During the long MLK weekend, a few friends and I decided to head up north to Nozawa Onsen. It is a quaint little town about 6 hours north west near Nagano. We headed out after school in a rented van, feeling a bit like the beverly hillbillies. After what seemed like days of driving, I finally felt like we were making progress. Suddenly, we were stopped along the interstate by some road workers. Since I was driving and Mark was navigating, we had no idea what was happening. There wasn't much snow on the road and it wasn't even snowing, so we were surprised when they insisted that we install the chains on our tires. Even though Mark and Deb had gotten lessons at the rental office, we still couldn't figure it out. After all of us except Mark were ushered back in the van, the men continued to work on the chains. Apparently, they weren't supposed to help anyone, they were just supposed to make sure people stopped to install them. But, they did help us. I'm sure that they actually felt sorry for us, but help is help and we sure needed it. After about an hour of trying to read directions and figure it out, we successfully had snow chains on our tires. I was puzzled as to why we needed the tires anyway at this point. Seriously, not half a mile down the road it was blizzard conditions. I could barely see to drive and the snow was more than a few inches thick. At that point, I was really thankful for the snow chains.
The town is known for the natural hot springs that provide piping hot water for the over 10 free public baths in the village. Onsen is the Japanese term for hot springs, which most likely can be connected to the volcanic activity in the area. They are well known for their alleged healing properties that claim to be linked to the vast amounts of minerals in the water. Since I had never been to an onsen before, I was super pumped. We also found out that the notorious fire festival was taking place on January 15th, so we were excited about that too. We pulled in late on Friday night, and got geared up for a full 2 days of fun. This is the outside of our Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese style inn. We slept on futons on the tatami mats on the floor. It was absolutely fabulous!
Here we are on our first night. We shared rooms, because everyone shares a room in Japan. We enjoyed a drink and some snacks before turning in early.
The second night was a little stronger. We had a fantastic day, but were joined by more friends. We ate, drank, and played a wicked game of Apples to Apples, which I lost horribly.
This is the Mama-san of the Ryokan. She was super friendly and extremely helpful. She didn't speak much English, but her daughter helped to translate.
The traditional meals were the best part of our stay here. Included in our room fee was breakfast and dinner. Each meal was humungous and delicious. And, once they found out that I was allergic to pork, they worked really hard to accommodate me.
Here's the other side of the table. We enjoyed each and every meal together. It reminded me of being a kid and hanging out at the dinner table.
Here's a good shot of the dinner spread. There is so much food for each person. The great thing about Japanese dining is that you eat some of everything, but just a little. There are so many options, but they usually don't give you an abundance of all things, just a taste. The spread below is just for one person, so you can imagine how much table space was actually left to eat. Each meal typically includes, sushi, soup, rice, pickled vegetables, fish, and then various entrees.
Here is the Papa-san from the Ryokan. He was always happy to help. He was out shoveling snow in the mornings, cleaning off vehicles in the afternoons, and helping with dinner at night. At the conclusion of our trip, he even brought us this bag of apples. This area of Japan is known for them.
After less than 8 hours of sitting in the snow, this was what the vehicles looked like in the morning. Thankfully, we had help to clean them off before we left.
Here's Mark working hard to make the vans accessible. After living and driving in Illinois for 15 years, I thought I was capable of driving in any weather conditions, but I was mistaken. I don't know how I've lived without tire chains for so long, but they are marvelous. I could drive without sliding and stop without worrying about skidding sideways.
Our destination for the day was the Snow Monkey Park. It is a great place in the mountains where the monkeys hang out. They walk around in the cold snow and then warm up in the hot springs. It was a bit of a hike back to the springs, but it was beautiful the whole way.
Here's the valley right before the springs. I'm not sure whether the building is a house or hotel, but it looked inviting.
Here's a better view from the top of the staircase.
Can you believe how close I am? Frankly, after my experience with the monkeys near Nikko, I was slightly frightened that they were going to jump out of the water and rip off my face. Thankfully, nothing like that happened. This baby monkey was super cute...it had to be very young, because it was tiny.
Here's a better picture of them. Just relaxing.
These two were getting friendly with each other. It was sort of cute.
I think it's time for this one to get out of the hot water...that, or he stole someone's flask along the way. He just kept staring with his freaky eyes. Yowza!
Here's a view that captures most of the hot spring. There were tons of monkeys, both in the spring and walking around in the snow.
The best part about coming back was getting surprised by these fellas. Now, I know that this is somewhat shocking and different than anything in America, but bathing in this manner is normal in Japan. The only thing that is different is that most folks don't openly bath where others of the opposite sex can see. When I went to the public bath in Nozawa, it was a building for entirely women. And, no one wears clothes, and you wash before you enter, and no one stares. It is the most fabulous thing. However, I would be slightly worried about this situation. First of all, they are nude, surrounded by monkeys, with a huge drop off on one side, and they are holding their cameras over the water. All of those things scream NO to me.
