Stopover in Ito-Onsen

Here I am again on the way with a local train and typical

landscape outside the window:

Rice is being harvested.

On occasion, a stately house.... and suddenly

Mt. FUJI....

I have never seen it so clear against the blue sky!

you can also see how every corner is planted.... or

here next to the rice field and the factory, a cemetery has to fit in a very small space.

Having a picnic on the train. As reported, there are separate Ekiben kiosks at the train stations that sell up to 30 or more variations of bento boxes.

The packaging - as always - is amazing. Here, instead of plastic, a light wooden box... The waste produced in Japan with all these packaging and bags is enormous.

I love Gyudon. A thin layer of thinly sliced beef on a rice mat with a sweet sauce.

Arrived in Ito-Onsen, a seaside resort. But most people come here to bathe in the onsen (hot springs).

I was the only one walking barefoot along the beach. Official bathing season is only in July/August, even if the water is still over 20 degrees Celsius.

View from my hotel to the Orange Beach

My hotel (both buildings) is actually a ryokan with various onsen in the house.

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel with tatami rooms.

During the day, the bed is in the closet

Oh, I'm already walking around the room on the tatami floor with slippers again!!!!!

They are only for the toilet and NEVER take them into the room!!!

And even if the toilet is so small, like here. Put on the slippers, turn around, sit down, stand up, take off the slippers backwards so that they lie correctly for the next time and exit the toilet backwards.

Before entering the room, take off your shoes or sandals that you wear for the hotel and enter the room in socks or barefoot.

Safe, ice water jug, tea set, and kettle that always provides hot tea water, so you can make tea anytime.

that's the tea set in the box under the ice water jug.

In front of the toilet is the sink

and opposite is the bathroom with the shower in front of the bathtub

Sit on the stool and wash separately before entering the bathtub.

Or go to the onsen in the hotel. There is one for women and one for men separately.

Here in the hotel, you can also use private onsen for 45 minutes alone. It is on the top of the roof and has an indoor and outdoor bath with a view of the beach.

Then put on the cotton kimono (yukata) and go for a meal like that.

In a ryokan, there is always a lavish meal, a kaiseki, which is the pride of the house.

the appetizer with tofu (left), sea urchin eggs on cooked oyster (middle), and the cube was made from chestnuts, glazed sweet and sour.

extremely fresh sashimi on a round white plate, half a small lobster under the lemon slice on the top right, sake in the egg cup...

two items simmering and of course, a wet towel first to clean the hands.

steamed vegetables and a kind of dumpling

rice cooked with chestnuts in the back... in the front, I don't remember what it was!

a fish was simmering. You had to transfer the ingredients from the pink bowl to the soy sauce and then scoop the fish into the blue bowl. Eating fish with chopsticks is quite difficult. Towards the end, there is a bowl of hot miso soup and a little fresh ripe fruit for dessert.

Here is tonight's kaiseki... without explanation... or at least this:

In the round bowl at the top is a fish head (the white ball is the eye, you don't have to eat it!!!) to the right is the lobster, which was already prepared as lobster sashimi, so it is easy to eat with chopsticks.

On the left are two pots simmering, along with miso soup and delicious melon and kiwi for dessert.

I hope no one got sick reading this... because there's something really delicious coming up...

The rooms are nicely labeled with the names, so you can find your way back after eating!

so that I can find my bed too:

yes, meanwhile the hotel elves have pushed the table into the corner, laid out the futon, and made the bed:

I sleep surprisingly well, but I'm always happy to get back to a 'normal' bed.

There is also a bedside lamp.

For breakfast, of course, no croissants or anything like that....,

but fish, rice, miso soup, and delicious pickles as well.

The breakfast box is always a surprise: