Leaving the glass wall open, I crept back into the room to wake Jason. Together we walked outside in our jammies, the wet grass on our feet. We cuddled and watched as the clouds twisted around the mountains, and the sun slowly peaked out amongst them.
So... this is Tottori.
We had arrived the night before to a spacious traditional Japanese house we had booked through airbnb. The rooms were entirely tatami rooms, with a low table, cushions, and tatami beds. The furniture and paper walls were all delicately detailed.
After eating a small breakfast, we couldn't resist heading out into the lush scenery around us, so we went for a walk. Around us were rice paddies, turning yellow at the end of their season, lush, thick green vines, dawdling rives, and... spiders. Lots and LOTS of spiders. Everywhere. Any two things close enough to have a web between them, did. And in this web was anywhere from one to five huge golden orb spiders. We got into the habit of Jason walking first, because no matter where we walked, we were bound to run into one of their webs at some point. If I had to walk somewhere outside by myself, I had to walk with my arm waving out in front of me to make sure I didn't walk face first into a gigantic disgusting spider.
After our beautiful but spider-filled walk, we headed out to Tottori city. We were staying in Misasa, a small onsen town part of Tottori Prefecture, about an hour from the actual Tottori city, and the beach that Tottori is so famous for. When we booked the holiday, the weather forecast had looked promising. Temperatures of 31 degrees. What a wonderful way to spend the last warm weekend of the year, I had thought... But alas, the closer we got to the holiday, the more the weather forecast changed, and now, it was cool and raining, with the next day predicted for thunderstorms!
In Tottori, we explored the site of the Rabbit of Imabari Shrine, where legend has it, a rabbit was stuck on a small nearby island, and tricked a group of sharks into lining up so that he could cross over their backs to get back to Japan. He told the sharks what he had done, and subsequently a shark bit him. A bunch of other stuff happened, and long story short, he bathed in the nearby clear water, and was healed! There was a shrine covered in rabbit statues and tiny white rocks, and the island that supposedly the rabbit was trapped on held a small Torii gate.
Next stop was the Tottori sandunes. Sanddunes are not really something you'd expect to see in Japan, but here we were, surrounded by large rolling sand dunes, and even camels! They were not as impressive as Lancelin in WA though!
We had wanted to see the beautiful Uradome Coast, but after getting drenched on the sand dunes, we decided to call it a day. The rain was pouring, and the wind was getting crisp.
The next day, I woke early and opened the paper doors again, peering out the glass wall to see my morning clouds. I was disappointed to find that today only the whispiest of clouds could be seen finding among the mountains.
As the weather for today was so crappy, we decided to go into Misasa Onsen and have a steaming hot onsen (hot spring bath). Misasa is famous for having some of the world's highest radon water. By bathing in its onsens you can breath in the radon, which, they tell you, can help with healing. That sounds great! So we entered a private hotel onsen that had rotenburo (outdoor onsen) and went through to our seperate areas (boys through one side, girls to the other).
As is usual wih onsen, I entered the women's changing room, got naked, and put all of my gear into a locker. I then entered the first room, a shower room, and washed myself in the showers. I then walked through to the outdoors area. I tell you, there's something very freeing about walking out a door to an outside area while being naked. There were other people in the onsen, but my care factor was zero. Their care factory is zero. Bathing naked with others is a natural part of Japanese life and one needs to embrace their body and their nakedness and walk proudly through the outdoors areas, tits out, to the onsens.
This onsen area had a beautiful outdoors area. I walked over a large decking that had a radon steam room, into a garden area, which contained a large rotenburo spa. Part of the rotenburo had jets for massaging, and other parts were still. Waterfalls spilled into the spa on both sides. When I left this onsen, I walked further, walking naked up an outdoors staircase to find a walking foot spa alleyway where you walked through the spa, to get to another secret spa, which was perched in a small hut above the other spa I had been in previously. Here there was no one else (thank god, as it was quite a small spa) and I could relax by myself in the silence.
Jason and I met up an hour later, after we'd both inhaled enough radon fumes to be beneficial. I then used the wifi to google radon, out of interest, wondering what the science was behind this "healing effect". I soon found out that radon was a carcinogen. The largest cause of lung cancer in the US after cigarettes... So... the healing effect is cancer?! That's great... But at least we will die relaxed, I guess.
Our afternoon stop was Enchoen, a chinese garden. The grounds and building were just beautiful, and overlooked a large lake. The pictures say it all.
I had never thought of going to Tottori before, but honestly, it was one of the most picturesque places I have ever been to in Japan! Definitely one of the most underrated prefectures!
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