Visit to Ito-shi, to relax in their hotspring tubs
Trip Start
Jan 30, 2009
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6
9
Trip End
Ongoing
Ito, Chubu, Japan
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Lilly had booked a trip for us to Ito, a town south of Tokyo famous for its hot springs. The train ride takes about two hours from Tokyo through some wonderful coast line towns. Houses huddled up together sometimes stretching high up the hills and mountains, and often all the way down to the ocean. All so colorful but with time the colors have dampened giving the towns a sort of yellow-grayish look. For a hobby photographer such as Lilly and I, the electric wires are a pain. They seem to be everywhere, in many layers, connecting houses and poles., which results in dark lines covering all photos taken from the train.
The Ito station was wonderfully local. You stepped out to a little square where family of palm trees great you. Two large ones with a smaller one next to it, which the local say represents a happy family of mum, dad and their child. For many the smell of the hot springs will be the first thing they notice, though for an Icelander such as myself it isn't any different then from home. Icelanders have hot spring water in their homes in most of Iceland. The whole of Reykjavik for example only uses hot spring water. Therefore, taking a bath in hot spring water wasn't something new for me. However, I looked forward to experiencing Ito for what they had to offer.
We arrived at the Kameya Rakan hotel down by the beach. It didn't look like much, a brownish 6 story high buildings connected with a bridge on the third floor. Busy traffic next to it along with the black beach and some fishermen on their small boats. The service was impeccable, making us feel special from the first minute. Lilly had gone all the way, booking us a suite with private hot spring bathtubs.
The room was not available until at 14:00 so we decided to have something to eat, and go to see something. We had been trying to plan it on the train, but there were many options, and we were also a bit at the wrong time. Ito and the surrounding areas aren't just famous for their hot springs, but even more so for their Cherry Blossom trees. However, at this point, so early in February the Cherry trees haven't really blossomed yet. Most of the attractions require either that, or a nice weather. As we had neither we ended up deciding to rather just do something non-costly and quick, and then head back to the hotel.
We ate some soup, Japanese style, where I found out that you are supposed to SLURP the soup. At the bus stop, next to the train station we took a bus to Komuroyama, which is a hill overlooking the Ito town. A funny chair elevator took us the the top in few minutes where we found an art gallery (which we skipped) and a coffee house (which we skipped) and a windy top of a hill (which we couldn't skip!).
Back at the hotel we were taken to the room. This was my first experience of the amazing Japanese culture. The lady who ended up being our maid, cook and waitress, showed us in to this Japanese suite. We had to take of our shoes, and she sat us down on the floor of the living room for tea. The room was of course covered with Tamata, with Japanese table and seating. When she left us, she backed out of the room, went down on her knees and bowed and closed the door!
In the bathroom we found huge wooden pool/tub, which hot water was already running into, and on the balcony another one, slightly smaller. Both had of course hot water and what we were told, at least partially hot spring water.
The next 12 hours went into eating, sleeping, bathing without so much as leaving the room. The dinner (and breakfast) was prepared in our room, and the look of it was spectacular. I didn't really like some of the food, but Lilly loved it. It was very relaxing experience, only to be shadowed by how uncomfortable the floor beds were.
After breakfast the next morning we walked around Ito. It is surely a beautiful town, and it would have been amazing to see it during the cherry blossom season. After lunch we got a guide to walk us around. First we felt a bit silly doing this as we were fully capable of walking around on our own, but I recommend it as it was very informative, and the experience was much greater rather than us just wandering around. We were also luckier with weather that day, the sun almost shining and the wind had calmed.
What I learned:
* When eating noodle soup in Japan, you should slurp as anything else would be considered rude
* The 'thing' they put on the floor in traditional Japanese house is called TAMATA
* The name of the town, Ito-Shi, means Ito-Town. That is the Shi word is often put at the end of the names of towns. (Need to confirm this though)...
* I don't really like traditional Japanese food
Comments
One thing to correct, just as your reminder
The 'thing' they put on the floor in traditional Japanese house is called TATAMI. Love to read your travel story.