Getting Steamed

Fweeeeeeh~! *steamy* Just got back from the Ontakesan onsen (public baths), but more about that later. Today started off well. Jet lag is starting to wear off, since I woke up at 4:30 but went back to bed soon after and slept again. Hopefully I'll be able to go to bed a little later than 8 PM every night from now on.

First thing I did this morning was eat that breakfast thing I had bought. It was interesting. I can't say konnyaku (a sort thick-jello-like food made from a vegetable root) is really my thing, but it was alright with rice. The cute maple-leaf-shaped carrot slices were adorable and started the day off well =). After that, we all trekked out to the 100 yen shop, where I got a bento box, some portable chopsticks with a case so I can take them with me for lunch, containers for storing food, and printer paper (since we can print at the dorm for free as long as we provide our own paper).

Then --- wow, neighbor just came in excited about her bottled water she bought. It had Beyonce on it. Ah, the things you never expect to find in Japan and are surprised by. ---- Anyway, then we went to Jusco to get groceries and everything else. I got a furoshiki, which is a sort of large handkerchief that you use to wrap a bento box and chopsticks to carry them and keep them together so they don't get lost in your backpack and all messy and such. Got some generic shampoo and conditioner, some body wash in a bag, sort of like a Capri Sun packet (it was meant to be a refill bag, but I have containers that I use in the shower, and I'll just refill those. But it's peach scented! :D.

After that, we went back downstairs to the first floor, which is the grocery. I got all sorts of food. Carrots, a leek, spinach, eggs, nikuman (meat buns), soy sauce, sugar, rice, ketchup, peach tea, tofudango (silken tofu that's mixed with a certain rice powder so it's reeeeally chewy and sticky, but one of the healthiest Japanese sweets you can find) in sweet soy sauce, chicken, and a tonkatsu bento for lunch (breaded pork with a special sauce on top). It was really good, too =). I tried the tofudango, too. Soooo chewy, but so good. A little too sweet to have too much, though, which is good. I haven't yet gotten to cook anything, since I'm too tired to cook tonight, but maybe tomorrow I will make something. Probably some simple onigiri and egg-wrapped spinach :3. Maybe if I buy some canned tomatoes, I can make omurice (chicken and rice cooked in a tomato sauce and then wrapped in egg, topped with ketchup).

But really, the best part of the night came later, when five of us girls got together and went to the local onsen. I must say, I did have my reservations, but it was actually pretty fun. I feel the cleanest I have ever been in my life. But I should probably explain this, since I know at least several of my readers have no idea what the onsen entails. Basically, I went and took a bath with a dozen other Japanese women that I did not know. At the onsen, they don't just jump in the bathtub right away. When you go, you first sit down on a stool with a bucket and your washing things, and proceed to wash yourself with everyone around you. And I mean wash. Behind the ears, between the toes, everywhere. You are supposed to get as clean as possible before actually getting in the water. At first it seems kind of weird, sitting in rows and scrubbing like crazy next to other naked people, but then you realize, no one's watching. It's against onsen etiquette to look at other people naked unless you're actually in the water. And besides that, everyone's naked. It feels perfectly alright because it would be weirder if you were wearing something. But yes, after washing, then we got into the "attakai" bath, which you get into to accustom yourself to the temperature before moving on to the real onsen, which is much hotter. Of course, we didn't realize that, but the older women there were really nice and were helping us learn how to do things. They were really surprised; we were the biggest group of foreigners they'd ever seen in the onsen together. They had us come into the actual onsen, which is crazy hot and green, since they put minerals in the water which are good for the skin. I couldn't really stand it for long, since I was literally going to pass out, and it's bad manners to sit only half-in the water. It's tough to stand the heat, but it's how it's done. I guess if you do it all the time like they do, you get used to it. After about an hour, we all packed up and came outside, and man, was it nice. That warm, fuzzy, steamy feeling when you go from being so warm to being outside in the cold is just so nice. And you come out feeling so squeaky clean. It's really great.

Now I'm just kinda fuzzy and warm and sleepy and it's been another good day. My feet are still killing me. When will I get used to this walking? Everyone wants to go to Harajuku tomorrow, but I think I'm going to pass, if only because I don't think my feet would survive the walk. Some other time, I will definitely have to go. For now, I'm content with having gone to the onsen and overcoming a bit of a fear of mine, and enjoying having gone and experienced it =).