Eighth Full Day in Japan.

We got up this morning, checked out of our hotel and took the train to Nishimuraya.

The trains here are world class good. They are super clean and when they are scheduled to arrive they arrive and when they are scheduled to leave they leave. There is a 300% sales tax when you buy a car so most people can’t afford a car. The buses and trains are well used.

Nishimuraya is an onsen resort town. It is in the mountains and is very green.

We have a traditional set of rooms. There is a sitting area looking out onto the beautifully landscaped garden. There are two rooms in the main area. One room is a dining room where they will be serving us dinner.

This is the dining room that will be converted into a bedroom after dinner. You can see the other bedroom in the upper left hand corner of this photo. The floors are covered with tatami mats. There are on outdoors shoes allowed in the hotel. You leave your shoes in the lobby and are issued very uncomfortable indoor flip flops.

After we checked in we put on traditional yukata, Japanese style robes, and visited two of the nearby public onsens, or public baths. Sorry, but no pictures at or anywhere near the onsens.

The staff gave me a pair of traditional wooden clogs to wear while we walked around town and visited the onsens. These wooden clogs were so torturously uncomfortable that I walked back and begged them to exchange the wooden clogs for my tennis shoes.

The first onsen was outside and was surrounded by a tree canopy. There was a waterfall of warm mineral water cascading down a rock face into the pool. It was flat out amazing.

The second onsen was in a cave. It was a little dark for me and the rocks on the floor of this onsen made for treacherous footing for this old man.

After the two onsens we went back to the hotel and relaxed before dinner.