and brought us more yukata as it had been tactfully explained that we were probably too tall for the standard ones provided!), we were left alone with our amazement at exactly how we’d landed such a cool place. Off we went for an exploration of the hotel. We found the main baths inside the hotel – split into men's and women’s as expected. On our way back we were greeted by a very enthusiastic receptionist who gave us a great leaflet entitled ‘How to take a bath’, which detailed in several languages the etiquette that must be followed when using a Japanese bath:

1. Remove underwear and slippers before entering the bathing area.
2. Before entering the large bath, rinse your entire body thoroughly with hot water.
3. Relax and soak in the large bath.
4. Wash your body outside of the tub.
5. Make sure to rinse off all soap before re-entering the bath.
6. Dry yourself thoroughly before exiting the bathing area.

The cheat sheet!

Spurred on by this information, and the research we’d done at home on onsen etiquette, we decided to take the plunge, literally, and go for a bath. Having changed into our yukata, we returned to the baths, wished each other luck, and arranged to meet in the relaxation salon after our baths. Alone, we headed into our designated changing areas to begin the process. Our main concern was not to offend anyone by unwittingly getting something wrong but, certainly once inside the women’s baths, I found everything to be very self-explanatory and, by keeping an eye on what was going on around me, I think I managed to acquit myself moderately well. The women’s baths consisted of two outdoor baths, one indoor bath, a small cold water bath, and a sauna. In the changing area I was provided with large bath towels, small ‘modesty towels’ (with which to cover rude bits), hairdryers, razors, toothbrushes and paste, creams, potions and lotions. It sounds like there were similar provisions in the men’s baths. Obviously I couldn’t snap away with my camera so I borrowed some photos from the hotel’s website.

One of the women's outdoor baths
(c) Tsuruya-Kisshotei

Typical pre- and post-soak washing area

Literally translates as horse oil...but appears to do wonders for the hair!

Stacks of fresh towels are always available

After luxuriating in the hot water for a while, I washed and dried my hair, put my yukata back on, and went to meet Simon in the relaxation salon to compare notes. He had had a similarly enjoyable experience, and we both had a great feeling of relief and achievement for having cracked it. From there on in there was no stopping us as every few hours we popped to the baths. On Tuesday I think we went a total of five times! There was a little bit of surprise from both men and women at seeing foreigners in the baths, and we were both the subject of some staring but I think that’s mainly because we look so different in comparison to our Japanese counterparts: the women tend to have slim hips and small busts while I have neither; the men are relatively hairless while Simon has a small bear lurking on his chest. But overall it was a friendly, relaxing atmosphere.

Men's indoor bath
(c) Tsuruya-Kisshotei

In addition to the men and women’s baths in the main hotel building, we also had the use of the baths in the annex building, a short bus ride up the hill. We tried these out on Tuesday afternoon and were stunned by the views over the sea. First thing on Tuesday morning, we spent an hour or so in a private bath, the rental of which was included in our deal. This was an outdoor jacuzzi with the same wonderful sea view as our room. It rained pretty much non-stop while we were away, so we had the extra lovely experience of sitting in hot, bubbling water, with cold, heavy rain on our heads and arms. Fantastic. And invigorating at 7.30 in the morning! We also had a couple of goes in the outdoor mixed bath right by the sea. This was very cool – the baths were lined with large rocks that you could sit on to cool down for a bit before having another soak, and being so close to the sea was awesome as the waves crashed right in front of us. After our second turn in this bath we had a go in the footbath next door – a water trough lined with small stones that massaged your feet as you stood on them.

Women's outdoor bath in the annex
(c) Tsuruya-Kisshotei

Men's outdoor bath in the annex
(c) Tsuruya-Kisshotei

Our private jacuzzi on the roof!

Mixed bath right by the Pacific - cool eh?!
(c) Tsuruya-Kisshotei

Enjoying the footbath

In between trips to the baths we spent a lot of time relaxing on our balcony, looking at the sea or reading. And drinking beer of course. Apparently it’s never too early to start drinking beer when on holiday in Japan – we were mightily impressed to see an elderly couple tucking in at breakfast one morning! Self-preservation did kick in though, and we managed to wait until after lunch… Other relaxation facilities in the hotel included massage chairs and foot machines, on which I had several goes; table tennis and billiards, which we never got round to trying; and Tsuruya Yokocho, a room set up with a shooting range, some table games, and braziers over which you could cook your dried squid snack that came as a complimentary side dish to the free late afternoon beer provided. Sorted!

Beer on the balcony with the waves outside

Cool foot massage machine where I spent a lot of time

At the shooting range

Action shot! He won me some biscuits

Dried squid ready to be cooked

Mmm, beer!

The other main thing we did when not immersed in hot water was eat. And eat. And then eat some more. We only ever had to go three or four hours between meals and there seemed to be many opportunities to get more food if we had wished. Breakfast consisted of a buffet of cooked fish, sashimi, tofu, rice, miso soup, salad and fruit, while lunch was a large bowl of chirashizushi (scattered sushi), miso soup and pickles. In addition to the dried squid in Tsuruya Yokocho we could also get icecream and candyfloss, both purchased with the vouchers we’d been given at check-in.

Breakfast on Tuesday morning

Rainy but cool view from the dining room

Tuesday's lunch

Breakfast on Wednesday

Dinner was the meal really worthy of a fanfare though – on both evenings we were treated to an almost never-ending parade of fish, shellfish and vegetables cooked in just about every way you can imagine. Heavenly! For some reason, we seemed to have two more courses than everyone else in the restaurant but honestly, I’m not complaining! Add to the mix an all-you-can-eat tempura buffet freely available throughout the meal, wash it all down with a good bottle of sake…it was the stuff of my dreams.

We told them my birthday was coming up so were greeted with a
glass of sparkling wine on Tuesday evening

Tuesday evening's starters - various types of fish, roe and veg

Somewhere in the middle of Tuesday evening's meal. I was so excited
about all the food I forgot to take photos of the rest of the meal!

I got chocolate cake too! The staff printed us a copy of this photo
and gave it to me in a card the next day

At the beginning of Wednesday evening's feast

Our starters - sea snails marinaded in vinegary sauce. Delicious!

A giant and beautiful sashimi platter

Yuuuumy!

Decoration on the sashimi platter

And then offered to us as an extra course! We decided against it - good job
too, as there was a ton of food still to come!

Another fish. This one was cooked in a sweet soy sauce

For a man who used to be not so keen on fish,
Simon looks pretty happy with this meal!

Giant shellfish fried up with salt and served in the shell

'Digestif' of more sashimi, this time served with rice, miso soup and pickles

Pudding! Green tea roll cake - tea-y, salty and tasty

After another early morning bath on Wednesday, we packed up, checked out and caught the bus back to the station. The skyscrapers, traffic and busyness of Tokyo seemed a very long way away. In between snoozes on the train (it had, after all, been an exhausting couple of days) we started planning how and where we’re going to be able to build an onsen back in London…

We may of course just wander round like this,
whether or not we build an onsen...

またね!