The hike back to the van was just as beautiful as the hike to the hot springs. It turned out that after my winter trip to enjoy summertime in Australia, I really needed some snow. I felt at peace the entire weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.
The next day was filled with fun too. We started off by heading to the museum to paint our own King and Queen of Nozawa Onsen. Here were are hiking up the hill to this unique building to get crafty.
Here is picture of the King and Queen of Nozawa. They can be seen everywhere, including outside of stores, in homes, and in gift shops.
We started by picking out two pieces of wood. There were models on the tables, and we had to sketch the faces before painting.
The painting was quite intense with decision making. We could keep the faces the natural wood color, or turn them orange. Everyone did something different. It was really fun to see what everyone did differently.
Here I am working on mine. Do you recognize this hat from any other blogs...think Disney.
Here is my final product, well, I did modify the Queen a bit after I took this picture, but for the most part, this is what they look like now. I thought I did a decent job. The King and Queen are hanging out in my living room if you ever care to visit them.
After our crafting outing, we headed up the street to get some sledding into our day. The kids were really excited. So much so, that we stopped and sledded in an alley for a half hour. This is just one of the typical streets in town.
Our group was walking along to the sledding site when a group of Japanese men passed us. We immediately noticed that Mark and these men had matching pants. After much ooohing and aaahing, we were able to get a group picture. Which one doesn't belong?
This is the outside of one of the many public baths in the town. You just go in the door marked men or women and use the bath. The one I went in was so steamy, that I couldn't even see the people in there with me. It was also so hot, that once I was in, I couldn't move or it burnt me. I only spent about 10 minutes in there, but it felt fantastic and now I'm addicted to onsen.
A little further up the road was this shrine covered in snow. Behind the Torii gate was stairs leading up to the buildings. Needless to say, we didn't venture up there.
Since I had never been to a ski resort before, I was amazed the entire time. This was a conveyor belt that we stood on to take us up the mountain to the ski area. It was a super long tunnel, but really fun to look out and see the sights.
Once we got to the top, there were many restaurants and rental shops.
Here is a view of the lift. This site has all types of skiing available from beginner to advanced.
After we were there a bit, it started snowing. It made it even more beautiful.
And then it REALLY started snowing. It was like a blizzard up there. The kids were tuckered out at this point, so we headed back to the ryokan to soak and relax before the nights festivities.
That night, the fire festival began. Actually, preparations began in early September when firewood and trees are selected and gathered. The festival is dedicated to the dosojin, which are stone statues near village borders. The festival pays respect to this deity who wards off evil spirits. This particular festival is well known for it's spectacular size. The fire is carried through the town starting at sun down and they knock on doors offering free sake shots to those who answer. On our walk to the festival site, there were multiple sake stands set up to give out free sake to onlookers. It can be served hot or cold...I definitely prefer it hot. Here are some men passing out the shots.
It wouldn't be a party without the King and Queen in attendance.
Here we are, ready for the festivities.
Once we got there, we were surprised by the huge number of people. Actually, we were more surprised by the number of foreigners in attendance. There were tons of people from all over the world here to experience this great festival. The snow was coming down in blizzard style, so it made the pictures even more amazing.
All throughout the festival, there were men running around with huge sake bottles strapped to their necks. They were really excited to stop and make spectators do shots. Some even wanted to sneak in kisses...I think they were taking their own shots too.
Here's some of the crew, with me in the back. I had probably had too much sake at this point. Let's be honest, I would be happy to never drink it again. It didn't take much for me to lose my mind.
These lantern decorations are made from the families who have had a firstborn boy come into their family this year. They build the "first" lantern decoration in order to ensure that their boy grows up to be healthy and have a happy marriage. The strings of calligraphy hanging down are made by local school children and children of relatives. Early on in the night, they had fireworks to kick off the festivities.
Basically, everyone just stands around and drinks until the actual fire makes its way back to the area.
Here you can see the structure up close. Men of unlucky ages are gathered and attached to it until it really begins to burn. The 42 year olds are sitting on the top level with no ladder to get down. The 25 year olds are tethered to the bottom, which you can see here. They are the ones on the front lines who have to fight off the men bringing the fire later on in the night.
The parade of men with the fire comes down the walkway with the torches. They try to light the structure on fire, but the men below have to fight them off with their one arm that's not tethered. Although I don't think anyone has died, some people do get seriously hurt. They do eventually give the men on top a ladder to use to get down and they cut the ones on the bottom loose. This picture shows the structure just beginning to burn.
Here it is going a little bit more. It suddenly got really warm here, and I swear it wasn't the sake.
It was so bright, it was like we were standing in daylight.
Here is the final burnt product. It took four months of hard work to put this together and all of a sudden, it's gone. This trip was exactly what I needed in order to get a taste of home with the snow and the cold weather. In fact, if I had experienced this before Christmas, I would have had the spirit a bit more. Anyway, I still find it amazing that the Japanese people can handle something such as this celebration without getting out of control and harming one another. Can you imagine something like this in America? I would be worried that people would riot and end up killing one another. Just another difference in culture that amazes me everyday.
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