I got a free massage. Yeah. It was pretty awesome, lying there for almost two hours, slowly falling asleep….
But before we get there, let’s go shopping.
Otoosan, Okaasa, Takae and I jumped in the car and took a rather long drive utilizing the narrow backroads to reach our destination. We arrived at a covered open-air market where shopkeepers sold their specific goods in tubs, boxes, crates, and plastic bags. All varieties of fish, shellfish, and seafood were available and sometimes soaked in different kinds of brine or sauce. Sardines, king crab legs, halves of crab, red fish, giant tuna steaks, squid, octopus legs, octopus heads, live bottom-dwellers, and many other unidentifiable things. Let’s not forget the many vegetables and fruit for sale, not the least of which being mikan, or tangerines. It’s the food of choice around this season, and people are constantly buying them, eating them, and giving them away. The other main seller is flowers, or at least the bouquets of evergreen/red berry/long brown sticks/single flowers that are a necessity for the New Year celebration.
But before we get there, let’s go shopping.
Otoosan, Okaasa, Takae and I jumped in the car and took a rather long drive utilizing the narrow backroads to reach our destination. We arrived at a covered open-air market where shopkeepers sold their specific goods in tubs, boxes, crates, and plastic bags. All varieties of fish, shellfish, and seafood were available and sometimes soaked in different kinds of brine or sauce. Sardines, king crab legs, halves of crab, red fish, giant tuna steaks, squid, octopus legs, octopus heads, live bottom-dwellers, and many other unidentifiable things. Let’s not forget the many vegetables and fruit for sale, not the least of which being mikan, or tangerines. It’s the food of choice around this season, and people are constantly buying them, eating them, and giving them away. The other main seller is flowers, or at least the bouquets of evergreen/red berry/long brown sticks/single flowers that are a necessity for the New Year celebration.
Samples. Just like Costco...but not.
We walked around for quite awhile, searching for specific items and picking others at random. Aside from the mandatory flowers and special chopsticks, I really have no idea what we bought…I can’t recognize or name most foods. We did, however, find some garlic and herb cheese that was imported, so Takae stuck it in the basket. Yum.
This is an octopus head for sale. Yours for only $13! What a deal!
After the market we went to two electronics stores in search of a new washing machine. Ours broke this morning. It had a load in it and was doing fine, then started beeping and refused to work. Okaasan freaked out and figured that they had gotten it used from some relatives 10 year ago, that it was time for a new one anyways. That sparked an interesting cultural conversation where I shared that my family typically does laundry once a week. Everyone brings their laundry to the washer where mom separates it and does a few loads, coming back every once in a while to switch it to the dryer and put a new load in. Thus, things are being washed and dried simultaneously and everything is done in a few hours. The Japanese style is to wash whatever you have each morning, then hang it up to dry during the day. In summertime this isn’t a problem as things (even jeans) dry within an hour. In the wintertime, clothes hang out all day in front of a sunny window and are hopefully dry by the next morning. Our system wouldn’t work for most Japanese housewives though, because there isn’t room for both a washer and a dryer!
Anyways, we went to the electronics store. At first Takae and I went to the restrooms and promised to meet her parents upstairs near the washer section.
We never made it.
A few aisles short of the washers we spotted massage chairs---like, from the space age---and made the mistake of sitting in them to “try them out.” We should have taken the hint from the eight other men sitting in these chairs…every single one of them completely passed out.
I found the kanji for the “on” button.
A few buttons, presumably cycles, blinked, urging me to make a selection. Unable to read the rest of the kanji I picked one, noticing it was a 16 minute cycle.
Best 16 minutes of my entire day, possibly even my week.
This was the massage chair to rule all massage chair kingdom. From toe to head (and I mean the top of your head) it didn’t skip a beat. It performed squeezes, rolls, pressure points, holds, the chopping action, kneading action, and all kinds of other magical things. I took a nap…through two cycles.
We got up, reluctantly, and walked over to where her parents were finishing with the salesman.
They didn’t buy anything.
We proceeded to the next electronics store.
As we came through the doors I was distracted by the piano section for about 15 minutes.
Then I looked down the left aisle and behold! The massage kingdom was in need of subjects!
