Pics from My Holiday Week

Well, first, here are some pictures that Kanako sent me from our daytrip to Nasu. As we left the onsen, this friendly, but hesitant dog came over to meet us. Here he is, sizing me up. A moment later, he went off to chase a car:

Kanako was able to snap a pic of what the onsen looked like as no one was in the women's bath yet. I'm not sure how it is at other places, but at this one, one side was hot and the other side was scalding. I put one foot in the scalding side before deciding to stay on the hot side:

On New Year's Day, my students Tomoko and Isao invited me over for a traditional meal. It's called osechi. While these days, most people go to department store food courts to order this meal, Tomoko made hers. It tasted great:

This was followed by cheese fondue:

And here are my gracious hosts. We had a great time listening to jazz, eating and drinking, and then watching Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin concert DVDs:

Two days earlier another student, Aiichiro, and his son, Motoki, took me to Tochigi city. This smaller town was at one time a merchant town - with the river running through it and heading toward Tokyo, it soon became an important place for people to transport products from the country to Tokyo. Today, it is a quiet town with some lovely spots along the river where you can get an idea of how the city might have looked 100 years ago. This building is a city office and might have at one time been the prefectural office (I believe Tochigi prefecture used to be divided into two prefectures):

Here's an example of some of the old buildings you can see in Tochigi - this kind of building is a bit more rare in Utsunomiya, which had to be rebuilt after being bombed in WWII:

Here I am on a bridge wearing the cool Eddie Bauer hat that Setsuko gave me for Christmas:

And here I am with Aiichiro in front of this cool broom and wicker type shop on the main street. We stopped in and looked around a bit. Pretty cool stuff:

Here's another view of the river and an old building that once was a store house and is now a museum:

Next we went to see Ohira-san, Tochigi's mountain. Michel has climbed this bad boy more than once, but today was cold and I was not about to freeze my ears off climbing, so Aiichiro drove us to the top:

Here I am at the lookout point at the top:

We found tons of padlocks attached to the fence surrounding the lookout point. They all had writing on them. Turns out, lovers go there and put their names on the lock and then lock it to the fence as a symbol of their ever-lasting love (n.b. We also saw places where the fence was cut and locks were removed):


We stopped at a small restaurant and had some snacks. This is konyaku. It's a gelatinous substance made from a (sweet?) potato starch and is served with yuzu miso (citron flavored miso sauce):

This is dango. The small balls are made from rice powder and then they are covered in sweet bean paste (one of Michel's favorite things to eat):

I also tried amazake, which is a warmed sweet, thick sake. It was perfect on this cold day:

We headed back to Aiichiro's house where Fumi had prepared everything for nabe. Nabe simply means pot, so this meal was served in a pot at the table. It was made of a simple chicken broth with small chicken drumsticks, Chinese cabbage, chrysanthamum leaves, tofu, mushrooms, noodles, and green onions (after depleting the veggies and meat from the pot, udon noodles were added and then gyoza):

Here I am with Fumi, Aiichiro, and one of Fumi's friends who came over for dinner as well. We all had a great time eating and drinking and enjoying each other's company

I'm continually impressed with the level of hospitality I've seen here. I was feeling a bit down about spending the holidays alone in a foreign country, but so many people invited me out or to their homes. I had a very memorable holiday time indeed.

Tomorrow? Back to work.

An (On)sensational Day ~or~ Who Smells Like Rotten Eggs?

Okay, first I am including a picture of my plum pudding - which unmolded poorly and looked like a pile of dirt, but tasted excellent. I think I will need to work on this recipe a bit. SpoilSport's mom has a real, traditional, family pudding recipe from jolly old England that she gave me last year and I am anxious to try it next time. Anyway, here's what mine looked like:
Now, on to today. Kanako and I planned on taking a day trip to Nasu with a couple of students. We'd asked Yuki, who accepted, but I didn't know who else Kanako was going to bring. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when we picked up Tomoko, one of my advanced students. We had a great day, and now I really understand why visiting hot springs (or onsen as they are called here) are such a popular weekend activity - especially in winter. I should have known from looking at Kanako's pictures from her trip to New York that this would be more of an eating tour than anything else. We drove out to Nasu - maybe about an hour by freeway and stopped first for a morning cone of ice cream. I had rum raisin, but I envied Tomoko, who had a cone of the best strawberry ice cream I'd ever tried. Then we drove to the main strip of Nasu. Nasu is a pretty sleepy, rural area with a lot of charm and some spectacular mountain views. Kanako told me that Tokyo folk generally buy second homes out in Nasu so they can get away from the city into the country and enjoy the hot springs.

