Trip trough Japan 3 日本

Benjamin Vitters 12 October 2018

We left tokyo to go towards the north of Japan. We could choose between the tourist route or the toll route. We navigated as close to the sea as possible. Many places in Japan have large stone shock breakers to protect from all the erosion. Also, something that we noticed were the many homes for elderly people in Japan. Many of them located very close to the shore. After a 5 hour drive we arrived in Sendai, for our first stay in a capsule hotel. But first into the local arcade!

Another fun thing to do is to get a personal stamp there. That is something that Japanese people use as a signature, for example when sending a mail. Near the donquiote you usually find a machine that is able to make those. There is a choices for different sizes and materials. It helps to do a little research beforehand if you are not familiar with the language. Because the English menu’s are not correct at all, and you may end up with a stamp that has meaningless symbols.

Luxury against efficiency

The capsule hotel is not well known for its luxury, but that’s not what it’s meant for. All corridors, lockers and shower cabins were grey with big white arrows on the floors and walls. It was super clear WHAT to do WHERE. The beds were fine, and that is what is was all about. Although there was someone snoring really loud. At departure you throw your towel and slippers in designated bins. You drop off your key and your pyjamas at the reception, and that’s it. Goodbye!

The next day we were sleeping at Saken, an all inclusive traditional ryokan. When we arrived we were directed to a parking place were someone with a can was waiting to load our luggage. At the hotel our luggage was carried inside and we were escorted to the reception in a beautiful hall. At first sight we didn’t even know how to properly behave, overwhelmed by all the luxury. A silk like floor with a pond, next to a small podium with a gold plated harp. After checking in we were escorted to a traditional Japanese room. The personnel was having some trouble moving our crazily stuffed bags to the room. Which was to be expected after all the Akihabara shopping. When we were done checking out our room, we went to explore the rest of the hotel. We kicked off with dressing in our Jukata’s, ready in the closet for the full experience. The hotel had several different hot springs, one of which was in front of the tower that our room was located in. It had an inside and outside part. There was also a general hot spring, which was much bigger but much less traditional. And not to forget the hot spring at the bottom of the mountain that we could only enter the next day. To get there there we had to pass a long downwards wooden corridor at the edge of the maintain. After which we took in the beautiful scenery. Furthermore there was a museum with lots of artifacts and stories related to the ryokans history. Saito was our personal receptionist, his English was top notch and he was available to us 24 / 7. He told us if there was anything, we could call him and he’d help us out. This appeared to be 100% correct, but we had no idea how and where his sleeping should occur.

The dinner there was an experience on its own. When we got the ryokan we hadn’t yet registered for the main dinner. But because we did not want to miss anything about this experience, we just had to add the dinner. At our table was a lovely view. We received 5 courses of which the only choice was the main course. One after the other dish was presented. Shrimp surrounded by different pieces of meat and fish. Sauces with of unknown recipe. And eventually abalone and salmon caviar. Yes we had to google that. Quite an experience, but probably a one time thing because of the price.

Breakfast was a buffet, luckily a lot more straightforward, but still very elaborate. Despite the fact that people come there to relax, we slept very little so we had a lot of time to try out all the facilities