We didn’t miss a beat, walking with purpose to a big-kid Disneyland.
Since the place was nearly empty we didn’t feel bad pushing the cycle button over and over again. This time I did a little experimenting and learned a few kanji in the process. I looked over at Takae. Passed out.
Nap time!
Anyways, we went to the electronics store. At first Takae and I went to the restrooms and promised to meet her parents upstairs near the washer section.
We never made it.
A few aisles short of the washers we spotted massage chairs---like, from the space age---and made the mistake of sitting in them to “try them out.” We should have taken the hint from the eight other men sitting in these chairs…every single one of them completely passed out.
I found the kanji for the “on” button.
A few buttons, presumably cycles, blinked, urging me to make a selection. Unable to read the rest of the kanji I picked one, noticing it was a 16 minute cycle.
Best 16 minutes of my entire day, possibly even my week.
This was the massage chair to rule all massage chair kingdom. From toe to head (and I mean the top of your head) it didn’t skip a beat. It performed squeezes, rolls, pressure points, holds, the chopping action, kneading action, and all kinds of other magical things. I took a nap…through two cycles.
We got up, reluctantly, and walked over to where her parents were finishing with the salesman.
They didn’t buy anything.
We proceeded to the next electronics store.
As we came through the doors I was distracted by the piano section for about 15 minutes.
Then I looked down the left aisle and behold! The massage kingdom was in need of subjects!
We didn’t miss a beat, walking with purpose to a big-kid Disneyland.
Since the place was nearly empty we didn’t feel bad pushing the cycle button over and over again. This time I did a little experimenting and learned a few kanji in the process. I looked over at Takae. Passed out.
Nap time!
Takae was woken up by a phone call from her parents, saying it was time to leave….two hours later.
We peeled ourselves slowly from the thrones of comfort and walked in a haze to the front doors.
Lastly we went to the grocery store to get things we couldn’t find at the market. It was completely packed with people. We ate some free ham samples.
Arriving home, we pulled up to the front door and unloaded the car in record time, stuffing things into the refrigerator and leaving large items in the genkan doorway. Ojiichan sat shotgun with Otoosan, then Takae, Okaasan, and I sat in the backseat. Yuko was hidden under blankets in the trunk space!
On the way to sushi!!!
We peeled ourselves slowly from the thrones of comfort and walked in a haze to the front doors.
Lastly we went to the grocery store to get things we couldn’t find at the market. It was completely packed with people. We ate some free ham samples.
Arriving home, we pulled up to the front door and unloaded the car in record time, stuffing things into the refrigerator and leaving large items in the genkan doorway. Ojiichan sat shotgun with Otoosan, then Takae, Okaasan, and I sat in the backseat. Yuko was hidden under blankets in the trunk space!
On the way to sushi!!!
We piled the plates high, adding a few desserts at the end. We drove Ojiichan home and once again made a quick trip inside the house to grab some personal items. It was 9pm.
On to onsen!!!
You should read my early blogs about onsen if you haven’t already.
Enter the genkan, remove shoes.
Bring shoes to a locker, insert, close, remove key.
Bring key to front desk where they hold the key for you and replace it with a water resistant bracelet sporting a barcode.
Walk in socks down the soft wooden floor. Pass large rooms the size of a small 711 and look inside the many glass-less windows to see an assortment of cusions and pillows, complete with people passed out among them. Some are reading books, others on their iPhones, others eating snacks. No talking though, completely silent and peaceful on the tatami mats.
Continue walking down the hallway and look to the right where a large restaurant gives off smells of delicious food.
Further down is a relaxation spa where one can pay to choose from an assortment of massage types and durations.
The men turn right down a separate corridor to their bath, while the women continue straight and into theirs. I won’t go into more detail because I already wrote about it in the other blog. However, I will note that this bath was a little weird…the water was brown! Takae said it was like coffee, but I thought it was like light soy sauce. It was definitely brown, but you could see through it a little just like soy sauce. Good thing it was dark outside (oh yes, we sat outside and looked at the stars while soaking in the busy pool) because otherwise the color might have disturbed me a little more than it did. The color was because of the natural source or something like that. I just remember that underneath Japan is a labyrinth of lava, lava rocks, and volcanic jazz. It helps me look past the brown color and appreciate the unfiltered-ness of the water.
