2019 Japan Trip - Day 3 - Going to an Onsen Ryokan

Day Three

The third day in Japan was going to be a travel day.  We needed to get from Sendai to a town called Kusatsu, in Gunma Prefecture, to make a reservation for a ryokan, a tradition Japanese style inn, with an onsen, a hot springs spa.  

Check-in started at 2 PM.  And it STOPPED at 7 PM.  My best estimates using the travel apps on my phone indicated it would take four hours to get there.  We should get there on time, but there’s a lot of uncertainty in traveling.  I wanted to make sure we did all we could to ensure we made that window.  

Japanese Service

We got a big boost in that regard when we reached the Shinkansen office at the Sendai station.  There was a young woman wearing a mask at the Midori Window, that’s the green ticket window for the Shinkansen or Bullet Train.  And her mask was one of those medical masks Japanese people wear when they are sick or have hay fever, OR don’t want to get sick from their fellow employees nor want to be bothered by the pollen in the air.  

She dutifully asked for our passports.  I showed her our rail passes.  I then showed her our destination using the booking information on our phone.  She started to print out tickets when I told her my concern, plus the fact I didn’t know what was the best way to get to our final destination.  

That’s when she went to work.  She worked with two screens a a big thick book.  One screen was her ticket screen.  The other screen looked like some sort of notepad computer where she had travel routes displayed.  The thick book looked like some travel map of Japan.  She went back and forth from one to the other.  I began to wonder if there was some problem with our passes and the routes we wanted (we purchased a pass for the  Tohouku region plus Tokyo) and that maybe our passes didn’t cover it.  She was so methodically about it I decided to leave her alone and see what she said.  

Finally, a long strip of paper, like a cash register receipt, spitted out from a machine next to her.  She tore it off and showed it to me through the slot in her window.  

She had set up a relay-race itinerary.  We would board our first Shinkansen in 30 minutes.  It would travel for 68 minutes to Omiya station, where we had 12 minutes to get to our next Shinkansen.  That would would travel 25 minutes to Takasaki station, where we would have 18 minutes to get to a limited express train headed to…  Deep breath now…  Naganoharakusatsuguchi…  Station.  From there we would have to board a JR bus that would take is to the Kusatsu Bus Terminal in Kusatsu.  

Did I want to get these tickets?  

Uh, yeah…  Sure.  

We followed her itinerary to the letter and it worked like a dream.  We rested on the trains and hustled through the stations.  On the last train to…  Deep breath again…  Naganoharakusatsuguchi station, I spoke with the conductor who gave me the lay out of what to expect at the bus terminal at the station and how long it would take from there.  

The bus exchange was almost anti-climatic.  Kusatsu is a VERY popular destination due to its onsen hot spring resorts, and the people at the Naganoharakusatsuguchi station (it gets easier to say the more you try) had everything working like a machine.  

“Excuse me, I want to go to…”  

“This way!”

“But I haven’t told you…”  

“This way!  On that bus!”  

The bus got us to the Kusatsu Bus Terminal in 25 minutes, where we found out that the ryokan we were booked at would come to pick us up to bring us there.  

I didn’t get the woman’s name at the Shinkansen Madori window in Sendai, but they ought to make her manager.  

Kusatsu is a POPULAR place.  Several buses leave at once in twenty minute intervals.  Each has every seat filled plus jump-seats in the aisle.  You can't go to Kusatsu if you're claustrophobic.

Kusatsu

This is my second time at an onsen ryokan.  Last year, due to a scheduling snafu, we had a day without a place to stay.  I picked an inexpensive place in a town called Ohiradai, in the Hakone area, another famous onsen region, to give it a try.  

The place in Ohiradai was small, old, and its facilities showed its age to a degree.  But it was still enjoyable, and the experience made me want to try something a bit more…  Upscale, I guess.  Some Japanese acquaintances from my language group suggested Gunma when I told them my travel planes, and I found the Kusatsu Onsen Boun online. 

The experience this year is much different.  Kusatsu is much bigger than Ohiradai by far.  There several large ryokan doing business here and the people are coming in bunches to fill them.  

Kusatsu Onsen Boun.  Simple on the outside.  Very nice on the inside.

The Kusatsu Onsen Boun is swanky.  In a very reserved and elegant sort of way.  And the staff follow Japanese onsen traditions to a tee.  They bow and welcome you with keigo when you enter.  They take your shoes away and give you slippers at the door, and don’t have to ask who you are or what room you’re in.  They bring you tea and snacks when you arrive at your room.  They turn out your futon for the night while you’re at dinner.  They put away the futons in the morning while you’re at breakfast.  

Our Welcoming Tea and Snacks. 

We reserved the Deluxe Japanese style room, Bonzan 3, which means “Hope Mountain, room 3”, which can hold up to 5 people, with breakfast and dinner included.  We WANTED to get the the Deluxe Japanese style room with private bath, but that is very popular an apparently was unavailable when I made our reservations.  It’s about a hundred-fifty dollars more per night, but I think it might be worth it.  Maybe next time.  

I took a walk after we checked in to see what was around.  There were numerous other people doing the same thing.  Several of them were wearing yukata, a kimono-like piece of clothing made of cotton that’s only a single layer.  Because its cold they were also wearing a type of overcoat over it.  

The view from the entrance to Kusatsu Onsen Boun.  Kusatsu is in the mountains, and you feel it when you walk around.

Kusatsu has a connection with Germany.  There are statues to doctors that came to Japan in early part of the twentieth century to teach the Japanese surgical techniques and study the health benefits of the sulphur hot springs.  

The smell of sulphur is everywhere.  When you first encounter it you go, “Eww!” but it quickly becomes a part of being here.  It’s not a bad smell when you consider it, just strong.  

The waterfall from the sulphur spring in the center of town.

The main part of town that people go to is centered around one of the main springs.  They’ve built wooden sluices to carry the water to the lower part of the center to create steaming waterfalls.  It’s even more spectacular at night when they light up the spring and it gives off an eerie green glow.  

The town center's sulphur spring at night

The other consistent part of Kusatsu besides the sulphur smell are the slopes and hills.  Relatively flat streets are rare.  Everything is either a steep drop down or steep climb up.  Just walking around town, my Fitbit has recorded the equivalent of going up 50 to 70 flights of stairs a day.  

Dinner is Served

Our dinner is served at 7 PM.  We went down to the lobby and were escorted to a private dining room.  It’s been the same team of waitresses serving us each night.  

The first servings of dinner

The meal is traditional fourteen course“washoku” meal.  That’s Japanese for Japanese food.  But unlike, “Japanese Food,” which sparks the idea of eating sushi for most westerners, or maybe ramen or takoyaki for more dedicated Japanophiles, washoku is more varied in tastes and textures, and much, much more appealing in presentation.  

One of the subsequent servings.  Grilled fish, with broccoli, mushrooms and something red and square.

Half the time, I’m not entirely sure what I’m eating.  You might pick up something that looks like a cube of green jello, but find it has a surprisingly firm texture and a definite fish taste.  When I ask the waitresses about it they are often at a loss, explaining with Japanese words I’ve never heard or can’t readily find in my dictionary.  

But it is good.  And it is part of staying at an onsen.