Thursday, January 28, 2016

One night at a ryokan ... turning Japanese?

While the first and third nights of the four-day Seven Stars journey are spent on the train, the second night is spent at a ryokan (traditional Japanese guest house). The train passengers were distributed among two ryokans based, we suspect, on whether or not they could speak Japanese. Of the total 29 passengers on our trip only six of us were not from Japan and there were some English-speaking staff at the place we stayed, Wasurenosato Gajoen.

It was both literally and metaphorically an 'immersion' experience, with a private onsen (hot pool) in our room, and some quintessentially Japanese experiences. That old song Turning Japanese kept going through my mind ...


Green tea on arrival


They provided very comfortable yukata (robes)
and jinbei (pyjamas) for us to wear


Our own personal onsen!


Dinner was humongous and delicious and fresh


The beds were soooo comfortable


Brekkie ... again huuuuuge and delicious


The one that got away ...

What a fabulous experience! We especially enjoyed the onsen, taking four soaks in it in our twenty or so hours in residence there.

2 comments:

Sue B said...

Karin! It looks wonderful. I hope we get to stay somewhere as lovely. Was it expensive? I especially love the chooks :)

Karin said...

Hi Sue ... thanks for popping by! Yes, it was expensive. (There's a link to the place in the post if you want gory details.) Our night there was part of the Seven Stars package, which in itself is very much a 'bucket list' experience, but I gather that ryokans vary hugely from the very simple and humble to the very upmarket. I'd definitely like to stay at some more if we go back. The chickens were lovely. The whole place was gorgeous ...