Ryokan

A ryokan is a very special experience for Japanese people. They are the equivalent of a spa for us, a luxurious, expensive get away. There is a traditional formal meal and then an oonsen, which I discussed in an earlier post.

This was the appetizer for our meal. (Mine varies from other people's throughout because I am a vegetarian and fish is a very common part of meals in Japan, so those dishes are cut our of mine and sometimes replaced with fish or other products.)


Here is the second course. Many meals in Japan are served on many little plates.


The ryokan give you special outfits (yakata) to wear while you are there.


We slept three to a room on tatami mats. No shoes are allowed into the room. Tatami mats are for sleeping and are supposed to be kept clean. After not having an internet connection for a week everyone was excited to catch a bit of a signal in our room.

Oops, out of order, but it's not letting me move it. This is during the dinner. She went around and lit the fire to cook all of our individual rice bowls.



The ryokan's main feature is the bath or oonsen. I snuck in while it was empty. These are the stools and showers.

This is one of the indoor pools. There was a fantastic space that had at least 10 different pools. There were trees and fountains scattered about. They called it the "Jungle Room" because of all the trees. I wish I could have gotten shots, but it always had people in it. We got up at 5 the next morning to check out that room because the rooms rotated men then women every other day.



Back in my oversized yakata! ;)


I tried to eat everything but the food kept coming. I made a pretty good showing and finished most of it though! It was great food, very interesting. As with all my time in Japan I wasn't always able to figure out what some food was, some things we just don't have in the States.