I knew that this weekend would be an odd one when I found myself sitting on the shinkansen (bullet train) at 8am sipping beer and eating dried, candied fish. How did I come to find myself in such a predicament, you ask?
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a girl named Sabine (that`s me). She was attempting to educate the people of this land in her own language. She found their language difficult to understand - it was a series of noises and clicks, not unlike the sounds of dolphins. Being unable to communicate with the people of this strange land, she was excited when a group of her colleagues invited her along on their annual trip. This year, they were heading south, to the warmer climes of a town called Yufuin. Yufuin was located on the southern island of Kyshu and was famous for its hot spring baths, called "onsen" in this strange language. Our heroine, Sabine, was touched that these people would invite her along with them, as she did not know them very well. She decided to try to understand their strange customs and to try to blend in with their culture.
And so the story begins. We boarded the train at 7:40am and my Vice-Principal immediately proceeded to pass around the beer and dried fishies. There were five of us present: our Vice-Principal, one other English teacher (Ekyo), the Japanese teacher (Habuchi sensei), one other teacher (Nakaii sensei), and myself. Now, I have become relatively close to many of the teachers at my school, but I must admit - this was a group of people whom I hardly knew - other than Ekyo, they didn`t speak much English. I was a bit scared that I would be brushed aside for the weekend - after all,no one really knew me or could speak to me. I shouldn`t have worried: they made sure I felt included the whole time.
After what seemed like an eternity to my sore bum, we finally got off the train in Yufuin. The temperature had reached a balmy 15 degrees, and I noticed that for the first time in months, I could feel my fingers!!! The first order of business was to find food. Normally, I am not a huge fan of ramen - I always have visions of the cup noodles that got me through my poorer university days. However, fresh ramen must be tasted once in one`s life - they are nothing like their poorer cousin, Mr. Noodles. After this we wandered the narrow streets of the town. There were a surprising number of artisans` shops there! It reminded me of a little Sedona. There were batiks and woven baskets and innumerable shope selling home made tofu, miso, and soya sauce. We stopped in one of the local cafe`s and enjoyed fresh tofu and soy milk served in hand-made dishes. It was so rich and tasty - nothing like the anaemic stuff we can buy at the supermarket. It was so fresh, in fact, that we had to wait for them to finish making it before we could get served!!!
Soon, the clock struck three, which meant that we could finally go to our hotel. I was the only woman on the trip, so I got my own Japanese-style room. When I walked in, I felt the culture shock I had been hearing so much about. There was no one to help me figure anything out - there was only a low table in the middle of a ten tatami mat room (that is pretty big!), and kneeling at the table was a woman in a kimono preparing to serve me tea. On one corner of the table there was a beautiful Yukata for me to wear while I was at the "resort". A Yukata is basically an informal kimono, so I immediately panicked - I have no idea how to put it on or what the etiquette is for wearing it! I decided that I would wait for the tea lady to leave and then try to figure it out on my own. I smiled and kneeled down at the table. She passed me my cup. I thanked her and took a sip. Shivers ran up and down my spine, and whi le I smiled outwardly, I was really repressing the urge to screw up my face in disgust. This tea tasted salty and fishy!!!! It turns out that it is Konbu-cha, or tea made from dried and salted kelp! I gratefully received a little package of food from the lady, hoping to wash away the awful taste of the tea. No such luck.. Inside the package I found little brown lumps in a gooey sauce: it turns out that these were salt-pickled shiitake mushrooms. Then I ate a poofy salty bread-like substance and proceeded to put on my yukata, all the while thinking that I must look ABSURD and out of place here.
Finally, I was ready to go for an onsen. Our resort was like a maze, and all the signs were in Japanese, so I got lost. It was embarrassing: all I could hear was the clip clop of my wooden sandles up and down the hallway. Clip clop, I`m lost, clip clop. All I could think of was sitting outside, naked, watching the birds fly from mountain top, to mountain top. Imagine my surprise then, when I got to the onsen: it was EMPTY! Every other time I have been to an onsen there have been at least a half a dozen other naked women there. Having blue eyes, curly hair, and skin as white as new fallen snow, I have always rather thought that I glowed in the onsen: all the women usually stare at me, and I never can quite relax. This time, the onsen was ALL MINE!!!!!
After I had turned into a prune, it was time to go eat dinner. Donning my Yukata, I clip clopped down the hall to our private dining room. I was a bit reticent for this experience: I have heard a lot about the food in this region. Some potential delicacies for me to try were horse sashimi (yes, raw horse meat), still living fish which the chef skewers and cuts open - you pick out the fresh meat while the fish flips and flops on your plate, and finally the marinated, still living squid who has a penchant for clinging to the roof or ones mouth with its tentacles. Alas, we ended up having normal food - if you can call eating fish heads and such normal. There were 14 different little plates around me and I knew I would fail miserably on the intricate rules of etiquette here. But you know what? By this point I had drank so much beer that I didn`t care.
Much later, four of us were standing in front of a Karaoke bar, and we were still drunk. I noticed that this bar served MARTINIS!!! The only other martini I had in Japan was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Kobe - it took them 2 hours to make and was served in a shot glass! My colleagues had never heard of this drink - well, not until I told them that it is James Bond`s drink. They became excited and decided to try it themselves. I knew I made it into the Boys` Club when all the men were shocked at how strong it was and even more shocked that I would order a second!
Finally I stumbled back to my room, and opened the door to a freshly made futon. Good. I quite literally fell to the floor and went immediately to sleep.
Breakfast consisted of rice, sashimi squid, green tea, pickled vegetables, shiitake mushrooms in a fish and egg broth, and of course, miso soup. You see, mom, there ARE places in the world where it is appropriate to eat pickles for breakfast!!!!!
We had to leave our safe haven to meander the streets of this tiny town. We poked our noses into artisan`s shops, fed the ubiquitous goldfish, tasted blueberry miso, took a million pictures, and then wound up at yet another onsen: Musoen onsen. I write this name down because this was the most amazing place I have ever seen. The women`s section was as big as a rock pond, and it was busy! However, the whole thing was huge and outdoors and it was perched on the edge of a small hill -it had amazing views. I can`t describe it: you will have to see the picture on the website. I lay there, like a beached whale, on the rocks for an hour. I could have stayed forever. Alas, we only had an hour before our train was to leave. We bought our obligatory box of cookies for the office, ate chilled soba noodles, and boarded the train home. I was sad to leave such a relaxing place, so I drowned my sorrows in a glass of microbrew (the only microbrew I `ve found in Japan - do you realize we only have three kinds of beer here??!). Watching the onsen and mountains and rice fields slipping away from me, I stared out the train window and sighed. And I knew I would have to go back.