Well of course there's always an Onsen.
The main draw of the Hakone region are the many hot springs bubbling under the surface of this still volcanically active landscape.
Onsen are traditional bathhouses where members of the community would go at the end of the day to get cleaned up from work and to relax. Everyone in town uses the same Onsen (although they are divided between men and women) and this fosters a sense of community.
Here there are many Onsen to choose from but fortunately, the Ryokan has a free pass for a very nice Onsen just around the corner.
The staff at the Ryokan suggest I wear traditional wooden clogs to walk to the Onsen. I remember these clogs as being particularly uncomfortable to walk in but since the Onsen is so close by I don't refuse.
The Onsen is only two minutes away but it is up a steep hill which is made all the more challenging by the clogs.
When I arrive, I remove my clogs and place them in a locker. I give the key to the locker to the attendant and he gives me another key to a locker in the locker room. It's all very complicated, of course.
In the locker room it's much more straightforward, just take off all of your clothes. That's right, Onsen are separated by sex for the obvious reason that everyone using an Onsen is naked.
Once you've stripped down you are required to follow a series of steps before actually getting into one of the baths. You must thoroughly clean yourself with soap and shampoo. One wall of the first room you enter has a number of stools on the ground in front of a low level series of shower heads.
You sit on the stool and use the shower head to cleanse yourself (or buckets of water, whichever you prefer). This should not be a short shower. You need to be as thorough as possible. Only once you have been fully scrubbed clean can you enter one of the baths.
The first one is in the same room as the showers. It's a large wooden tub that could fit ten to fifteen people although there are only a couple of people in it now. I'm definitely the only gaijin here which makes me stand out a lot more than simply being naked.
The water is very hot and very relaxing. The ritual includes the use of a small towel which you probably used while scrubbing down. The towel is not permitted to touch the water but you are allowed to put it on your forehead where it helps cool you down as your body temperature gradually heats up.
This first rubbish actually pretty hot so I decide to try another one. This takes me outside the shower room into the outdoor part of the Onsen. Here there are four separate pools of varying temperature. There are privacy fences surrounding the bathing area but there is no roof. All that is overhead is the starry night sky. A cool breeze floats though the air (this is November and we are in the mountains) and helps reduce your heat level temporarily. It's a nice contrast to the soaking.
In this main area there are about 10 more bathers. A father with two small children, a handful of men in their fifties and sixties and a group of younger men in their twenties (or thereabouts, it's not like I have any way of gauging people's ages).
For the next 45 minutes I go from bath to bath sometimes pausing to stand out in the cold air for a minute or two. It's an incredibly cleansing experience. Probably similar to using a spa back home (which I have never bothered with although I can certainly sympathize now).
Now fully relaxed and cleansed I return to the Ryokan being careful not to fall as I descend the steep hill in my clumsy clogs.
This has truly been an excellent day full of memorable experiences. This is what I came to Japan for and fortunately things are working out.
(The last photo is of the bath at my Ryokan. It provides a small scale version of a larger Onsen experience)
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