The Visit, Day One

Since I am regarding The Landing Day as Day Zero, yesterday (Sunday) was Day One of Shane's visit.

Brian and I woke up early as usual, and left Shane sleeping as we went to a clinic for lots of painkillers and antibiotics for me (see earlier post). After that, we three had a leisurely toast and jam breakfast, puttered around a bit, then went for a drive up to the Hakone Skyline (now known as the Toyo Tire Skyline). Here are two pics of us:



We'd hiked up the mountain a short ways, so you can now see the Skyline (a very fast toll road) behind Shane and Brian:


This was really just a detour as we drove to the Gotemba Kogen Resort, a beer hall/onsen/restaurant/everything kind of place where we frequently go to enjoy a beer on the lawn. Today we went to enjoy the onsen (hot spring) and lunch.

First we walked around the extensive grounds and explored Arigatayama with the many O-Jizo-sama (little Buddha statues):



Jizo-sama:


Then we enjoyed the onsen (hot spring). Taking a public bath was a novelty for Shane, but I think he has already developed an appreciation for it. We all felt so relaxed afterwards that we wanted to fall asleep right there.

We had lunch in the onsen's restaurant, wearing our "lounge wear" provided by the onsen.

(Oh, we also got to practice some Japanese when the table of older ladies across from us struck up a conversation).

After the hot bath and massage chairs, back on the main grounds, Shane wanted to try a kaki-gori (snow cone). This is available only in summer.


Then he decided to shoot some cookie boxes - one of the games set up at the Kogen. He hit everything he aimed for, though the cork (bullet) was not powerful enough to knock anything down. At the end, the attending girl gave him a box of cookies anyway. Really, he was such an impressive shooter that others stopped to watch him shoot. He deserved that box of cookies!


Finally back from the day at the onsen, we relaxed a little before going out for dinner at Ryoba, a local branch of a chain izakaya (Japanese pub).



Shane had his first taste of tuna sashimi (sashimi means raw whatever, whereas sushi is raw whatever on rice. If it's just the fish and no rice, you are eating sashimi!)


Today we are heading out very early to the beach. We'll be staying there (without an Internet connection) for three days. So - no more posts until Wednesday night, I think:-)