Day 24 - Our Day Trip: A Long Drive To Churaumi Aquarium

We started our day a little late on Wednesday, as I woke up with a very sore right heel. My shoes have been on their last leg for most of this trip, and walking nearly 10km without proper padding resulted in severe soreness. Thankfully, after a hot shower and some stretching, I was mobile once again, so we headed out to the parking lot to grab our car and head north nearly two hours by car, all the way across Okinawa to the northern coast where we would go to Churaumi Aquarium.

Our drive was very scenic, and started with the Okinawa Expressway, a toll road that takes you most of the way across the island, and includes beautiful views of Okinawa's dense foliage, rolling hills and the ocean. The weather was foggy and rainy, but his actually created some beautiful views for us as the fog was a nice element.

The scenery of Okinawa (not our photo)

We reached the end of the expressway and paid our toll of 1020 yen, merging into the regular traffic and spending the last forty minutes of our drive in stop and go traffic as we slowly approached the aquarium. Thanks to the rain, there were droves of other tourists at the aquarium when we parked, and most of us were running across the street to try to avoid getting soaked. In an unusual twist of events, both Lauren and I had forgotten to bring umbrellas (Lauren usually makes up for my forgetfulness), so we got quite wet walking into the aquarium park and down the hill to the entrance.

Once we reached the entrance, we paid our entry fee of 1850yen per person, and were immediately surrounded by tourists, the place was so busy that walking was often difficult. The entry floor consisted mainly of coral reefs and the fish found there in large displays. As you descent, you reach a gallery below that encircles a massive tank that is home to two whale sharks and a plethora of larger fish that live at slightly greater depths.

We took a few photos here, but to avoid the crows moved into the next room over, a shark lab. This room has a lot of info on how sharks reproduce, samples of their scales, brains in jars, and many shark and whale fetuses for comparison. We left this room and proceeded further downstairs to the deep ocean area, where a large number of specimens from deeper than 200 meters can be viewed, including strange crustaceans, big-eyed fish and other unique forms of deep sea life. As we exited the deep sea area, we realized we had come to the end of the aquarium, a surprise given how large we expected it to be. There was a rather large display with whale and shark skeletons, oarfish specimens and a megalodon jaw that was free to the public just outside the exit, so we spent some time exploring here before moving on to the manatee and sea turtle enclosures that are both outdoor and just down the hill.

Af this point we were both getting rather wet and were ready for a break, so we walked back to the car and headed back to Naha, pulling off to grab a pizza for lunch on the way. We took the scenic coastal highway back to Naha, which took about 2.5 hours, arriving back around 3:30PM. We spent the afternoon relaxing at our AirBnB, writing blog posts and generally staying dry. At 6, we caught a taxi back to Kazusan-tei for another delicious meal, this time including sashimi, and a bottle of Awamori that they gifted to us as thanks for coming back again.

Lauren ordered a beer and was given this little guy as a joke

Some sort of fried pork knuckle. It was pretty good, though very chewy.

Stuffed once again, we walked home in the rain, dodging puddles and trying (though mostly failing) to stay dry.

Day 23 - Okinawa Day 1: Shurijo Castle, Heiwa Dori Shopping & Kazusan-tei

We woke up early on Monday morning with light streaming into our little house from the many windows at the front, and decided to start our day at a fish market called Tomari Iyumachi, where we hoped to grab some food. It took a short thirty minute walk to reach the market, and we arrived to find it bustling with locals and tourists. The size of the market was much smaller than we anticipated, holding maybe 50 vendors. The fish looked pretty good, but nothing like the quality in Tokyo, so we wandered around for a bit before picking our food. Lauren had a small sashimi platter for 1100 yen, while I had a fried sweet potato and some fried fish for 120 yen. We ate our food, and found it rather disappointing, so we both decided to head out and see the next place on our list, Shurijo Castle.

Some of the fish for sale at  Tomari Iyumachi

Shurijo Castle is the historical seat of the Ryukyu Kingdom, who ruled Okinawa for centuries before eventually being conquered by the Shimazu clan in April 1609. It is well known as one of the most unique and beautiful castles in Japan, and has been fully restored in recent years. We decided to catch a taxi in the interest of time, and found ourselves there only 15 minutes later.