The other different thing about this onsen compared to the ones I’d visited was this one was a public bath, whereas the previous ones were owned by the hotels we stayed in. This time we brought our own towels, shampoo, face wash, washcloths, etc.
We agreed to meet Otoosan in the main corridor at 11, but it was really 11:15 by the time we were all there. Although we were all ready to go and pretty tired, we ended up resting in one of those large rooms we passed and each claimed a cusion. It was there I found out what the barcode bracelets were for. We walked in a line down the corridor towards the baths once more, but instead of turning into the curtained room we ended at a vending machine…filled with milk.
Milk, coffee milk, fruit milk, strawberry milk, and drinkable yogurt were on the menu. Fruit milk was recommended to me so I chose it, placing my barcode bracelet up to the scanner (there was no money receiver) and taking out my little glass bottle. Fruit milk doesn’t sound very good, especially when you look at its mild yellow color, but it’s pretty delicious. Now, everyone I’ve ever talked to has told me that after taking a hot bath like that (especially over an hour) or sauna, drinking water is the best thing for you.
What’s with the milk?!
Any nutritionist out there want to answer my question?
I was quite confused, but happily drank my milk. Apparently it’s a tradition or something for this onsen…
Then on the way out Takae found tofu doughnuts and bought them.
It was pretty late when we all staggered into the house, suffering from onsen hangovers.
We went to bed.
On to onsen!!!
You should read my early blogs about onsen if you haven’t already.
Enter the genkan, remove shoes.
Bring shoes to a locker, insert, close, remove key.
Bring key to front desk where they hold the key for you and replace it with a water resistant bracelet sporting a barcode.
Walk in socks down the soft wooden floor. Pass large rooms the size of a small 711 and look inside the many glass-less windows to see an assortment of cusions and pillows, complete with people passed out among them. Some are reading books, others on their iPhones, others eating snacks. No talking though, completely silent and peaceful on the tatami mats.
Continue walking down the hallway and look to the right where a large restaurant gives off smells of delicious food.
Further down is a relaxation spa where one can pay to choose from an assortment of massage types and durations.
The men turn right down a separate corridor to their bath, while the women continue straight and into theirs. I won’t go into more detail because I already wrote about it in the other blog. However, I will note that this bath was a little weird…the water was brown! Takae said it was like coffee, but I thought it was like light soy sauce. It was definitely brown, but you could see through it a little just like soy sauce. Good thing it was dark outside (oh yes, we sat outside and looked at the stars while soaking in the busy pool) because otherwise the color might have disturbed me a little more than it did. The color was because of the natural source or something like that. I just remember that underneath Japan is a labyrinth of lava, lava rocks, and volcanic jazz. It helps me look past the brown color and appreciate the unfiltered-ness of the water.
The other different thing about this onsen compared to the ones I’d visited was this one was a public bath, whereas the previous ones were owned by the hotels we stayed in. This time we brought our own towels, shampoo, face wash, washcloths, etc.
We agreed to meet Otoosan in the main corridor at 11, but it was really 11:15 by the time we were all there. Although we were all ready to go and pretty tired, we ended up resting in one of those large rooms we passed and each claimed a cusion. It was there I found out what the barcode bracelets were for. We walked in a line down the corridor towards the baths once more, but instead of turning into the curtained room we ended at a vending machine…filled with milk.
Milk, coffee milk, fruit milk, strawberry milk, and drinkable yogurt were on the menu. Fruit milk was recommended to me so I chose it, placing my barcode bracelet up to the scanner (there was no money receiver) and taking out my little glass bottle. Fruit milk doesn’t sound very good, especially when you look at its mild yellow color, but it’s pretty delicious. Now, everyone I’ve ever talked to has told me that after taking a hot bath like that (especially over an hour) or sauna, drinking water is the best thing for you.
What’s with the milk?!
Any nutritionist out there want to answer my question?
I was quite confused, but happily drank my milk. Apparently it’s a tradition or something for this onsen…
Then on the way out Takae found tofu doughnuts and bought them.
It was pretty late when we all staggered into the house, suffering from onsen hangovers.
We went to bed.
RSS Feed