next up, the city of gero (下呂市) in gifu prefecture (岐阜県).
even though the city's name has the same pronunciation as "vomit" in japanese..., it doesn't seem to bother the hoards of people who flock here to soak in the many onsen or hot springs.
apart from the many foot-spas (little hot springs dotted around the city where you can dip your weary feet in to relax) there didn't seem to be that much to see or do here.
our purpose however was to stay at the beautiful japanese inn; yunoshimakan, to celebrate k-chan's fathers 60th birthday; a special celebration called kanreki (還暦).
built way back in 1931, yunoshimakan (湯之島館) is a zen hideout tucked high away amongst the towering cedar trees. it has both indoor and outdoor hot springs so from the moment we put our bags down everyone (all eight of us!) were hyped up ready for a soak.
i remember when i first went to japan as a student i was freaked out about having to go to a hot spring.
you see here in the land of the rising sun, bathing suits are a no-no!
it's full monty or nothing!
but doom day arrived when my japanese high-school friends all decided to go to a hot spring.
i know back home no high school guy would even think of sitting in a tub, stark naked with his friends!
the fact that the very small towel used to
but it wasn't too bad. i mean when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it we do after all have the same "goods" so to speak!
so after a relaxing soak in the outdoor hot spring overlooking the city of gero with k-chan's father and brothers (gulp), we then sat down on tatami mats for a delicious japanese banquet followed by bottle after bottle of alcohol and karaoke.
i hate to think what might have happened if i had decided to go back for another dip after all that booze...
outdoor spring from yunoshimakan website...
i wasn't gonna risk taking my camera here and snap some japanese guy's "goods"!
info:
645 yunoshima
gero city, gifu
509-2207 japan
〒509-2207
岐阜県下呂市湯之島645番地
4 comments:
oooooh. you are making me soooo homesick.
Onsen?! Oh no boy you didn't!
that place looks heavenly. what a building! *urayamashii*
about the nude bit: after a while in the water everyone looks the same. lol
* bad-dog
thanks for your comment!
how often do you get back to japan?
* Luuworld
onsen, of course boy!! i love it!
yup, the hot water of the onsen does make us all look the same after a while.
it's the before bit where you can really spot the differences *wink wink*
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