Today was kind of a weird day. Wonderful, but weird in an "only in Japan!" sense.

It all started when the guy who does our printing contacted Masami to tell her that he knew a guy who owned a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) who was looking to expand his foreign clientele and did she know any gaijin who would be interested in a tour and a free lunch in exchange for feedback?

Which is how today I found myself heading out on a road trip with Masami, Stu, and their friend Max, ready to go be foreign for compensation.

The ryokan is in Tahara, Aichi prefecture, about a two hour drive away. We passed a lot of farms, some of which were clearly animal farms. Nothing like driving through a waft of manure scented air to really whet the appetite! The location is nothing special, to be honest. It's in the middle of nowhere, and not the scenic kind. It's like if one of the houses in my neighbourhood turned out to be a gorgeous, expensive hotel. You'd be standing outside it scratching your head and trying to figure out what the draw is.

Inside is another story, though. We went to the wrong building at first. It's newer (well, the actual building dates from the Edo era, I think) and is the cheaper of the two. Still, we were impressed. There was a lovely inner garden and a range of rooms from a simple one-room deal where you have to put the table away at night so you can put your futon out to a full on Western style room to a gorgeous Japanese room with living room and bedroom and private outdoor bath.

So far our feedback consisted entirely of "OOOH!"

Then we moved to the other building and the "OOOH!"s got even more breathless. In the first building, it was possible to choose a favourite room. In the second, they were all equally amazing. All but one came equipped with private outdoor baths (and there was a public bath available as well, but it is private in the sense that you have to reserve it so other guests do not come wandering in while you are bathing. We all agreed that this was a feature that would appeal to foreigners, many of whom would probably be self-conscious about bathing with strangers.)

Again, there was a lovely garden, and several cozy areas to sit and enjoy the view. We were especially taken with the bar. Just imagining sitting there with a glass of wine enjoying the night view of the garden was relaxing. Heaven only knows what the actual experience is like.

Then it was time for lunch. Free lunch is always delightful but this one was downright exquisite. 

About the only helpful thing we could think of to say about the food was that having a vegetarian option (with advance notice, natch) would be a big draw for a lot of people and could actually tip the balance for vegetarians looking for a nice ryokan experience. 

We definitely got the better end of the bargain here. The only really helpful advice we had was stuff we could have thought of without ever setting foot in the place: get an English website up (and make it intelligible), maybe offer a pick-up and drop-off service from the nearest train station (a good 30 minutes away by taxi), and for the love of all that is holy, do NOT ask your foreign guests if they can use chopsticks. 

Despite our lack of earth-shattering insights, we did manage to get an invitation to stay the night sometime (to, you know, really get a feel for the place), which I can only hope will actually materialise because there is no way I can afford to stay at a place like that on my own dime. The rooms start at 23 000 yen and go up to 32 000 (with a 5000 surcharge for single guests because those prices? They are per person and not per room, so if I show up all "hi, I'm here for some solo relaxation!" they are losing rather a lot of money on that, so I guess I understand the reasoning but STILL.) Meals add 5000-15 000 more to the bill, but apparently there is free flowing beer and sake in the evenings. 

In the end we weren't really optimistic about the chances of attracting a lot of guests from outside the country. If you are in Japan for a week or two, chances are you are buying a JR Pass and sticking to the shinkansen lines and the major cities. It could definitely appeal to foreigners living in Japan who want to get away for a bit, although their target audience is definitely not English teachers. (I did ask Masami for a raise after we left one particularly lovely room but I don't think she was impressed by my argument of "This is the lifestyle I am meant to be living!")

http://www.e-yado.co.jp

It has been a long, hot, not-very-interesting summer. Thankfully, that appears to be mostly over. The weather is cooling down nicely at night so while it is still pretty hot in the daytime, I can at least sleep in comfort. It's amazing what a difference that can make!

Also helping is the fact that we just had our first holiday since the spring break. After a lot of browsing expedia flights I decided to stay domestic and go to Hokkaido. It would actually have been cheaper to fly to Kuala Lumpur and stay in Trader's Hotel for a week, but it was still nice. Not that I was hurting for travel funds after five months with nothing to spend them on!

Last spring I heard about a phenomenon called Unkai Terrace at a ski resort about an hour and a half outside of Sapporo. It has to do with warmer ground temperatures due to hot springs meeting cooler air up on the mountain top and creating a sea of clouds below the mountain. It immediately leapt to my list of "things to see before I die" but I didn't expect I'd actually get to see it this quickly.

I flew into Sapporo and spent the next day wandering around Otaru, a cute little town not far from Sapporo that is known for its (one) canal, glassworks, and seafood. I spent a pleasant day wandering from glass shop to glass shop, being careful not to actually buy (much of) anything, eating ice cream, and generally enjoying not being baked to death in the sun. That evening I headed off to Tomamu where I got to enjoy being forced to stay at an expensive hotel (without access to a car, my only option was to stay at the resort itself.) I normally opt for budget hotels but it was rather nice being somewhere with a view and a seating area.

