Onsen!

So last weekend I went to Yunishikawa Onsen (湯西川温泉) in Tochigi Prefecture (栃木県) which is about 160 or so kilometers north (北) of Tokyo. I went with 6 other people, all Japanese, (all are people that went to Canada in the past. I know them through Asako)

Onsen's (hot springs) are WONDERFULLY AMAZING! I think I'm in love. It was extremely fun. This time (as opposed to previous hang-outs with these people), I was able to understand and converse with the other people MUCH more (due to my Japanese skill being much better) and therefore I had a tonne of fun. It went down to -12 or so I think at night... so that made it even better in the outside Onsens. There's nothing like bathing naked outside in the open air under the starry night sky when it's -12 outside haha (oh ya, in Japan, in an Onsen, you do not wear clothes).

Most certainly a new experience. It takes 4 and a bit hours to get from my house to where we went. There was snow, a good deal of it (yay!), so I was quite satisfied. The Ryokan (Traditional Japanese Inn, a must-do for people visiting Japan) that we stayed in... was neat first of all... The dinner and breakfast provided by them was wonderful as well... but a really neat thing is that some of the wood that makes up the building is 800 YEARS OLD. Crazy...

Real Onsen like that one are much better than Hot Tubs... MUCH better... they smell a bit... (due to various minerals in the water, such as sulfer) but you get used to that quickly. They say the BEST Onsen can heal anything except love sickness. I believe them... My back, which had a NASTY knot in it for the past few days, was extrememly sore... However, the INSTANT (no joke) I went in the water, my back felt just fine... Very interesting in deed...