This weekend was a bit of an expensive one! But it was worth it! I'd planned this trip last month because we haven't been to a proper onsen yet, and Michael really likes hot springs. We travelled by a few different trains for about 3-4 hours to get to Shirahama - Onsen town!

Shirahama is not only famous for having lots of natural hot springs, but also famous for it's golden sandy beach imported from Australia!! Why did they import sand from Australia?? Well, apparently there was some kind of natural disaster that made all the original sand wash away, so they decided to get new Aussie sand! So, it's also a really crowded tourist spot in Summer.

Luckily, we went in the off season, so we had most of the place to ourselves. Which is good, because I didn't fancy crowding into a hot pool and squishing up with lots of other naked people.

This is the first onsen we went to. It's by the sea. Apparently, a looong time ago, the sea waves created these dips in the rocks, and people started to pump hot springs water into them. Behind Michael in the photo, is a onsen crater that was not in use.

The water was really hot in this onsen, and at first I was worried that I might waste my entrance fee and not be able to get in! But I finally got in, but spent more than half the time with only my legs in. After the onsen, we walked down to the beach and the sea breeze (and a beer!) helped us cool off.

Here's a very Japanesey picture of me, drinking Ume Shu (Plum wine with a sour pickled plum at the bottom) and eating Hello Kitty chips.

Later that night, we walked around town looking for a place to have dinner. We were recommended a very good sushi restaurant (the guy said "a little expensive") and we thought, "ah, how expensive can it be compared with the flash sushi restaurants in big Kyoto-city?" ... but when the bill came, I was shocked. Luckily we hadn't eaten too much! I'm pretty sure the 'free dessert' (cute as it was..) was included in the total cost.

Despite the expense, it was the best sushi restaurant we'd ever been to. And it was a wonderful experience. The restaurant had a long counter, with the sushi chefs on one side, and customers on the other. Stretching down the center of the counter was a long glass case showing off all the fresh seafood that was available to be made into sushi. So, we ordered a few different types of fish (this is not the rolled sushi, it's raw fish placed on top of a lump of rice, with some wasabi in the middle). The chef would take our orders, make it up, and place it on the (clean?!) counter in front of us. The fish was so fresh and delicate! The best one was the "Ta Chu Cho" a long silver fish that is sliced into smaller pieces, seared lightly over charcoal on each side, and sprinkled with a tiny pinch of salt and Japanese lime, and placed on rice. yum. I commited a 'faux pas' by dipping my sushi into soy sauce at a high-grade sushi restaurant. Apparently it's an insult to the chef. Oh well .

Very delicious "free" dessert: Raspberry jelly layered on top of light creamy stuff.

We just had to stop by to soak our feet and drink some hot sake when we saw this restaurant. What a pleasant way to spend a cold evening, dabbling your feet in hot water, watching onsen-relaxed people pass by wearing yukata (robe) and geta (wooden clogs).

It was a lovely night, and on the way home, we spotted this really cute wee bar, it just screamed cozy ambience, so we popped in and had a drink or two, and chatted to the friendly bar owner about his huge selection of alcohol, and music. He served Michael a huge glass of unique tequila, and I drank a light blue lychee-flavored cocktail with a pink flower and a lemon on the side.:P My night was complete.

Next day, we followed the signs to "Onsen Town". The name made me think of tacky theme parks, but when we got there, it was simple and natural, but with lots of different pools to choose from. It was high up on a mountain, so we had a beautiful view of the town and the sea. It was wonderful to sit in the hot spa and look out to sea. Living in Kyoto, we don't get to see the sea much, because it's about 3 hours away. The men's and women's onsens were seperate (fair enough). And it was so quiet, that I had the pick of the women's onsens. It was really nice, but I got a little bored sitting there all by myself.

Onsen Land's Mascot: The Sumo guy! ... not Michael!

During our time in Shirahama, we stayed in a Minshuku (family-run inn). The owner there was really friendly and he could speak good English, which was handy for us. It was a traditional style house, built around a cute Japanese garden with fat carp in the pond.

The trip back to Kyoto was pretty boring and I slept most of the way, and got a bit grumpy and tired too. Thus ends another eventful weekend in Japan.