When Katelyn was planning our Japan trip, she wanted to visit an area which was famous for their hot springs, and after some debate she chose Gero. Gero is one of the three main areas of Japan known for its hot springs. It was a short train ride from Takayama
The hot springs in Gero is known for it's high alkaline content, the mineral-rich hot spring water flows naturally from underground at Gero Onsen and is believed to make your skin soft and velvety smooth.
Depending on where you are, the hot spring water can contain different minerals. For example, the elevated levels of sulfur in hot spring waters offer antifungal and antibacterial properties that can soothe and help heal the skin. Supposedly you should skip the shower after bathing in hot springs, since medicinal components will get washed off and and thus the effects of the water will be reduced. It was very interesting to note the health benefits of hot springs, I never knew that there are 20 different benefits in any hot springs (see site below). In my research, I learned that there are actually different minerals in different areas, so depending on where you choose to use hot springs the water might have a different benefit. If you're interested in learning more, here's the site I discovered. Fascinating! The Japanese sure take their hot springs seriously, as this article conveys. Guess I need to research our local hot springs more!
After arriving in Gero, we walked from the train station to our hotel.
Katelyn had booked us into a very upscale ryokan (traditional inn) so that we could experience this aspect of Japanese culture. Our first taste of this was the greeters they had OUTSIDE the hotel, greeting us as we walked up. Then when we entered the hotel, there were 6-7 young women, all in traditional Japanese garb, lining the entry and bowing and smiling. After we checked in, one of them escorted us to our room after asking questions like what time we would like our beds set up for the night and taken down the next morning. She then escorted us to our room, unlocked the door for us, and gave us a tour of the room. This gave us a taste of what the service would be like here.
We hadn't eaten lunch, so were starving, and the young woman escorted us to the restaurant across the hotel and we were able to order food and eat. I think they were just about to close, so we felt blessed to be served. I didn't take many pictures in the hotel, but here is one from the lobby. They had a little "tea cafe" that you could sit in at all times of the day, with a pool and beautiful landscaping right outside. It was gorgeous!
You might notice the young women in this picture are wearing yukata's, or traditional robes. We were each issued one in the lobby of the hotel, different fabrics for men vs. women, and it is customary to wear them throughout the hotel, to breakfast, etc. We wore ours when we had our private onsen later that night, but most visitors were wearing it all the time, along with the haori, or jacket worn over it.
Katelyn was staying at a different place, since she intended this stay to be a romantic getaway for us old folks. After lunch, we walked around a bit and checked her into her guest house. Along the way, I had researched places to eat and find coffee the next morning, and as one does, I clicked on photos on Google Maps and was seduced by this strawberry parfait photo.
So of course we had to find this place and buy one! The young man serving us took the already-prepared cup of strawberries out of the refrigerator, added ice cream and whipped cream, then carefully stacked more strawberries on top and sprinkled on powdered sugar. Isn't it beautiful? Katelyn enjoyed hers that very night, and I went back the next day to get my own.
That night after dinner we went by the tea cafe but sadly they were out of most desserts. So we availed ourselves of the gift shop ice cream selection. When we went back to our room the beds were all set up for us. The pillows had some sort of grain in them. I looked it up and learned that they use buckwheat in their pillows to give you more support than feathers or foam. The comforter cover and sheets were super-smooth cotton, and although I thought it would be uncomfortable to sleep on the floor, I slept like a baby!
The next morning we availed ourselves of the breakfast buffet. It was a mixture of traditional Japanese and American food complete with salads (including corn salad dressing, I had to try that!), scrambled eggs cooked in a cup, sausage, soups, seafood, fruits, yogurt, breakfast bread, and teas. We tried a lot of different things, my favorite was the yogurt! Once again, the area we were in had dairy cows close by and the quality of all the milk products was amazing.
After meeting up with Katelyn, we walked around the town and quite enjoyed the scenery and small shops. We started seeing these little frogs everywhere, so of course I had to look it up. It turns out that "gero" is Japanese for "ribbit" so the name of the town is associated with frogs. Many of the frogs were the same cartoon depiction, so further research reveals that there was a cartoon that ran in the early 70's called Dokonjo Gaeru, also known as The Gutsy Frog. From the website above, here's the premise:
A middle school boy named Hiroshi trips and falls to the ground, accidentally landing on a frog that happened to be in the way. As a result, the frog is stuck to the shirt. Miraculously, the frog not only survived, but he can talk as well. He calls himself Pyonkichi and the two became friends. And thus the series was born.
