I admit, I was quite worried. It was to be myself, my husband and a stranger who would be picking us up at the train station where we would meet for the first time, and taking us to some remote mountain house for a couple of days. I mean, he could be an axe murderer, or even worse, he could be really annoying and then we'd be stuck with him all weekend...
But, it was a cheap weekend where we would get to try snowboarding, something we've always been curious about. And besides that, really, everyone in Japan is a complete stranger to us at the moment... So what's the difference?
We met up with our host, Mark at Sannomiya station and drove up to the area of Kamikawa. Mark turned out to be a very interesting dude with lots of experience living in Japan and around the world, and he brought his Japanese friend with him.
We stopped at a tiny little raamen shop once we arrived in the are of Kamikawa. If you go there, I highly recommend it. They have a simple but delicious menu of raamen, gyoza (dumplings), and some side dishes. It was warm and comforting food in a cute little traditional Japanese setting.
Kamikawa itself is a small mountain village with beautiful mountain scenery. In the spring, the area comes to life with cherry blossom areas. Signs advised us as we explored of areas good for blossom viewing. Old traditional houses were the norm and some of the architecture was just stunning. It took only around an hour to an hour and a half from Kobe by car, but you can get there by train, catching it to Niino station.
For a little village, it's quite well stocked with plenty of supermarkets, and even a Daiso (hundred yen shop). So we stopped at MaxValu to get some booze and snacks and "retreated" to his artist retreat.
The artist retreat was so cute! We were greeted my a little sign declaring it "The house". Inside, the walls were covered in art and sayings in all languages. Blankets covered each doorway to keep the heat in. Beautiful wooden floors and old furniture gave it an authentic charm. We warmed ourselves in the main kotatsu and drank our whiskey.
The next day, we awoke frozen, our seven heavy blankets rendered useless by the merciless and unrelenting cold. We clumsily dressed under the blankets as best we could, and made our way back to the main areas, our toes and fingers going numb from the one minute walk.
After a hearty breakfast we layered up and drove to Mineyama Ski Fields. Mineyama is a relatively new ski resort that I had heard was good for beginners. Thank god. My husband and I had never skiied or snowboarded and were quite apprehensive about it.
Turns out we had good reason for it...
Snowboarding is detestable. Unless you like pain. We spent a large amount of time smashing our heads on ice, bruising our butts and hands with the falls, and just generally praying for our lives as we tried to slow ourselves down, with very limited degrees of success on the slopes.
I hadn't realised how daunting it would be to suddenly be up on a mountain top, with the only way to get down being to slide with your feet strapped to something that won't stop moving. It's a scary feeling.
So in short, I wouldn't recommend it...
But the views and scenery were lovely. And we didn't break anything. And we did something completely out of our comfort zone. We grew as humans.
After we had been appropriately smashed up by the ice, we made the excellent decision to go to an onsen (Japanese bath). If you haven't been to a Japanese bath, I would strongly encourage it. You need to shed your western sense of prudishness and embrace your own body. It's a very empowering and relaxing thing.
If you haven't been to an onsen before, first you go into a room and take all of your clothes off. There are no stalls, no partitions. You get starkers. With your friends there, if you go with people. Which we did. Then, once you are butt nekkid, you go into the next room and this is where you really need to get comfortable. In the next room, you shower in a large room. There are lots of small shower heads, usually the ones with little movable shower hoses, but again, no partitions, no separations or privacy. So in this room with your friend and all of the other patrons, you shower, soap yourself up, wash your hair with the provided shampoo, and get intimate...
Then, once you're completely clean is the good bit. You hop into the large communal bath tub. These are usually pool-sized and waist deep. You can sit on the steps that usually run around the outside and soak. Many Japanese people believe that onsens are one of the reasons they are so healthy. They use them to destress and get rid of toxins. The heat is very intense, although some onsens will have a cooler bath in addition to the hotter one so you can move from one to the other.
Walking around in a room surrounded by people naked is a very strange feeling. But you need to keep in mind that it's not strange for Japanese people. For them, naked bodies in this context is completely natural. In my opinion, it promotes healthy body image. Girls and teenagers in Japan grow up seeing the reality that is the female body, rather than just an airbrushed image that is unattainable. Japanese youths see old bodies, young bodies, imperfect bodies, healthy, unhealthy, damaged, different, cellulite-ridden, smooth. Many young girls in Australia may only see the bodies in magazines and television as examples of the female form and a standard to meet, rather than being able to see the diversity that should be represented.
So, that aside, the soak in the tub was lovely. The jets massaged sore muscles, and Mark's friend, my new friend, talked candidly about our countries and being naked while we sat together in the bath, completely bared.
After the soak, we went out to the outer room of the baths, where hairdryers, moisturisers, and other post-bath necessities were located to preen ourselves. If go to Kamikawa, this onsen was just 500yen at the Community Center. it had everything we needed and was pretty quiet.
The next day, the hubby and I took Mark's bikes for a ride. This was an excellent decidion. The mountains looked over us in the background, the wind was brisk but the sun shone on our faces. Flocks of birds scattered as we rode through fields, woods, and areas of beautiful houses. It felt divine. We explored small shrines and temples, and little side roads leading up the mountain, before heading back to Mark's artist retreat.
We left shortly after, but not before painting up our hands and leaving our mark on the wall, as so many had before us.
If you want a cheap stay in a beautiful area, hit me up with a comment and I'll direct you to Mark and his artist's retreat in Kamikawa.
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