today's plans: fuji-hakone-izu national park and atami hot spring hotel
This morning we had a Japanese-style breakfast at the hotel. Somehow we woke up really early again XD After getting ready, we went downstairs to eat. The food was really good and again, we were really full at the end, so we went exploring for our leftover hour and found some good spots for our weird story, haha~ The hotel is very pretty ^w^
We watched MTV Japan for a while, which was really weird because the host guy didn't look Asian at all. The videos near the end were pretty good and very artistic. They also had an interview with Aoyama Thelma :3
On the bus to Hakone, Maiko-san told us about Pachinko, something similar to pinball. Gambling is actually illegal in Japan, but Pachinko isn't actually categorized as gambling. You buy a box of little silver balls, pour them into a machine, and then try to get the balls through gates. If you have a high score, you get more balls, and when you're done playing, you can take the boxes next door to some old lady who for some reason will give you products or cash back for your boxes, even though the Pachinko parlor owner says they're not affiliated at all. Rumors have it that the Pachinko industry makes more than car companies XD And also rumors that yakuza run the Pachinko shop, which I sort of believe is true. lol pachinko reminds me of one piece...is that weird? hahahaha Yeah that is kind of weird XD Uh, I don't get this picture?
And apparently if you see someone with no thumb or a very short one, they might be yakuza, because if you cheat another yakuza, you have to cut off your thumb. Also, some public paths don't allow people in with tattoos on their bodies, because often yakuzas have full-body tattoos of dragons or other designs.
There are also sumo stables for sumo wrestlers, who are trained out of high school. They live together 24 hours with their "brothers," and younger ones must get up early to clean the stables and cook breakfast. There's a stable master, usually a retired sumo wrestler, who watches over the others and their practice. They practice their wrestling, and they eat 5 meals a day to get big, though most of their body is muscle. They keep eating and then they sleep... and eat and sleep. Sumo wrestling was originally a Shinto ritual, and in older times, it was rare to see someone who had a big body, so they thought that the big people had supernatural powers. So, previously, the politicians asked two big people to wrestle. Apparently sumo was used to make political decisions and do fortune telling. Interesting. By the way, since it's a sacred sort of thing, women aren't allowed to be near sumo wresting (or at least, can't step into the ring).
We also saw Mt. Fuji on the way to our destination at a bus stop, which was really cool! Even Maiko-san was excited. Actually, I think she was particular excited XD (She's so cute~) Apparently, it's very rare to see Mt. Fuji in the sky, even on clear days. Mt. Fuji is the shy mountain and I'm glad it said hi :)
At the bus stop, I saw a bunch of stray kitties. They were really cute and small... maybe everything in Japan is petite and small? Well, thin, at least. They looked like kittens but acted like adult cats.
Our bus trip to Hakone went through a windy mountain on which Mt. Fuji was playing peek-a-boo with us and took about an hour or so. We then arrived at the Ashi mountain... which is apparently representative of Japanese people's idea of hell. Maiko-san told us it goes something like this:
Just before you die, you will see a vision of a river. On the other side, one of your loved ones will be calling you over to join them. If you ignore them, then you will come back to life. If you decide to join them, then you will die, and across the river will appear a scary-looking demon sitting in chair. He will ask you some basic questions about your life -- if you did anything bad, if you stole things, etc. Of course, he already knows the answers. If you lie to him, you immediately go to hell. If you are honest and sincere, you still have a (very slim) chance to go to heaven, and once you ascend to heaven, you will see a lot of Buddhas sitting in a pond on lily pads. You won't have to do any work, and you can sing and eat and be happy. If you go to hell, then you have to go through a bunch of things, sort of like Dante's Inferno (but not as neat levels, I think). Firs,t you have to swim through a pool of red water or blood, but you might drown; if you survive, you have to walk across a mountain made of needles, except for some reason you don't have shoes, so you have to walk on those needles barefoot... etc. Pretty gruesome. Fairly effective in keeping children from doing naughty things. lol i would agree. it's quite graphic for a children's fairy tale, even worse than the grimm's fairy tales. although i'd have to wonder, would it be scarier to be interrogated by a demon or just be randomly judged? after all, in dante's inferno, the level of hell you enter depends on the number of times the demon judge wraps his tail :P
Although honestly, the mountain didn't look all that scary. It was a pretty mountain but with plumes of steam coming out from all the sulphur springs.
owakunadai valley was pretty awesome. aside from the hellish steam rising from the mountainside and the hint of rotten egg smell from the sulfur, it was nice to see the green trees and gorgeous lake ashi. we walked up the mountain a bit to see hot spring water gush up from the ground and try the blackened eggs that they boil in the springs. apparently they grant you seven extra years of life, so expect christine and i to be around for a while...or at least what we would have lived to before being subjected to japanese secondhand smoke :P Mike, one of our group members we shared the pack of eggs with (they come in a pack of 5) offered his to Maiko-san, but she said that she's eaten 23 of those during her time as a tour guide, so she's going to be living for a very long time XD
we then took a cable car down to lake ashi and sailed across on a red pirate ship lol gorgeous :D i would love to see it in the winter. apparently since the lake water comes from the springs, it doesn't freeze over so come wintertime, it's framed by white mountains.
