Japan Day 3 - Shirahama white beach and pictures!!!

Dear all,

We headed to Shirahama today to unwind by the beach and sample the onsen, one of the best japanese inventions: the hot spring. This experience is to die for!!!

Im trying not to go to bed so late tonight so i;ll aim to keep this short...What to say, but that the weather was mild, really temperate as we got closer to the shore, white beach, and warm water. Of course we all dived in the sea!

We had headed out to the beach first, and got out around 5pm and found out that the onsen we wanted to go to closed at 6pm! Joe enquired about whearabouts, and we were told it was 15min away by foot. Joes found out  that when a Japanese person gives you a time you should divide it by 2 and sure enough we got there in no time. it was only Y400, about 3pounds, with hardly anyone in it. Let me try and draw you a picture of it. As the baths are to be taken naked, men and women are separated. The womens section was to the right, mens to the left and the onsen was arranged on 3 levels descending towards the sea, with walls made of boulders, and honey coloured cedar screens in between both sections.

The top level had a great view of the horizon in the distance, with the shades of blue grey from the sky just about matching the sea. The wooden bench around and small wooden banister at the back served to frame the perspective in a very nice tableau, sky - sea - hot water pool, with rocks on each side and bamboo roof above. The water was soooo hot, I could only get in it at the very end, and i still didnt stay long enough to stew myself...

The level below was ever so slightly cooler and the pool was built with rocks, with a contrast between the orange reds of the oxydised rocks and the grey slate. I could still see the sky-sea line in the distance.

At the last level, at the bottom, the sound of the Pacific crashing against the rocks took precedence over the view which was masked by the walls of boulders on each side, with the one exception of a cleft left for a small select view of the sea.

Ahhh...I just lay there in the slightly salty water, letting the hot water work its magic through my muscles; the smell was that of eggs, but not overbearingly so, with a hint of pepper, maybe nasturtium, so that I had visions of mimosa style eggs topped with cracked pepper and a nasturtium flower to the side... Err, maybe Ill blame this on the jetlag or lack of sleep!

Beautiful! The guys stayed in even longer than me and totally soaked the well-being in as well... We headed back to Osaka and left the cool sea air behind us to be greeted by rain in muggy Osaka. I cant complain too much though, its definitely bearable...We crowned an excellent day with dinner at mine, homemade udon, japanese cucumber, fried tofu, pumpkin and Japanese mushrooms...oishii!

Tomorrow is another relaxing day, were staying local, as the grading will start around 1pm. We found out that there are no less than 3 people going for their 5dan, Fujimoto sensei, Sugano sensei and Tetsuya sensei!

Ill report back tomorrow night on the grading, providing I can still stand after a night of celebration and Oktober fest in town...

Celine
PS I havent got the hang of this japanese keyboard yet so please forgive the lack of punctuation marks...