Pickles

LapLap, you are correct about the prices for the cheap side, off on the location.

LapLap

EDIT:

Aha!

Start at Azabu Juban, at Wendy's. Go to the right of the restaurant down the street that goes on upwards to Roppongi Hills. Past the MacDonald's and Starbucks and its on the right.

But it is a lot further down this street than I remembered.

Ah, I'm so relieved! Thanks so much for confirming the price! I feel much better now!

I've been sliding in and out of knots trying to remember this!!

- will definitely try to find the sento in Mita 1 next time I'm in the area. Sounds just like the sort of place I like to go to.

(Add: I would have been quietly devastated if my favourite Tokyo bath-house wasn't called the Koshino-yu after all)

tak29813

The Missus and I spent a fantastic night in Ikaho at Kishigon. Here is the report:

We transferred in Tokyo to the Double-Decker MAX Shinkansen. It was nice to be on the top floor as I could see over the fences. The down side is that there was no luggage space so my 700 pound dufflebag served as a footrest. I was hungry in Tokyo, but we had little time for lunch so I grabbed an Unagi-Don from a kiosk. It was surprisingly good and hit the spot.



After another transfer in Takasaki we boarded a commuter train for Shibukaya. Once we made the station in Shibukaya it was another exercise in trying to find the right bus to take us up the hill. Once we determined it was bus number 2 we boarded and were on our way up. And up. And up some more. And then even further up just for good measure. We exited at the Ikaho bus station and went about trying to find our hotel. We had some loose directions from the very helpful bus driver, but still needed one more correction before we got there. Once we entered the driveway for the Kishigon Ryokan several very attentive persons went about gathering our luggage. And bowing. Lots of bowing here. We were seated in the Tea Room for a sweet and cup of Macha (powdered green tea served very thick). While we enjoyed our tea we were briefed on the hotel by the one person there who spoke any English. Once we got the gist of things we headed up to our room.



Our room was on the 7th (and top) floor and featured views that rival any mountain resort I have been to. The town is built into the side of the mountain so when you look down, it is almost straight down. The room was quite large, came with it’s own Geisha and had a bathroom with a shower and a huge oaken tub. We had made arrangements for dinner at 7 in the room so we decided to shower, change and get a feel for the area. This was the first shower of the day. After changing into the Yukata and silly slippers we opened the windows (it is hot in every room I have been to) and started playing a silly wood block game. This game was so addictive, and frustrating, that we bought a copy to take home. We spent hours with it.



Dinner came exactly at 7 and the Geisha did her best to explain the 15 dishes in a matter we both could understand. The meal, called Kaiseki, featured regional delicacies, mountain vegetables, sukiyaki, crab, sashimi, two kinds of soup, grilled items, fried items, pickles, fishcake, and several more items. It was an amazing array of flavors and it became very difficult to focus on just on item or dish. After the main courses we were served melon and strawberry and a rice cake, that we were told via telephone call to the front desk, that was for later. It’s a good thing as I could not have eaten anything at that point.



We walked around the grounds after dinner looking to kill some time and have a beverage of any kind before our reservation in the private bath. The karaoke club was frightening, and the concept of the open-air baths was promising, but we would be bathing soon enough. We finally found some waters and were milling about the lobby when the staff asked if we wanted to go up to the private baths now. It seemed like a good idea, and off we went.



We opted for the Chinese style Bath which was a huge earthen pot, probably 4 feet across and three feet deep. It was fed by a fountain that was drawn straight from the spring itself, no pumps or heaters used at all. Once again, we took a shower so that we would be clean enough to go into the bath. Once we got in the tub it overflowed onto the rocks making a great noise, think cannonballs at Jeff’s house. After 5 minutes in the tub it was time to get out, shower again to cool off, the back in the tub. I also managed to find time to shave. And sit in the sauna. The thermometer inside of the sauna read 80 degrees Celsius! Plus, the sauna was so small you had to back into it as there was no room to turn around! My personal best was 45 seconds in the hottest room in Japan, and that is saying something.



