Onsen Burner

Friday, I took a day off from school. When I requested the day, other teachers asked me why I needed a day. It was Chrissy’s birthday. The female teachers nodded and said, “Very important day!” And to think I almost didn’t ask for the day off. The culture of women is very difficult to understand.

For Chrissy’s birthday we traveled to the south coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. Directly south of Osaka is the Kii Peninsula, an area rich in Japan’s history and culture. Chrissy had found a beautiful beach town about 90 miles away. It has a gorgeous white sand beach that was imported from Australia. The town’s original, natural beach was washed away in a storm. She made reservations at The President Shirahama Hotel. Japanese hotels charge by the person. The President Shirahama was very inexpensive only 5000 yen a person. Other hotels along the south coast were 10,000 to 25,000 yen each. There are hotels, which do not charge by the person, they charge by the hour. They are called love hotels for obvious reasons.

As I left work on Friday, I told a few of the teachers where we were headed. They were a bit surprised; September is not the season to go to the beach. It’s too cold. The Japanese don’t swim outside of July and August, the typical summer season for visiting the beach. Chrissy and I decided to brave the 90-degree weather.

The cheapest way to travel to the beach is via bus. We took a train to Osaka and transferred to an express bus to Shirahama. The bus costs 2700 yen per person, an express train costs just over 5000 yen per person. We arrived at Shirahama after a 3-hour bus trip. The last few miles were very windy following the coast. The bus driver dropped us at a stop just 100 meters from the hotel.

We arrived late in the afternoon, so we limited ourselves to exploring as close to the hotel as practical. Across the main street from the hotel is a cliff. A final destination for many people who visit. That is, it is known to be a place where many people will leap off the cliff as their final act on this world. When I looked over the edge, my legs wobbled a bit. At the base of the cliff is another tourist destination. There is an elevator, which drops you down into a cave. Chrissy and I looked at it from above.

We continued our exploration by walking the mile or so to the beach. Three or four large hotels line the main road along the cliff top. More hotels spread across a small peninsula. At the southern edge of the beach is an onsen. Onsens are hot springs. Most of them are segregated by sex and are require bathers to bathe in the buff. I’ll let the image of me soaking in an onsen burn your retinas for a minute.

This onsen is right on the Pacific. Waves crash over the rocks and into the lowest pool. This particular onsen is very famous. It is mentioned in Japanese literature and it has been visited by Japanese Emperors as far back as 800 years ago. We priced the bath and planned to return the next day. We had a small sunset snack on the beach before we meandered back to our hotel in the dark.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant for a real dinner. The waitress was extremely helpful as she practiced her English with us. Vegetarians are far fewer than those who speak English.

Saturday came in rainy. From our window we could see small 150-foot freighters ply the waters a mile or two off of the coast. The clouds were low, just above the tops of the hotels. Waves of rain pelted the street outside our window in the early hours of the morning. Originally we had planned to soak in the onsen and then swim at the beach, but the weather rearranged our plans. With the wet weather, we decided to take the train to Kii Katsura, another beach town 50 miles or so to the east.

Kii Katsura has a small beach close by, with hotels on the islands and peninsulas around a very small downtown. Each hotel seems to be near an onsen. The hotel we decided to visit was really three hotels built on, in and around a high ridge on a narrow peninsula just meters across a narrow inlet from the town’s waterfront. The front of the hotel appears to be a drab four-story building, but a drab hall way takes you through the bottom of the mountain to several onsens on the coast in caves. Here again, waves crash into the lower pools. There are two onsens on the top of the ridge, about 30 stories up via elevator through the mountain. From the ridge you can look east across the Pacific or west to the town and the Kii mountain range beyond.

All of the buildings we saw on the south coast were heavily weathered concrete boxes. Very few buildings had any architectural interest. Drab is the only way to describe them The combination of the salt air and the minerals produced by the many hot springs in the area age the building very rapidly. Chrissy kept mentioning that they reminded her of an old cruise ship we traveled on once. The ship was built very long ago; about the same time my sister was born. When we traveled on it there was a constant musty smell in the air, damp carpets and rusty halls. That is exactly the way the hotels looked and smelled. That ship, the Sea Breeze, now lies on the bottom of the Atlantic off the coast of North Carolina.

Sunday we were back in Shirahama and the day was much brighter. The sun was very hot. We packed our bag and traveled back to the original onsen. Once I was stripped and enjoying the hot water and the pacific waves, I noticed people on an observation deck a short distance away watching us on the boy’s side of the hot springs. I tried to be as modest as possible, but all I had, all anyone had was a small hand towel for cover.

Even with the sunny day, waves of rain swept through. Every 30 minute or so we would have a short five minute downpour and then it would clear back up to a gloriously blue sky. When it would rain, I would swear that it would rain the rest of the day. The clouds were low and seemed to cover the entire sky and they were dark. It struck me, that I was experiencing different types of water at the same time: salt water, mineral water and rain water all at once. When I sat in the hottest pool, water gushed out of the side of the cliff wall. Minerals coated the rocks below with white and rust and purple hues. I wondered how similar it was for the Emperor when he was here centuries ago.

I left Chrissy at the beach after our soak in the onsen. We had run out of money, and I had to find an ATM. Japan is a cash culture. There are no checks and very few places accept Visa. The problem is, the ATMs are very few and they don’t provide any directions in English. Let me clear that up, only my local branch gives instructions in English. Other ATMs may give you the option to select English, but will spit your card out if you push it and will simply say, “Instructions in Japanese only.” Luckily, we had discovered this before our trip.

The ATM I found, was probably the only one for miles, literally, miles! Inside a small bank just off the beach I found it. This ATM had no English button. I put our card in. It spit it out and said something to me. I put it in again. It took it. I put in my pin. I punched out 10,000 yen. Everything else was in Kanji. I picked a couple of buttons based on their colors, green works, and made it to the last screen. There weren’t any discernable colors to this kinda colorblind kid, just Kanji. Fortunately, I know how to say, “Summi masen.” Excuse me. There just happened to be another guy at the ATM. He came over and pushed the final button. 10,000 yen with a two hundred yen service charge was our ticket home.

Well it would have been our ticket home, but the bus sold out for the rest of the day. So we hustled to the train station and bought tickets on the express, just minutes before it arrived and were back home in a matter of hours.

Before we left for home though, I had to pick Chrissy up from the beach. We planned to stay for a couple of hours. When I got back to her, she was laying out. I jumped in for a quick swim. Two little Japanese kids were eyeing me like I was worse than a shark. Their dad kept pushing their inner tube toward me. The kids kept repeating “gaijin!” and another word, which I am sure, meant scary. When they were in the water they wouldn’t take their eyes off of me. I stayed in the water as long as I could and then retreated to the shade. When one last large downpour hit, Chrissy had joined me. She wanted to stay longer, but I could feel my fair skin basting in the sun. We left. By the time we made it to the train, both our noses and foreheads were fairly pink. Carrying our luggage strap home, I could feel the burn on my shoulders. At home, it was evident that both of us ended up very red.