We wandered up the hill towards the castle, passing an outer wall and an inner wall before reaching a courtyard where we had to buy tickets to proceed further. After paying our admission, we passed into the center of the castle, where we could see the recently constructed recreation of the castle. The castle itself has burned down many times in history, and most recently was bombed in the battle of Okinawa at the end of World War II. The government chose to restore it, and as a result the entire castle is now pristine and nearly new, giving a unique look at what a castle might look like when newly constructed.

We made our way through the tour route, looking at the many display items, the architecture and the buildings themselves before eventually walking up the stairs at the rear of the palace to the wall, where a panoramic view of Naha is visible. We took some photos up top, and then made our way back down, bypassing the gift shop.

The castle grounds were verdant and lush, full of tropical plants

At this point we were both ready for some food, so I (predictably) found a ramen place nearby called Ryukyu Shinmen Tondo, that apparently served a mean bowl of tonkotsu ramen. We walked down the hill from the castle and made our way inside, ordering at a little machine that spits out tickets. I ordered a bowl of their ramen and some gyoza, while Lauren ordered a chashu rice bowl.

My bowl of ramen

The decor, replete with anime & movie posters

We handed the server our tickets and waited a few minutes until our food came, enjoying the decor with anime and movie posters, and people watching as the locals slurped down noodles at light speed. The food arrived promptly, and was piping hot. My bowl of ramen smelled great after my disappointing and light breakfast, and I couldn't wait to get stuck in. My broth was flavorful and had a good depth of flavor with a hint of garlic, and the chashu was tasty though not very tender. I still made quick work of my bowl, and soon slurped down the last of the soup and walked outside with Lauren.

We were about 4km from our accommodations at this point, but after our heavy meal decided that walking was a good idea, so we made the 45 minute trek, enjoying the breeze as we walked. After a brief stop at our place for water and some air conditioning, we headed back out towards Heiwa Dori, where we planned to go souvenir shopping, pick up some Okinawan salt, and wrap up at a Don Quijote.

Heiwa Dori is a maze like shopping street that can be quite confusing if you don't have GPS or some experience navigating. When we entered, we found ourselves surrounded by shops, most of them selling the same items or variations of those items targeted at tourists. We stopped at one shop in particular because they sold many of the foodstuffs that can only be purchased here on Okinawa, including pork fat miso, pineapple and mango Hi-Chew candy, and Okinawan brown sugar.

Awamori - the signature spirit of Okinawa often has a snake inside. This specimen looks rather intimidating!

With our foodstuffs in hand, we kept walking, exploring many shops selling glassware, pottery and Shisa dogs, which are used as guardians at the home to ward off evil spirits. As we neared the end of the shopping street, we found a store on Lauren's list Salt Masuya, that specializes in salt. This store probably had over 1000 varieties of salt under one roof, many of them flavored or unique, such as wasabi salt, steak salt, hibiscus salt and so on.

Lauren really wanted to find Yukishio salt, which is famed for having the largest variety of minerals in it of any salt, and is made by pumping underground seawater from beneath the island of Miyako in Okinawa prefecture. We purchased some of this for ourselves and Lauren's gourmet brother James, as well as some other flavored salts such as wasabi and yuzu salt for fun to play with at home. We then tried their famous sea salt soft serve ice cream, which was saltier than expected but also quite good after sweating for the better part of the day already.

We finished up our ice cream, and left Heiwa Dori, turning left onto Kokusai Dori, which is the main shopping street in Naha. Just a half block ahead, we found Don Quijote, similar to the store I had visited in Osaka a couple of weeks earlier, but significantly larger. We spent a long time shopping there, and picked up a bunch of Japanese snacks like Kit-Kats in various flavors, rice puffs, curry roux, fruit gummies and some odds and ends. Once we wrapped up there, we stopped at a local store across the street for some Chinsuko cookies, which are unique to Okinawa called Arakaki. After we grabbed our cookies we headed back to our home to drop off bags and relax a little.

