Safety-conscious Japan

The Sign

and...

the train

Hakone: Naked onsen pictures

Ha ha. Just wanted to get your attention with a title. No naked pictures here, although we did partake of the hotel's onsen. Fed by natural hot springs, the onsen experience is perhaps more interesting than the trip we took itself to Hakone, about and hour and a half west and south of Tokyo and the site of a big volcanically created lake, steaming sulphur mountains, more soba than you'd ever want to eat, and lots of hot springs.  

We had so-so weather, clouds, a bit of rain, patches of sun. We took a trip on a "pirate ship" (don't ask me why) across Lake Ashi and ascended up a series of cable cars to the sulphur gas spewing mountainsides. I was woefully underdressed. (Rich neglected to tell me that we were going up a mountain.) So we didn't venture out to the slopes of the mountain where you can sample "black" eggs. I guess the eggs are buried in the ground and are cooked and they turn black.  

My favorite part was the toy museum that had great old-fashioned toys (lots of vehicles) from a collection of a Japanese man who - well, loved to collect toys. There was also an amazingly pristine Cadillac we saw in the hotel parking lot. The body of this car was so close the ground, I can't imagine how one can drive it. It was stunning.

But back to the onsen. The baths are single-sex so one proceeds to the men's or women's "locker room" and undresses. We actually donned yukata (light cotton robes) for the walk from our room, down the elevator and to the onsen. Once inside you strip and put your clothes in a little basket and then walk to the washing off room. At this particular hotel, there were about 20 washing stations, each with it's own stool, spigot and hand-held shower. It was a good thing the room was very steamy - it made being naked a bit more comfortable.  

At the washing stations, you vigorously wash your entire body with the provided soaps and shampoo and rinse thoroughly. Then you proceed to the baths. I opted for the outdoor baths. So you go outside and brace yourself for the cold air, and then step slowly into the bath. It can be pretty hot. From then on, it's like being in a hot tub but the water is supposedly full of healthy minerals. Being outside is lovely, as you can imagine, gazing up at the starts through the tops of the trees.

My dear husband took Max both nights of our stay and his comment after the pre-bedtime soak was, "I hope you appreciate how UN-relaxing that was."  Something about chasing a naked two-year old across wet slippery stones...

Any guilt I might have had was easily wiped away with memories of my nearly 24/7 solo care of Max for the past 3 weeks.

Rich and Max on the cable car

Steaming sulpher on the mountainside. Yes, it was smelly.

Heather and Max on the "pirate ship" crossing Lake Ashi

Rich outside of the Hakone Toy Museum

The Caddy outside the hotel

Get up duck!; International Day at Preschool

Blogger is not letting me upload video so please check out the newest Max video "Get up duck!" and "International Day at Preschool" accessible in the "moving pictures" sidebar.  

Playgrounds and apple pie

We spent last Saturday afternoon at a nearby park. It was Rich's first weekend off in three weeks and it was just nice to relax together. It was warm in the sun and Max had a blast with his friend Tamano. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop for apple pie.  And it wasn't half bad!

Sticks and leaves

After Daddy time in the morning, Rich headed off to work and Max and I got ourselves out of the house and down to the subway to catch a train to visit Max's friend Taiga (and my friend Sayuri). Max and Taiga have known each other almost a year now and it's a real pleasure to see them enjoy each other's company.  After eating at a lovely cafe in their neighborhood, we walked to the local park to enjoy the first bit of sun in a week.  

After some see-sawing, balancing on logs and general running around, Max grabbed a stick and proceeded to explore the fences, flower beds, trees and general dirt. The highlight of playtime was some good old-fashioned playing with sticks in the leaves.   

How much is that sushi in the window?

Hi everyone.  Max here. Just wanted to show you my new haircut. Here I am on my way to visit my friend Taiga in Musashi-Koyama. It's not far from my house.  Just 15 minutes on the subway. 

Check out the sushi in the window.  Not that I would eat it. I don't eat anything new these days. I don't even eat my old favorites like pasta and cheese.  I'll take some m'n'ms anytime, however.  

Just please don't make me brush my teeth.

Miscellaneous

It's about time for a new post.  Let's see, what can I say....  Well, we have a new billboard outside. The spiderwoman is finally gone and replaced by a ghostly and very pale blond woman in a very low cut top.  

I haven't been practicing the guitar. : -(   I've been researching preschools since we heard that Max's school is closing in June.  This is sad.  It's such a sweet place.  I may as well be in New York with the intensity of the preschool competition around here.  And then there is the cost. The going rate for the best/popular international schools is about $21,000/year plus registration, building and maintenance fees that range between $2,000 and $9,000. This is for a 30 hour/week program. Can you believe it? I suppose that in many instances the company is footing the bill. But not always.  So we are debating Montessori vs. a couple of other places. Perhaps we should just drop him into a Japanese daycare program.  Much cheaper. Ah, but we must nurture his creativity and individuality and give him the optimal setting for development and socialization. Yadda yadda.

Oh, and Rich is working like a dog.  Another crazy, time-sensitive, crisis management project that is putting him and his colleagues through 14 hour weekdays and weekends. This Thursday I'll host a PwC wives get-together/support meeting at my apartment. We'll probably order fattening take-out, drink a lot of wine and be amused by Max's antics.