We stopped at a restaurant and bought potato croquettes and munched away at them as a small snack before heading to the onsen. Here's Tomoko and Kanako:

And Me and Yuki (I'm wearing one of the green hats given me by one of my students):

And here we all are:

After our snack, we headed up Nasu mountain to the onsen. Unfortunately, on the way, we hit some heavy snow - the higher we got, the more the snow covered the roads. Kanako did not have her winter tires on and was worried about getting into an accident so we turned around and looked for an onsen in town - Nasu has tons of small places where you can have a relaxing soak in a hotspring. Yuki recommended a place he'd been to and we stopped there. Kanako was squealing with delight as we arrived as the onsen was pretty old style. Here are Kanako, Tomoko and Yuki in front of the entrance to the onsen:

Here's the gang, once inside:
We found out that the onsen was pretty old-school, indeed. This spot was first found 800 years ago and parts of this building were 200 years old:
We were sent down a series of steps underground which lead to two separate areas - one for men and one for women. Here I am, heading downstairs:
And here's Yuki:

I didn't take anymore pictures at the onsen because it would be a bit rude to take pictures of naked people at a hot spring. So I will just describe the event. Many hot springs, like this one, have separate areas for men and women. I bought a modesty towel at the front desk for 300 yen and Yuki and I headed to our area while Kanako and Tomoko made their way to theirs. There was a small changing room with plastic baskets for us to put our clothes and towels and such in. We disrobed and opened the sliding doors to the hot spring. In this room, there were two tubs, one with hot spring water, and one with even hotter spring water. The water was milky green and had a strong sulfer smell. The wooden boards and stones surrounding the tubs had sulfur build-up. There were windows running along the upper part of the room. When Yuki and I entered, we bid our fellow bathers - three guys - a "konichiwa" and grabbed small plastic buckets to wash ourselves off before sinking into the hot spring. The guys her were older - two guys looked like they might be in their 70s.
The other guy was probably in his 40s and his left shoulder and upper arm were covered in tattoos. I surmised from this - and Yuki confirmed it later for me that this guy was most likely a member of the yakuza - Japan's organized crime group. We soaked in the hot spring water for 45 minutes, taking frequent breaks to sit outside the tub so we didn't get light headed. The water felt amazing, despite its smell, and made my skin feel smooth and soft - I just checked my arm and it still feels great - and still smells like rotton eggs (tho' faintly). It was such a relaxing experience and I plan on returning many times this winter.

After we soaked for a bit, we met Kanako and Tomoko again in the hallway and made our way to the car. The onsen lady Yuki talked to recommended a great steak restaurant located in a small grocery store. This seemed like an odd place for a good steak house, but nevertheless, there it was. the steak was tender and juicy and came with an excellent miso soup, salad, rice, and pickle. After eating, we decided to drive back to Utsunomiya before the weather in Nasu got worse. Kanako pointed out places and stopped at points along the way. First we stopped at Dream Bakery to get some bread to bring home. Then Kanako suggested coffee and dessert - we were still a little full from lunch, but I always contend that even though you may feel full after a meal, there is always room for dessert. We decided on a cafe close to the highway - Shozo Cafe. I immediately loved this place. It was clean and white and a bit rustic and oozed style. We ordered our coffees and desserts and then found a table. Here's Tomoko and Kanako:
The waiter brought out our coffee drinks: a mocha, latte, and 2 cappucinos. Each time, the waiter/barista brought out a cup with espresso in it and a metal pitcher filled with steamed milk. He slowly poured the milk into the cups and made various designs with the espresso and foam:


After each creation, we clapped like five-year-olds and were so pleased to watch the man redden and smile at our praise of his work. Then we asked the cashier to take our picture with the barista. I think we made his day (we must have - I know for a fact that the somber, boring couple next to us didn't):
Before we left, I took a look back at Nasu as it darkened with the evening sky and caught a glimpse of the mountains:
When we got back, Tomoko invited us to her place for soba (buckwheat) tea - it was light and flavorful, and perfect after our day of eating and soaking.

Tomorrow? I'm cleaning my apartment and relaxing, then Saturday Aiichiro is taking me to see other areas around Utsunomiya.

What a great beginning to my winter holidays.