It`s been awhile since I wrote, partly due to an exciting 2-week winter holiday escape-from-the-island travel extravaganza ^^
The intinerary broke down something like this:
December 20-- wake up early, pick up Rose in the south, make our escape via airplane to Osaka.
December 21-23 Osaka
December 23-26 Tokushima (Shikoku)
December 26-January 3 Kyoto
...travels started off well and I arrived in Osaka only slightly travel-weary and in desperate need of a bath. Traveling about in airplanes, especially if I have to transfer, makes me feel very disgusting. Thankfully, Osaka has the perfect cure, a multi-floor complex called SpaWorld, which is the first place we hit up after dropping our bags at the hotel. There are two floors of baths, an Asian-themed floor and European-themed floor, each with many specialized baths. The floors are single-sex only and switch sexes each month. When I studied abroad, I had the opportunity to check out the European-themed floor, replete with Roman pillars, Grecian urns filled with mud (for a do-it-yourself mud bath... it was kind of awesome to be scooping out mud from the urn next to a obaachans), herbal baths, a milk-and-honey bath in a low-lit recreation of a cave, and an aquarium-themed bath with a glass bottom and a tank with sharks underneath. In other words, completely wild. So of course I wanted to go back, either to have a dip in the same baths again or, hopefully, check out the Asian floor.
Luckily, it was the ladies` turn at the Asian floor. Although not quite as unique as the European floor--many were Japanese-style baths, similar to onsen everywhere-- there were still many baths to sample. A few indoor Japanese-style baths made of different materials; countless outdoor baths (rotenburo) of varying temperatures, sizes, and materials; a few indoor mini-waterfalls perfect for standing underneath to pummel those tense neck and shoulder muscles; and many other baths, including one with a whirlpool.
Of course, this is public bathing Japan-style. You ditch your clothes in lockers and then run around with a mini-towel just big enough to drape over the unmentionables. But the water`s usually piping-hot and, in addition to coming out squeaky-clean (you completely scrub down before entering any of the baths), it`s great for working out muscle kinks and just relaxing.
Here`s some pictures of the SpaWorld baths (both European and Asian floors). ...for obvious reasons, cameras aren`t allowed inside, so I could only get a picture of an advertisements for the baths.
After getting clean, Rose and I were starving, so we went to have some real American food (okay, okay, I was after the sour cream that comes with the fajitas) at Osaka`s Hard Rock Cafe. Mmmm delicious.
The next day Rose and I got up relatively early to get to the Osaka`s aquarium. I`d never been before but had heard that it was one of the best aquariums anywhere. And, indeed, it was a huge complex with many different aquacultures, organized by region. Like Boston`s aquarium, there is one central gigantic tank which visitors spiral around... except Osaka`s giant tank is much, much larger than Boston`s and you begin the spiral from the top, working your way down. There are also so many more side-tanks, including ones with dolphins, seals, penguins, a coral reef system, Hokkaido`s deep sea (with crazy basketball-sized crabs, their legs at least a foot long when extended), and other Japan-specific marine ecosystems.
...out of all sea life I`ve seen so far, sting rays are probably my favorite. They remind me of underwater birds... I`ve seen a few while scuba diving, and they so elegantly flutter the edges of their bodies to move along. Spotted stingrays have more of a flapping motion, but it`s very smooth.
This is a little foreshadowing for later, but Christmas in Japan is crazy. I got a hint of that craziness coming around a corner and seeing scuba-diving Santa.
The next day was devoted primarily to shopping and a wonderful visit to see a Takarazuka show of The Brothers Karzmanov. Takarazuka is a group of all-female theater troupes that do Broadway-musical-meets-Los-Vegas-glitter-and-glam-line-dance shows. In a word, it`s spectacular.
...the morning after takarazuka, it was time to head off to Tokushima. Now, every Japanese person I told that I was going to Tokushima asked me why there. I can`t explain why, but the place resonates with me. Maybe because I had so many good experiences last time I went or because I discovered a new independence there... it`s hard to say. I just really love Tokushima. Outside of the eastern city (both the region, kind of like a U.S. state, and the main city are both called `Tokushima`), it`s mostly mountains.. but these mountains are not at all like Tsushima`s mountains. Tokushima`s mountains are huge and form ranges and have giant plains between the ranges were villages can form. You can admire the mountains from a distance (unlike Tsushima`s `rice ball` mountains which are small but so clustered together, so it`s difficult to escape from the middle of them to admire the bunch)... maybe Tokushima`s mountains are a little more vain. Tokushima also is famous for many handicrafts, including paper-making and indigo-dying, and the Awa Odori dance, which is performed every year during August and Obon, a holiday for honoring the dead.
First, you stir up a vat with a bamboo stick to mix the fibers evenly. Then you dip the frame in, shake gently (a 1-2 mini-earthquake on the Richter scale, not a 8-9) to get the fibers to settle evenly as the water drains through the mesh. Repeat a couple of times to achieve a proper thickness.
1 comment:
Gee, I was getting worried that there wouldn't been any Foodshima-themed comments, but you managed to sneak them in at the end. :-)
Any pictures of those mountains?
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