Even in peak season, the chances of seeing the unkai clouds are at best 50%. Earlier is better, so I got up at 3:30 in the morning and caught one of the first gondolas up the mountain, where I was greeted by a fairly big crowd. Luckily the conditions were perfect and the clouds were thick and gorgeous and stretched as far as the eye could see. There were a lot of people but there was also a lot of space so it didn't feel particularly cramped and there was always somewhere to enjoy the view. I stayed up on the mountain for nearly two hours, working on the theory that I'd better enjoy the sight while I could. Our newest co-worker at MI went last year around the same time and didn't get any clouds, so I felt like I should soak it all in. By around 7 the clouds were starting to disperse and I was starting to feel my early morning, though, so I went back down, had breakfast, and was back in bed by 8 am. I slept again until noon and then spent the rest of the day mostly being lazy. The weather was gorgeous and the resort was filled with green spaces, plus my booking entitled me to a free trip to the onsen, so it was a nice relaxing day.

The next morning I headed back to Sapporo to change trains to go to Lake Toya, an area famous for having an active volcano and the newest mountain in Japan. Apparently it just started growing in the middle of a rice field one day in the middle of WWII. (The government apparently tried to get the farmer to hide it somehow so that it didn't provide a landmark for enemy pilots, to which he more or less replied "I am a RICE FARMER, what do you expect me to do with this mountain that is VISIBLY GROWING DAILY?!?" although presumably more politely.) There is also a large circular lake and a lot of hot springs, as one would expect in an area with a volcano.

My hotel was very nice. I'd picked it mainly because the reviews raved about the food, and they weren't wrong. My plan included breakfast and dinner and I gave serious thought to quitting my job and just living there forever so I could continue to eat there everyday. The owner was also very lovely. She loaned me a bicycle upon arrival so that I could go check out the aforementioned volcano/shiny new mountain and warned me about the fact that it was mostly an uphill journey, which was very helpful. I had originally planned on doing the hike up the mountain but ended up not having time. The forecast for the following day was rain so I had to do my sightseeing in the limited time left to me after my arrival in the afternoon. It's a good thing I did, too. because I woke up the next morning to see a sheet of water pouring from the sky, and it didn't let up at all. I tried to be adventurous and bought a rain coat from the nearby convenience store and set out to do some sightseeing anyway, but by the time I reached the town 20 minutes later I was soaked through and rethinking my choices. I abandoned the idea of trying to go out on any of the trails (I'd have drowned in mud anyway) and took the ferry around the lake, reasoning that at least I could stay inside this way. By the time lunchtime rolled around, though, I was done for the day. I swung by the convenience store again and got a half bottle of wine and some snacks and headed back to the hotel, where I spent the rest of the day soaking in the onsen and reading and wondering if any of my stuff would be dry enough to pack by the next day. (It wasn't. Actually, it took my backpack nearly three days to be useable again.)

Naturally, the next day dawned sunny, so I got to enjoy the bus ride to the train station. I was optimistic about my chances of exploring Onuma Park, my next stop, but when I got there the weather was doing that thing where it is raining one minute and then sunny the next. This made the weather humid, the trees were dripping so badly I had to use my umbrella when I tried to walk around the park, and the path was essentially a serious of disconnected puddles that were harbouring mosquitos, so I lasted about 20 minutes before giving up and hitting up the local microbrewery instead.

By the time I got to Hakodate, the weather had finally cleared up so I decided to go up the local mountain to take in the night view, said to be one of the three best in the world. Japan loves its lists of "top three" but they are usually limited to local places, so this seemed extra special.

Pro tip: don't go up just before sunset. I assume that going up after it is already dark would be a much smoother process, because people would take their photos, admire the view for a moment, and then move along, which is not what happened while I was there. People were planted in their positions to see the sun set and nobody was moving. Half of the viewing platform was under construction which really did not help matters, and about half of the population up there seemed to be made up of Chinese tour groups. (This is the part in my story where everyone starts nodding knowingly and going "Ohhhh. Yes.") This meant there was a lot more shoving and jostling than I am used to in Japan. At one point I decided just to go for it and work my way to the front to get my picture so I could leave and it was like being in a mosh pit, but a mosh pit filled with determined elderly people and no music. At one point two tiny old Chinese men were trying to shove me out of the way but there was nowhere for me to go (seriously, what were they expecting?) so I planted my feet and enjoyed the fact that I was considerably taller and heavier than them. The view was lovely but the experience was not.

The rest of my time in Hakodate was much nicer. I did more of the required sightseeing, continued eating a truly outrageous amount of ice cream and tracking down local beers, and, of course, eating salmon eggs on rice (ikura-don), all of which made me much happier than fighting with other tourists.

The high school girls yesterday and today asked (really, really optimistically) if I'd brought them any omiyage (souvenirs) and I told them their gift was a rested and happy teacher, which they did not particularly seem to appreciate, the ingrates.

I now have 14 weeks until the winter holidays, but this time of year always goes by much more quickly than summer, plus there are the Halloween and Christmas parties to break the time up, so I'll be in Berlin before I know it.