had a buffet lunch in hakonemachi-ko, which means (i think) little hakone town lol it was the first time christine and i managed to have lunch with the rest of the group and we showcased ourselves by having a serious otaku discussion about anime, manga and the like =/ That's kind of embarrassing, now that I think about it XD
made our way to atami hot spring hotel after. it's a traditional japanese hotel nestled next to the pacific ocean. soon after arriving and exploring the beautiful cliffside (which would be awesome for an alice in wonderland photoshoot lol), christine and i were staring out at the ocean view in our yukatas. tonight we are sleeping on futons on japanese tatami (woven bamboo) mats :D
since we arrived so early at the hotel, we managed to try the indoor hot spring bath before dinner. of course, we kept our glasses off :P lots of old ladies in there lol as christine said, i'm glad we're the youngest ones in here haha
but it was nice and really hot lol we couldn't stay long since the heat was almost suffocating. one of the indoor baths was located in an open area to the ocean. very nice :)
By the way, the pictures we took of the hot springs were when there was no one in there yet. We got a short tour of the baths before they opened. Please do not bring your camera into the onsen bath rooms. People will think you are a creeper.
dinner was a traditional japanese banquet with tons of little dishes that i don't know the names or ingredients to but it was very good haha after was karaoke, which was fun :)
Karaoke was pretty fun :3 Surprisingly, almost everyone sang. Maiko-san started us off with "Top of the World" by The Carpenters (yes, I thought it was Big Bang's for a couple seconds ;;). Then some other members of our group sang Elvis, The Beatles... etc. Tiffy and I sang "First Love" by Utada Hikaru, and even Daniel and David sang (Linkin Park) :3 We also sang "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer with Matt and Tracy, and then our last song was "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears, with Tracy and Melissa XD Old school~~
now we're completely tired out. after dinner we tried the outdoor pool...reminds me almost of the ones in the animes, minus the opaque steam that covers people up lol we're going to try to wake early to catch the sunset while in the bath lol
let you know how it goes! after that, bullet train to kyoto :D i know christine's excited about hearing the authentic kansai dialect :P
This morning we had a Japanese-style breakfast at the hotel. Somehow we woke up really early again XD After getting ready, we went downstairs to eat. The food was really good and again, we were really full at the end, so we went exploring for our leftover hour and found some good spots for our weird story, haha~ The hotel is very pretty ^w^
lots of fish, seaweed and tea for breakfast :P
We watched MTV Japan for a while, which was really weird because the host guy didn't look Asian at all. The videos near the end were pretty good and very artistic. They also had an interview with Aoyama Thelma :3
On the bus to Hakone, Maiko-san told us about Pachinko, something similar to pinball. Gambling is actually illegal in Japan, but Pachinko isn't actually categorized as gambling. You buy a box of little silver balls, pour them into a machine, and then try to get the balls through gates. If you have a high score, you get more balls, and when you're done playing, you can take the boxes next door to some old lady who for some reason will give you products or cash back for your boxes, even though the Pachinko parlor owner says they're not affiliated at all. Rumors have it that the Pachinko industry makes more than car companies XD And also rumors that yakuza run the Pachinko shop, which I sort of believe is true. lol pachinko reminds me of one piece...is that weird? hahahaha Yeah that is kind of weird XD Uh, I don't get this picture?
There are also sumo stables for sumo wrestlers, who are trained out of high school. They live together 24 hours with their "brothers," and younger ones must get up early to clean the stables and cook breakfast. There's a stable master, usually a retired sumo wrestler, who watches over the others and their practice. They practice their wrestling, and they eat 5 meals a day to get big, though most of their body is muscle. They keep eating and then they sleep... and eat and sleep. Sumo wrestling was originally a Shinto ritual, and in older times, it was rare to see someone who had a big body, so they thought that the big people had supernatural powers. So, previously, the politicians asked two big people to wrestle. Apparently sumo was used to make political decisions and do fortune telling. Interesting. By the way, since it's a sacred sort of thing, women aren't allowed to be near sumo wresting (or at least, can't step into the ring).
We also saw Mt. Fuji on the way to our destination at a bus stop, which was really cool! Even Maiko-san was excited. Actually, I think she was particular excited XD (She's so cute~) Apparently, it's very rare to see Mt. Fuji in the sky, even on clear days. Mt. Fuji is the shy mountain and I'm glad it said hi :)
At the bus stop, I saw a bunch of stray kitties. They were really cute and small... maybe everything in Japan is petite and small? Well, thin, at least. They looked like kittens but acted like adult cats.