After 45 minutes of showers, cannonballs, soakings and sauna runs we got dressed and headed back to the room. Our room had been made up with the futons (much better quality than in Kyoto) and we laid down for sleep. At least I think that is how it went, I was so relaxed I think I was asleep by the time I opened the door. We woke up early-ish, around 7 and showered (6 showers by my count in 15 hours) and bathed in the huge oaken tub before heading down for breakfast buffet. I totally wussed out and had the croissant, fruit, OJ and hash-brown option. Comfort food. At least I had udon.

If I recall correctly, our entire tab, room, meal, and private bath for two was Y36,000. The dinner alone was worth that much!

abmj-jr

Nice report.

Just one small nit-pick, in case you go back. The person explaining your meal was either the mistress of the ryokan or the room maid. Geisha is an entirely different thing.

JR

tak29813

She was introduced to us as a Geisha, but I believe that term was used for wont of a better translation.

RichardInSF

She could have been an "onsen geisha" and business was slow that week so she was moonlighting as a waitress (sort of like all the out-of-work actors in NYC do)!

IndyDavid

Perhaps I should post this as an edit to my original description of our trip to Hanafubuki, but here's a transcription of the menu from our visit. Mmmmm.

Q Shoe Guy

The head of the Ryokan would be called the "Okami" in Japanese......it is one of those very traditional jobs that take years of moving up the Ryokan ladder to master. Nice report by the way, glad you enjoyed your onsen.

Pickles

But in certain soaplands in Kabukicho, the master is known as the "Okama".

Q Shoe Guy

Back from lunch already ? And what would you know about Okama in Kabukicho....... (please I don't want to know )

Pickles

Yes, currently processing a slug of mapodofu and a gallon of strong jasmine tea. Film at 11.

Place was mobbed, waiting in line, while we hogged a table gaijin-style for a couple of hours.

Q Shoe Guy

Good show....it's what I like to hear! Didn't all those in line know that they were supposed to be somewhere else in line?

Pickles

Both bumping and bringing back this thread from OT-land. Spent a couple of days at the following place: www.hoshinoya.com

Very nice, modern Japanese hotel. Not quite a ryokan, because food (which is very good) is both optional and served in their main dining room, and the rooms, although quite "Japanese", have Western style beds and fittings. The bath did have a cedar tub, from which you could fashion your own onsen by pressing a button that would make onsen water flow through the fill-up spout. The architecture of this place is like something Ed Tuttle would design if his mother had been Japanese.

Also, all the guests would walk around the premises in their outdoor yukata (which were more like Jal F-class jammies), their two toe-socks, and geta (Karuizawa, where this place is, is either suzushii or freezing, so it's a great respite from the Tokyo broiler). It was cold enough for socks, long pants, and sweatshirts, and this is the middle of July.

There are two onsen within walking distance. Once is a public one, which anyone can join for 1,200 yen (free for hotel guests), and another one for hotel guests only, inside the hotel grounds. Both are quite good. The public one has a rotenburo with an adjacent cold pool, which actually faces the outside entrance, so if you are not careful, everybody can see you wiggle your Johnson in your birthday suit.

The one on the premises is quite memorable (and open all night!). It is basically a single pool of onsen water than goes through a maze of rooms, one with a waterfall, one which is basically a translucent (but not transparent) plexiglass cube, illuminated with natural or artificial light (but from the outside), so it feels like you're inside a light cube, and another one which is pitch dark except for a couple of lights at the bottom of the pool. They call this thing the "Meditation Room", and the combination of darkness, stillness, and very hot water really gets those alpha waves going. I walked out of there stoned with a natural high.

LapLap

Another great trip report!!!

And finally somewhere I can afford (as long as I only went in the winter...)

Hope that remark doesn't spoil it for you Pickles.

Pickles

Actually in winter it must be stunning, so I'd actually like to try it then. The only problem is that hiking in the area (which is a big deal, since Karuizawa and Kamikochi are two of the favorite base camps for hiking in the Japan alps) would be severy curtailed.