Once you start looking for it, images of this frog are everywhere, from stores to street. Here is a sample of the images we found:
When you look at the manhole covers, we realized the wiggly lines indicated hot springs after seeing them a few times, but one of the manhole covers had a girl frog. It's funny how just a few changes make that indication: the color pink, the eyelashes, and the bow in her hair. I don't know if it had any meaning or the manhole cover maker just felt like doing something different but now you know what a girl frog looks like!
We also discovered that Gero has lots of foot baths, just out in public for people to take advantage of while walking around town. After reading about the health benefits of hot springs, I could imagine the actual physical relief your feet could get from doing this. So if you're ever in Gero, look for these signs!
In addition to frogs and foot baths, we discovered that Gero takes it dairy products seriously, and even has a store just for butter products! They had a little cafe there known for grilled rice balls and butter sandwiches, as well as many souvenirs from butter products. We were not hungry but purchased butter cookies in a tin that looks like a book. If I had done my research before we went I would have realized the cow bathing in front was actually a foot bath!
This was yet another occasion where Katelyn's research into restaurants paid off. We walked by a place that didn't look like a restaurant but had the most amazing smells emanating from it, and Katelyn suggested we eat lunch there. It was a literally a "mom and pop" place, with seats at a counter overlooking the kitchen. But they produced the most amazing food - including fried chicken that was as good as one could find anywhere! For us English speaking folks, they were prepared with a very large picture menu.
After filling our stomachs, we were ready for more sightseeing. We decided to ascend the hill to the Osenji temple. On either side of the steep staircase was a graveyard, and I was looking forward to reading dates and names such as you might here in America. Of course, everything was in Japanese so that was a bust, but it was still interesting.
At the top of the hill was the temple, and it was there I learned why the white egret seemed to be the symbol for this town. I had seen the bird on the bridge railings and manhole covers, but here I read the story. I'll leave the photo large so you can read it.
On this trip I had several "ailments", a bruised tailbone and ribcage from two separate falls in the weeks before our trip, and a sore foot. So I had to stop by the statue and give thanks and make an offering and pour water on the affected parts. My bruises were definitely better in short order, but the foot still bothers me. Two out of three isn't bad!
One of the other things I noticed at the top of this hill was a tree that had been pruned many, many times. I am guessing it was bonsai'd, and was probably hundreds of years old. Isn't that interesting? One of the many reasons I love to travel, you discover things you'd never see elsewhere!
We came down from the hill and enjoyed relaxing in our hotel room. Katelyn was trying to figure out her next trip plans so we worked our phones for awhile. The room had a small "living room" in addition to the main dining/sleeping room, so we hung out there. Katelyn and I decided to avail ourselves of the public onsen in the hotel, so dressed in the yukatas and headed down. As we were disrobing one of the women came up to correct how I had tied my yukata (it's supposed to go left over right and I had done the opposite). Since they had different fabrics for men vs. women and Katelyn was wearing mine and I was wearing Rick's, I thought they were going to point out I was wearing a man's yukata, so I was relieved it was only the tying she was commenting on!
That night Katelyn had arranged for a private onsen for Rick and I, so we took full advantage of the hour of soaking in the very hot water. I didn't take photos of our actual onsen but here's an image from the web to help you imagine it. In case this is inspiring you to take your own trip to Gero, here's the hotel info!
The next day we were up early and headed to Kyoto. Our train trip took us back through Nagoya and this time we knew right where to head - the food court! Picking up a bento box and desserts, we were on our way.
There were many things that struck us about Japan besides the cleanliness. One was the timeliness of the trains. They were exactly on time, and when departing at one of the stops I learned one of the reasons why. One of the train conductors would get off at each stop, and with a watch in one hand and headset in his ear, he would communicate with the other staff. He was watching down the line of train doors, and as the time neared he would talk into the headset, the doors would close, and at the minute mark he got back on the train and it departed. I couldn't catch a good shot of him with all the disembarking passengers, but to give you a picture of that process here's my best shot. Impressive!
The next day we were off to our final city in Japan, Kyoto!
Comments