Lauren ordered a double, not realizing it would be double the size

For dinner that night, Lauren wanted to try out an Izakaya that received rave reviews on Tripadvisor called Kazusan-tei. She called and was able to get us two seats at 6:30PM by speaking Japanese to the owner Kazu-san. We arrived just before 6:30 and were seated at the bar, where the owner's son greeted us and took our drink orders. The menu was completely in Japanese, but between Lauren and Google Translate, we managed to interpret enough to order some Basil Fried Chicken, Skirt Steak, Taco Spring Rolls (a speciality of Kazu-san's), and pork belly with bitter melon tempura. All the food was delicious, though the basil fried chicken was truly amazing, and one of the best things we've eaten in Japan. We each had about 4 drinks (all drinks in Japan are relatively diluted), and stuffed ourselves, having a wonderful time. At one point, the owner's son came up and asked us our names, which we provided. He returned a little while later with artistic hand paintings of our names, and an artistic painting of a Shiso dog, which he gave to us as gifts to take home.

Our gifts from Kazu-san's son

The steak, served over a bed of frittes

The pork belly (rafute) with bitter melon tempura

The delicious basil fried chicken

This dish was a form of calamari with a sweet chilli sauce

Thoroughly stuffed, exhausted and very relaxed, we walked home to fall into bed and prepare for a busy morning the next day.

Day 22 - Traveling to Okinawa

Lauren and I had to be in Nagoya for a 3PM flight to Okinawa, so our morning started early, waking up just after 6 to pack. The family at Shiroyamakan had our breakfast ready at 7AM, and served it to us in a private dining room. We enjoyed our hearty breakfast of fish, hot pot, rice and chawanmushi, but soon had to bid our kind hosts farewell. We will never forget them!

Our last meal at Shiroyamakan

The only way to get to Nagoya from Shirakawa-go that early in the morning is to get to the city of Takayama, about 50 minutes away by car and catch a train. There were no buses available so early in the day, so we had to take a taxi, at a cost of $175. Our taxi driver was friendly, and got us to Takayama station efficiently, dropping us at the front. Lauren and I entered the station and were directed to a waiting area by a guard, as the train wouldn't board until 9:15. We purchased some waters, and enjoyed the people watching until 9:15 rolled around. There was a massive line of people waiting to board our train, so we filed along behind them and down to the platform, where our train hadn't yet arrived. The train had to shunt and connect to additional cars, so we were all asked to stand back and wait for this to happen. After about ten minutes of waiting, the train was ready for boarding and we took our seats, departing shortly thereafter.

The train ride from Takayama to Nagoya takes about 2.5 hours, and is an incredibly scenic ride. The majority of the ride is spent in beautiful mountain valleys, with dense forest on either side and water below. We both enjoyed the scenery and napped a little along the way, and soon arrived in Nagoya.

From Nagoya station, Lauren and I would have to catch a separate train line to the airport, about 30 minutes away. We were able to make our way through the very crowded Nagoya station to our train and board just before it departed, only to realize we had purchased the wrong tickets as the entire train was reserved. We hung around for a couple of stops until they started doing ticket checks, and were able to pay the difference to the conductor and take some seats.

We arrived at the airport just after 1PM, and made our way to departures, where the ANA check-in staff were friendly and efficient, checking most of our baggage for us. We proceeded to security, which is very similar to the states, and on to the departures lounge. We were both famished at this point, and opted to purchase some pork katsu sandwiches for lunch. The little cafe near our seats also sold Cremia ice cream, a favorite from Tokyo, so we had a cone to wrap up lunch and meandered over to our gate to await boarding.

Our plane boarded at 2:45PM, and was one of the fastest 737 boardings I've experienced, taking only 10 minutes to get the entire plane filled up. We took off and were in the air for a couple of hours, landing in Okinawa just after 5. Our baggage came out quite promptly, so we headed for the rental car shuttles. Lauren had arranged a car rental for us while here, and we were soon provided with our burgundy Toyota Corolla. I was a bit nervous about driving in Japan, largely because of the different traffic rules, but also because the roads can be incredibly narrow. We made our way from the airport to the AirBnB's area quite easily, only to discover that there was no parking to be found, and that we didn't know which building was the AirBnB. We circled the area a few times on very narrow roads before eventually spotting our accommodations, so Lauren hopped out and grabbed the bags, leaving me to park.

