Japan: Day 8c/9a - Korakukan, Jigokudani

Korakukan is an example of a minshuku, a family-run ryokan. (If you use the link, note that they don't do online bookings. Or take credit card.)

Korakukan, from the monkey park

Rooms are laid with tatami matting, with a low table in the centre for tea. Beds (futons on the floor) may be in an adjoining room, or laid out in the same room (and table moved to the side).  Dinner and breakfast are included in the tarriff, as well as time in the rotembura (outdoor hot bath). For this ryokan, in the still snow-touched mountains, the rooms are well-insulated. For example, there are no windows directly into the room - all are protected by a paper screen and a one to two foot gap, which acts as a thick thermal layer. With no heaters on, the room did get chilly by dawn, but not really cold, and the bedding provided was plenty warm enough.

The rooms (I think there might be twelve?) are accessed from multiple levels, and squirrelly passageways. Most rooms seemed to be for couples - the tables were set up with only two chairs - but could accommodate more. Bathrooms are shared, and unisex. The one nearest our room had three urinals, two squat loos and one western loo. As well as sinks in the bathrooms, there are troughs at various places, for brushing teeth (at least that's what we used them for). At each sink, there is a sign saying (in both Japanese and English) "Please keep the water running", presumably to stop the water freezing in the water lines and bursting them.



Dinner was an absolute feast. The main items were a pot of fish stock on a portable stove, and a plate of thinly sliced meat and various vegetables (shitake and enoki mushrooms, wombok (napa or chinese cabbage), spring (green) onions, and udon noodles; with rice to add to the stock after all the meats and vegetables had been cooked. I exclaimed "Oh! Shabu-shabu!" but was firmly corrected, but I've no idea what with. There was also beautiful carp sashimi with a tangy apple-flavoured sauce; beautiful pickled mushrooms of some other kind; there was also tofu, with a bitter dry-ish pickle to contrast; pickled greens; and a salted fish (about 5" long) very similar to the ones we saw on sticks being cooked over charcoal outside Ueno zoo. Oh, and some grasshoppers, coated in a sweet balsamic-type glaze. The boys wussed out on the salted fish and carp (although each tried a little), mushrooms and grasshoppers. All the more for us!! We were completely stuffed to the gills by the end of the meal, especially JD and me, and delightfully so.

Smoked salted fish, and grasshoppers.

The plate of meat, vegetables, and udon noodles to be cooked in the broth, but which was not shabu-shabu

The beautiful setting, before we hoed in

We ate every last skerrick, down to the last grasshopper

After dinner, we decided to finally have our hot soak. First, we stripped off and donned the yukata (loose cotton robe). On reading later that one should wrap the left side over the right, as the opposite is used to dress the dead, JD and I both looked down and noted we were both dead. Both the adult sized ones and kid-sized ones had pictures of bathing monkeys on them.

Ky's shoulder

JD and I were keen to try outside (after confirming such mixed bathing would be acceptable), but the boys were more ambivalent. We did enjoy floating in the warm water, gazing up at the stars (invisible in Tokyo) and chit-chatting. It was after dark, so no monkeys were around to join us.

The outdoor bath (rotemburo).
Very difficult to get a pic - too dark with no flash; steam reflects with flash;  visible boy bits in most of the rest.

However, the water temperature was just a little to low to be comfortable, even sitting right next to the hot water inlet, so JD and I joined the boys inside in the men's indoor bath house. The water was a bit warmer in there (~38-39 degC, according to the thermometer fish), and we all enjoyed a nice long soak.

The men's indoor bath house

I'm sure we breached 97 different etiquette rules (women in the men's bathhouse, men in the outside bath during women's bathing time, didn't scrub before getting in, and no doubt many others), but I hope nothing significant to inconvenience others.

Ky and I had another bath in the morning. We first tried the women's indoor bath house (a boy in the women's bath being potentially more acceptable than a woman in the men's), but the water temperature was around 43degC, too hot for comfort. So we then transferred to the men's bathhouse, whether the water was a far more pleasant 38-39 degC. After warming our core, we returned to our room to dress, pack, rouse the others, try unsuccessfully to get them to have a warming bath before breakfast.

As we'd left dinner the night before, we were asked whether we would prefer a Japanese or Western breakfast. JD and I were keen to try a Japanese one, but the boys really needed the Western one. Given there were only four of us staying, they didn't want to prepare two meals, so we all agreed to have a western breakfast. In the morning, they confirmed how we wanted our eggs cooked (scrambled), and we were called to eat just before 8am. At each setting was some very yellow scrambled eggs, a little bacon and spinach-like greens, and a couple of slices of not quite cold white toast. There were also some stewed pears, sweet but yum, and some strong coffee. They also offered us vegetable soup (actually, onion and potato) as well - all except Jos accepted. We were well sated, but not uncomfortaby full.

After brushing our teeth, and final packing and checking we then returned once more to the entrance room, settled the bill (~Y47,500 including drinks), put on shoes, and asked them to call us a taxi. Our host suggested that we walk the five minutes to the carpark on the right side of the river, rather than the ~20 minute walk down the left side to Kanbayashi Onsen. The cab arrived just after we arrived at the carpark, and for Y1800, took us down the narrow, windy road and through Yudanaka to the station.

In short, a fantastic experience, one we would recommend to all.