Our bus trip to Hakone went through a windy mountain on which Mt. Fuji was playing peek-a-boo with us and took about an hour or so. We then arrived at the Ashi mountain... which is apparently representative of Japanese people's idea of hell. Maiko-san told us it goes something like this:
Just before you die, you will see a vision of a river. On the other side, one of your loved ones will be calling you over to join them. If you ignore them, then you will come back to life. If you decide to join them, then you will die, and across the river will appear a scary-looking demon sitting in chair. He will ask you some basic questions about your life -- if you did anything bad, if you stole things, etc. Of course, he already knows the answers. If you lie to him, you immediately go to hell. If you are honest and sincere, you still have a (very slim) chance to go to heaven, and once you ascend to heaven, you will see a lot of Buddhas sitting in a pond on lily pads. You won't have to do any work, and you can sing and eat and be happy. If you go to hell, then you have to go through a bunch of things, sort of like Dante's Inferno (but not as neat levels, I think). Firs,t you have to swim through a pool of red water or blood, but you might drown; if you survive, you have to walk across a mountain made of needles, except for some reason you don't have shoes, so you have to walk on those needles barefoot... etc. Pretty gruesome. Fairly effective in keeping children from doing naughty things. lol i would agree. it's quite graphic for a children's fairy tale, even worse than the grimm's fairy tales. although i'd have to wonder, would it be scarier to be interrogated by a demon or just be randomly judged? after all, in dante's inferno, the level of hell you enter depends on the number of times the demon judge wraps his tail :P
Although honestly, the mountain didn't look all that scary. It was a pretty mountain but with plumes of steam coming out from all the sulphur springs.
owakunadai valley was pretty awesome. aside from the hellish steam rising from the mountainside and the hint of rotten egg smell from the sulfur, it was nice to see the green trees and gorgeous lake ashi. we walked up the mountain a bit to see hot spring water gush up from the ground and try the blackened eggs that they boil in the springs. apparently they grant you seven extra years of life, so expect christine and i to be around for a while...or at least what we would have lived to before being subjected to japanese secondhand smoke :P Mike, one of our group members we shared the pack of eggs with (they come in a pack of 5) offered his to Maiko-san, but she said that she's eaten 23 of those during her time as a tour guide, so she's going to be living for a very long time XD
we then took a cable car down to lake ashi and sailed across on a red pirate ship lol gorgeous :D i would love to see it in the winter. apparently since the lake water comes from the springs, it doesn't freeze over so come wintertime, it's framed by white mountains.
had a buffet lunch in hakonemachi-ko, which means (i think) little hakone town lol it was the first time christine and i managed to have lunch with the rest of the group and we showcased ourselves by having a serious otaku discussion about anime, manga and the like =/ That's kind of embarrassing, now that I think about it XD
made our way to atami hot spring hotel after. it's a traditional japanese hotel nestled next to the pacific ocean. soon after arriving and exploring the beautiful cliffside (which would be awesome for an alice in wonderland photoshoot lol), christine and i were staring out at the ocean view in our yukatas. tonight we are sleeping on futons on japanese tatami (woven bamboo) mats :D
our really comfortable futons
since we arrived so early at the hotel, we managed to try the indoor hot spring bath before dinner. of course, we kept our glasses off :P lots of old ladies in there lol as christine said, i'm glad we're the youngest ones in here haha
but it was nice and really hot lol we couldn't stay long since the heat was almost suffocating. one of the indoor baths was located in an open area to the ocean. very nice :)
By the way, the pictures we took of the hot springs were when there was no one in there yet. We got a short tour of the baths before they opened. Please do not bring your camera into the onsen bath rooms. People will think you are a creeper.
dinner was a traditional japanese banquet with tons of little dishes that i don't know the names or ingredients to but it was very good haha after was karaoke, which was fun :)
Karaoke was pretty fun :3 Surprisingly, almost everyone sang. Maiko-san started us off with "Top of the World" by The Carpenters (yes, I thought it was Big Bang's for a couple seconds ;;). Then some other members of our group sang Elvis, The Beatles... etc. Tiffy and I sang "First Love" by Utada Hikaru, and even Daniel and David sang (Linkin Park) :3 We also sang "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer with Matt and Tracy, and then our last song was "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears, with Tracy and Melissa XD Old school~~
now we're completely tired out. after dinner we tried the outdoor pool...reminds me almost of the ones in the animes, minus the opaque steam that covers people up lol we're going to try to wake early to catch the sunset while in the bath lol
let you know how it goes! after that, bullet train to kyoto :D i know christine's excited about hearing the authentic kansai dialect :P
zomgah, Kansai dialect FTW :3
ReplyDeletestylin' in your yukatas ^^