When I finally found parking, I snapped a picture of the sign for memory's sake.

I would never have imagined that parking in Okinawa would be so difficult, but it turns out that public parking is basically a massive collection of tiny parking lots rather than the more modern parking structures we are used to. You have to back into spots that are often very narrow, and unless your car is very maneuverable, this can be a real challenge.  I tried four different parking spots and struck out each time, either finding it too small for my car or full. Eventually, I found a parking lot about 400 meters from our accommodations that had a spot available, and backed my car in feeling very relieved. I walked to our temporary home in Naha City, Okinawa with my bag in tow, and met up with a very relieved Lauren.

Our cheese plate at Tedakotei

We both decided that walking to dinner would be a lot less stressful, and headed out shortly to find some food. The first place we tried was closed, so we kept walking, stumbling across Heiwa Dori, a large shotengai, before ultimately stopping at a local Italian joint called Tedakotei, where the proprietress greeted us warmly and seated us. Her menu consisted of local produce and the place smelled amazing, so we ordered a cheese platter (imported), a local sun salad, some bread, and a carbonara pasta to share. The food was delicious, and went down well with the very affordable bottle of Spanish wine we paired it with. We finished our meal with a slice of crepe cake and a piece of beet pound cake for dessert, then paid our bill and left just before 10PM. We were both exhausted, and had very little energy to do more that day, so we grabbed some water at a conbini and made our way home to get some rest.

Day 21 - Goodbye Beniya Mukayu, Hello Shirakawa-go

We had a delicious final breakfast at Beniya Mukayu before packing up our bags and heading downstairs to settle our bill and catch a shuttle to the train station. Our train would take us back to Kyoto in just over two hours, where we would grab a bite to eat before catching a charter bus to our next destination, Shirakawa-go.

We arrived in Kyoto just before noon, and with our bus leaving at 1:40, we had some time to kill. Lauren and I decided to split up for lunch, as she wanted to get sushi, and I was in the mood for ramen, as usual.

I found a ramen shop about 700 meters away that had good reviews from the locals, and served a tonkotsu style broth, so I headed that way, arriving about 8 minutes later. The staff welcomed me, but looked rather nervous since there was no English menu. Thankfully, Google translate came through as always, and a couple of minutes later I ordered some Tonkotsu ramen with extra chashu and an egg.

My ramen came out about five minutes later, and was absolutely delicious with a thick broth and tender chashu with deep pork flavor. I slurped down my bowl in about 15 minutes, and headed off to find our bus stop and wait for Lauren.

Lauren had found a nearby izakaya with a fish based menu, and ended up finishing around 1PM, so we met up and grabbed ticket reservations for our train the following day from Takayama to Nagoya, then waited at our bus stop until they boarded just before 2.

Our bus was packed with other tourists, with every seat sold. We all had to load our own baggage beneath the bus, and then take our seats before heading out. The bus ride to Shirakawa-go took about 2 hours, with most of this time being spent in the mountains ascending towards our destination.

For those who aren't aware, Shirakawa-go is a world heritage site, and is famous for its gassho-zukuri farmhouses, which are steep-sided multi-story farmhouses with a heavy duty thatched roof to survive the heavy winter snows. The name gassho-zukuri is from the way the houses look, and literally means "constructed like hands raised in prayer". These houses are original, and many are over 250 years old. The community of Shirakawa-go is nestled deep in a mountain valley that gets heavy snow in winter, and has cool summers. The locals have survived through a spirit of cooperation and helping one another known as Yui. To read more about the village, check out their website here.

Our bus arrived in Shirakawa-go around 3:20PM, and luckily, our ryokan Shiroyamakan was just across the street from the bus stop, so Lauren and I very quickly made our way over to drop off our bags. We were greeted by one of the owner's daughters, Nana-san, who explained that their hotel was a family business and had been passed down for 4 generations. We learned that the hotel is staffed entirely by the owner and his family, and is the original building, meaning it has not been extensively renovated to add modern amenities.The building is nestled next to the river from which Shirakawa-go draws its name, as the name literally means "village on the white river".

