Spaaaaaaah!

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a stay at a spa resort. It was on Thursday-Friday. My 3 friends, Connie, Terry and Marie all signed up as well. It was to be Terry's birthday celebration. Unfortunately, Terry caught a nasty bug, and had to stay home. So it was with a feeling of disappointment that we met at Shinagawa station on Thursday morning.

There were 7 of us. The tour was arranged by Sandy I., an American woman who loves to travel and explore new places and does this for a living now. She used to teach English in a small town near Hakone. We caught a special high speed train to the Izu penninsula (the same area that Nathan traveled to in the Fall) and stayed at a spa resort complete with pool, hot tub, indoor and outdoor onsen, spa services, relaxation room, restaurant and gorgeous views overlooking the ocean.

At the first train station stop on our way, we sat on the edge of a foot bath onsen. Took off our shoes, socks and just soaked. Ahhh...There was an older Japanese couple who at one point were highly amused by something we did. Then off to the next stop before the spa. We had lunch at a very interesting stained glass museum. The building was reminicent of a small European church or castle. Inside there were pictures of famous stained glass windows, lots of actual stained glass windows, prints, paintings of European scenes and other reproductions. It was a very strange place to be. There was a chapel with an English pipe organ (I think it was a tracker organ- for those of you who care) from 1902 and we had the opportunity to hear a short concert. We got to hear one of the "Little" Prelude and Fugues, the slow and beautiful theme from Holst's Jupiter (From The Planets), Pachelbel's Canon, and other light pieces. While I was sitting and listening to the organ, I looked around at the ornate paintings on the walls of icons of Christianity- Christ ascending in the clouds, Mary, angels, Saints, and thought to myself, "This is so weird." Here in the middle of a Shinto/Confucian nation is this little Disney-esque "Wee Europe." We had some conversation about this and I found out that the majority of Japanese don't have passports, and that there are places like this to satisfy their curiosity about the world without ever actually having to leave their homeland. Actually the same is true in the US. Most of the population does not have passports. Think about theme parks and Disney World. I am sure you can find people in lederhosen, serving bratwurst at those places on any given day. But I digress.

So after that interesting lunchtime excursion, we headed off to the spa. I had the first massage, which I was looking forward to eagerly. I have been carrying knots in my shoulders from Peter Pan- and that was a year ago! I have had them with me for so long, I have given them names. The woman who interviewed me before the massage was very nice, but she had very little English, and I had about as much Japanese, so after much smiling, hand signals, nodding, and apologizing on my part, we determined that I was healthy, and the SHE would choose the scented oil. One of the best massages I've ever had.

After that I was a puddle. We had a great Japanese dinner with many little dishes of tasty (and unidentifyable) little portions, veggies and seafood cooked in broth over our own sterno burner, deep fried whole fish, sake, rice, the usual fare. After dinner- the onsen.

I have been here for almost 6 months and have not sought out an onsen experience. I was very impressed that my sister in law and niece tried the onsen in Nikko while they were here. For you see, it involves getting naked in front of strangers, which until I actually did it, seemed like a big huge scary thing. It's no big thing. We wore our yukata down to the locker room. We washed with soap, sitting on little stools in front of a mirror, before entering the hot bath. I immediately went for the outside bath. It was after dark, the stars were out and the view, if you sat up high enough, was out over the ocean to the islands beyond. There were some twinkly lights out across the water, there was a nice cold breeze to cool us off and the water was the perfect temperature. The only thing better would have been to have some sake to drink while we lounged. Something to remember for next time. Then-upon returning to our suite, I was so relaxed, I was afraid I would forget to breathe. I was the first person in bed. Connie, Marie and I were chatting, and I just fell asleep. So off I went.

The second day was sunny and clear. We visited more small museums, including an antique jewelry place where we could have our picture taken with old-fashioned dresses. Everyone was joking about putting on the dresses, but I said- "Absolutely! I'm game." So we all did. I looked particularly hideous. So much so that the Japanese women who were helping us chuckled and brought out an ugly looking hair piece to add to my look. Just awful, but funny. I love funny, so it was all good.

As I write this, I am on my couch. The Super Bowl is on, it's Monday, and the Tokyo Corning office is pretty empty this morning as everyone is watching the game. Robin and I are here enjoying time together. There was a serious reminder that came from the boys' High School Office- saying something like, "Staying home from school on Monday to watch the Super Bowl will be an unexcused absence." Ouch. Too bad, sports fans.