Japan Adventures Part II

By far the coolest part of our Japan trip (and definitely near the top of all our Asian experiences so far!) was spending the night in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn).  It was so quaint and with such an "off the beaten path" location we almost missed it from the outside!

When we arrived we were greeted with a great deal of bowing while they whisked our bags away to our room, took our shoes at the door and gave us slippers to wear throughout the house.  They didn't speak much English but managed to give us a very welcoming tour of the house (which included communal bath rooms and shared sink/mirror areas in the hallway rather than facilities in each room) before showing us to our very large but sparsly furnished suite complete with ratton floor mats, wooden screens and walls, and hot tea and fresh fruit to welcome us!

 Next they brought us some yukatas (traditional Japanese robes, like a Kimono but in more light, summer weight cotton material) to change into while we waited for our room service of a multiple course traditional Japanese meal!  These robes were incredibly comfortable. . even Hubs thought so!  Turns out he might be half Samurai. :)

Our meal was amazingly yummy. . and confusing!  The lady who brought it to us kept referring to this bilingual menu to show us what course she was bringing in,  It wasn't as helpful as she thought it was. . I mean yeah. . .I could have picked up that it was "hot food". . and "fried food".  But the thought was nice! :)

Here is a few pictures of various courses to show some of the "amazing yumminess"!

And here is a picture to show some of the "confusion"...


"Are you telling me I'm supposed to cook this over this open flame on this giant leaf thing?  For how long?  Am I supposed to eat the leaf thing or just the stuff inside?  Oh that's right. .we don't speak the same language. .. ..hmmm. . ."

After our meal they had reserved one of the communal bath house rooms for us! We got 30 luxurious minutes in the hot steam room and sauna all to ourselves.  When we returned to our room they had put out our futon type floor beds complete with origami paper cranes on the pillows and a resupply of hot tea.  Awesome!


As you can see the overhead clearance wasn't always exactly "Hubs- sized". . .but we made it work. :)

Overall, this was one of the most out of our comfort zone. . but FUN experiences of all of our travels.  If you ever have a chance to stay in a Ryokan, do it! :)