After dropping off our bags, Lauren and I decided to wait until 4PM when the owner would give his guests a driving tour of the town. When we boarded the van a few minutes later, Lauren ended up acting as translator for the owner, as he spoke only Japanese, though he did have a pre-recorded CD with some information in English. We met another couple on the van from Calgary, Alberta, and it was nice getting to know some fellow Canadians while abroad. Our tour went past most of the photogenic spots in town, including the most famous Gassho-zukuri, and concluded up above town at the viewpoint, where the owner got us in after closing due to his relationships. We all had the lookout to ourselves, and took a bunch of great photos before heading back.

Our tour, in progress

The view from our room at Shiroyamakan

Once we arrived back in town, Lauren and I paired up with Greg and Maggie (the Calgary couple) and walked along the very tiny main street of town, exploring shops, and ultimately stopping at a local store that offered a sake tasting. This was a very unique sake tasting, as all were made using local water and rice, and had a very unique flavor. While most sake is similar in flavor, all of these tasted more fermented and had a little more of a yogurt aftertaste, while the one I tried also had a tiny bit of carbonation. Strange, but surprisingly good!

Our walking tour ended after roughly 30 minutes, as there wasn't a great deal to see, so we headed back to Shiroyamakan to get unpacked and prepare for dinner at 6PM.

Dinner is served at the ryokan in a private dining room, and is prepared by the owner and his wife as well as their sons. The two daughers, Nana-san and her older sister Karin-san served us and were both incredibly charming and kind. We enjoyed a multi-course meal including sashimi, grilled fish, local vegetables, steak that we grilled at our table and rice. During the course of dinner, we had a fair bit of conversation with Nana and Karin, and they learned this was an anniversary trip.

Once dinner was over, we retired to our room and relaxed for a few minutes. Just after 8PM, our phone rang and Nana-san asked us if we could come to the front of the hotel and dress warmly, as they had a surprise for us.

When we got out front, Nana's dad was waiting with his van, and wanted to take us back to the viewpoint for a nighttime view of town. They wanted us to have a special memory of Shirakawa-go for our anniversary, and had arranged it so just the two of us would be driven up there.

Shirakawa-go by night

We arrived at the viewpoint, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Gassho-zukuri windows glowing from below, when our host brought us hot wine to sip, quickly retiring to his van so we could enjoy some time alone. After our outing, we returned to our rooms for an early night, as we had a taxi to catch the next morning so we could get to Okinawa by the afternoon. The sheer consideration and thoughtfulness this family had shown us was very touching, and both Lauren and I will never forget the wonderful night we spent at Shiroyamakan.

Day 20 - Kanazawa, Zeniya and Souvenir Hunting

Our plan on the first full day at Beniya Mukayu was to head to Kanazawa for lunch and some souvenir shopping. Our trip to Kanzawa three years ago was a fantastic experience for Lauren and I, and this was highlighted by an amazing meal at the restaurant Zeniya, which is well known as one of the top places to eat in this part of Japan. Since our hotel in Kagaonsen was only 30 minutes away from Kanazawa by rail, Lauren had planned a lunch at Zeniya on our second day.

After a relaxed start and a lovely breakfast at Kaiseki Horin in the hotel, we caught the complimentary 10:45AM shuttle to the train station to board an 11:22AM train to Kanazawa, which is only about 25 minutes away by rail.

We arrived in Kanazawa around 11:50, and caught a taxi to Zeniya, which took about 15 minutes. The driver dropped us off at the door, where the hostess was already waiting to receive us. The meal at Zeniya, like the hotel follows a kaiseki format, so the ingredients and theme were both focused on spring.

