Back in Touch with Lots to Say

As befits any onsen ("hot springs resort") worth its thermal and therapeutic waters, Teisenen's Japanese style rooms at our stop in Hakone did not come equipped with telephones, let alone high speed Internet access. Consequently there has been a gap of a day or two in these blog entries while we have been enjoying our mountain retreat in the Fuji-Five Lakes area around Hakone in the Japan Alps.

Following our delightful afternoon and evening in Kurashiki on Monday, we moved on Tuesday morning to Okayama for a brief tour of Korakuen, one of Japan's three most highly-regarded gardens, before boarding a Shinkansen "Bullet Train" for Odawara.

Four hours later we were headed by bus for a late-afternoon visit to the Hakone Open Air Musuem with its extensive and very impressive collection of sculptures beautifully displayed in a glorious mountainside setting.

A TRIO OF HENRY MOORE SCULPTURES

Our overnight accommodations were in the resort town of Yumoto known for its extensive array of hot springs.

We ate dinner together, all appropriately dressed in yukata summer kimono, and feasted our way through a multi-dishrepast the components of which most of us would be hard-pressed to describe adequately -- but we ate it anyway!

Later in the evening and again Wednesday morning, a good many of us found our ways down the resort's endless corridors to the two outdoor public baths. The one reserved for Gentlemen in the evening and Ladies for the morning won universal approval as the most enjoyable , mainly because the water temperature was the most agreeable.

The first part of the day yesterday (Wednesday) was spent cruising Lake Ashi and taking in distant views of Mount Fuji (visible from the train the day before as well) from the summit of Kamiyama.

We had taken the "rope way" cable car from the shores of the lake up the mountain for the view; but, adjacent to a Shinto shrine at the top, we found ourselves witnesses to an impressive annual religious thanksgiving ceremony hosted by local Hakone officials. Also in the audience were a group of kamso Zen "mountain priests" dressed in pilgrim guard and wearing woven straw baskets over their heads!

One couldn't plan this kind of experience in a million years!

Masae-san arranged for us to share an Italian buffet lunch at a lake-side restaurant (great food and a wonderful contemporary setting) before setting off by bus for Tokyo.

Prior to heading to our hotel, we took in Sensoji, THE mandated sight-to-see in the city, located in the Asakusa area of the city, where, once again, they must have known we were coming -- a troop of Kodo "heartbeat drummers" were entertaining the crowds as we arrived!

... never in a million years ...