We started our meal with some light broth that was salty and had kinome powder, followed by some tofu and yuba (soy milk skin) in broth. For those who don't know what kinome is, it is the leaf of the sansho pepper plant and has a vibrant flavor reminiscent of citrus and pepper. These courses were quite small, and were quickly followed by some seared tuna and sea bream sashimi, as well as a platter of local vegetables, a semi hardboiled egg and some unagi (freshwater eel). Our next course was the restaurant's speciality, a roasted piece of white fish, topped with fine shreds of wheat and kinome. This dish melts in the mouth, and perfectly conveys the flavors of fresh fish, easily demonstrating why Chef Shinichiro Takagi earned his 2nd Michelin star for Zeniya in 2017. After the speciality fish dish, we were served some local beef with steamed greens and bamboo shoot, topped by kinome leaf, followed by a rice porridge with ocean trout and ginger.

Zeniya's speciality dish. Absolutely amazing

 Stuffed to the brim, we walked out of Zeniya 90 minutes later and headed north, seeking the Contemporary Art Museum which we knew was close to one of our favorite souvenir shops, Imai Kinpaku who sell a variety of items containing gold leaf, which is one of Kanzawa's principal exports. On our last trip to Japan, we picked up several glass sakura flowers with floating flecks of gold leaf in them at this shop, and found them beautiful. Lauren wanted to get a few more as souvenirs, and luckily they still had them. We were able to get a handful more of these, and then headed back to the train station on foot.

On the way back, we stopped at a Tokyu Hands where I wanted to buy a few more Japanese pens and penils as souvenirs for my coworkers. While I was pen shopping, Lauren stumbled across packets of local mineral salts that can be used to make a regular bath more like soaking in the onsen, so logically, she purchased a massive pile of them.

After checking out at Tokyu Hands, we jumped in a Taxi to the station and caught a train back to Kagaonsen. A short ride in a taxi later, we were back at Beniya Mukayu, where we would spend the rest of the afternoon and evening eating delicious foot at Kaiseki Horin, and soaking in the Onsen.

Day 19 - To Kagaonsen: Our Lavish Hotel at Beniya-Mukayu

Lauren and I departed Otsu and bid farewell to the lovely staff at Inase just before 10AM. I took the opportunity to take some of our latest souvenirs to the nearby Japan Post office, to ship them home and keep our baggage manageable. We took a local train to Kyoto, before catching a Thunderbird express train northeast towards Kanazawa. The trip to Kanazawa is just over 2 hours, though we would be getting off two stops earlier at our destination of Kagaonsen. We arrived in Kagaonsen around 1:30PM, and caught a local taxi to our hotel which is located on a beautiful hillside on the site of an old shrine.

The lobby of Beniya Mukayu.

Our accommodations in Kagaonsen were Lauren's anniversary present to both of us, as our hotel Beniya Mukayu has been voted the top boutique hotel in Japan because of the lavish service and beautifully appointed rooms with private hotsprings. A very polite staff member Tsuji-san greeted us at the door and took our luggage before seating us at some nearby tables as they prepared our check-in documents. We were offered fresh squeezed juice, and hot towels while we waited for Tsuji-san, who shortly joined us to inquire about our preferences for dining times, food preferences and to offer a tea ceremony with the owner of the hotel, Nakamichi-san.

Since our room wouldn't be ready for another hour or so, Tsuji-san showed us to a private elevator for hotel guests that would allow us to get down the hill to town. We took the elevator down, and soon found ourselves exploring the tiny town of Yamashiro-onsen. The town is one of four that make up the combined area of Kagaonsen, and is known for its shrine and hotsprings. We initially walked down the shopping street, but found most stores were closed, so we wandered up the hill slightly to see a beautiful pond with sakura trees lining the shore, and giant carp swimming the waters below.

After the pond, we walked down the hill to a local Lawson Station, another of Japan's famed conbini stores, so Lauren could get a snack as she hadn't eaten much since breakfast. I was also fighting off a cold, so we grabbed some Vitamin C chews that resemble giant yellow jelly beans, though they tasted horrid.

We continued to wander town for another few minutes, and had the chance to see the elementary school children walking home in their adorable little uniforms and yellow hats. One student had her hat blow off, and was extremely grateful to Lauren, who ran after it.

The grounds of the shrine were covered in moss

As we made our way back towards the hotel, we spotted the shrine that the town of Yamashiro-onsen is well known for. The shrine seemed to be set back onto a massive hill, and was covered in beautiful green moss and stone edifices. As we walked up the hill into the center of the Shrine, we found a small staircase leading further up the hill. Intrigued, we followed the winding path of stairs and stones up the hillside, eventually reaching a small altar, and another set of stairs that led towards the summit of the hill where our hotel was.

Eager to try for a shortcut, I convinced Lauren to give the stairs a try, so we made our was slowly up the hill, enjoying the peaceful susurrations of the wind and beautiful moss covered ground until we eventually reached the top. What we found at the top was a complete surprise, as instead of a hotel as we had expected, we found an abandoned building with shattered windows, and a cautionary rope blocking off the entrance. We continued along this rutted and clearly unused road, finding yet another hotel that was derelict, with many of the rooms still having furniture and tatami mats inside.

Lauren waiting for the lazy photographer to catch up

This carving of a horse was to the left of the entrance, covered in vines

As we wandered past these buildings, the road curved sharply to the left and downhill, allowing us to see the much larger back-side of both hotels. These hotels were absolutely massive, sprawling about 20 meters or more up the hillside with dozens of rooms. Most of the glass was intact, but much was shattered, and parts of the foundation had begun to decay. Rusted metalwork and decrepit boilers were simply sitting there, left to the ravages of time.

The front of the hotel still had furniture and slippers scattered around the lobby

The rear side of one of these derelict hotels

The entire experience was both surreal and somewhat creepy, as the wind was blowing through these structures so strongly that we could hear it moaning and wailing as it gusted, and a few rooms at the top of the hotels had water streaming down from their decks onto lower floors. We finally passed the abandoned hotels and made it back to Beniya Mukayu just after 3:30, although Lauren had a little scare when we saw a bear trap just outside the driveway, so we were happy to be safe and sound in our hotel at last.

From the rear, the decay and neglect of these buildings becomes more apparent

I inquired about these abandoned hotels at our hotel, and was informed that during the massive boom of the 90's here in Japan, many tourist attractions like Yamashiro-onsen expanded rapidly, building new hotels to service the influx of tourists and customers. Unfortunately, this boom didn't last, and just a few years later when the market crashed, many of these new businesses were left with no way to support themselves, and were left to decay.

Lauren surprised me by reserving one of two suites in the hotel, a lavish set of rooms called the Wakamurasaki Suite. One of the hotel staff walked us to our room on the second floor, and gave us a brief tour of the bedroom with its two queen beds, living room, dining room, sunroom with floor to ceiling windows looking over the gardens, and finally a gorgeous bathroom, shower room and private outdoor hotspring bath. While I've stayed in my fair share of hotels before, I've never been in a set of rooms quite this fancy. The two of us had just over 1100 square feet of space to ourselves, and it was all beautifully appointed.

Our sitting area/sunroom with a view of the gardens

The lovely moss coated gardens of Beniya Mukayu

The private hotspring bath (onsen) in our hotel room

We thanked our tourguide, and got settled in, immediately taking a shower and heading to our private onsen for a soak. Afterwards, we changed into our Yukata and made our way downstairs for the tea ceremony with the owner, Nakamichi-san who was incredibly gracious and interested in meeting every guest of his hotel.

Following the tea ceremony, we went up to the other side of the 2nd floor for dinner at 6PM, where we would enjoy Kaiseki cuisine. For those who are unaware, Kaiseki cuisine is a traditional form of Japanese dining in which multiple courses are served with each course representing both concepts and ingredients of the current season. The restaurant at Beniya Mukayu is called Kaiseki Horin, and is a large open space that seats all the guests of the hotel, just under 50 people from what we could tell.

Our meal consisted of several courses of cooked and raw fish, with many featuring sea bream, including one large piece that had been roasted and was truly delicious. We wrapped up our meal with bamboo shoots and a rice porridge that was prepared table side by one of the waiters.

This piece of sea bream was delicious

Bamboo shoots

After a lovely meal, Lauren and I returned to our room for some more quality time in the onsen and with one another.