5. Postal path

Magome to Tsumago

 

Arrived by 3 trains and a bus from Nakatsugawa, birthplace of a it’s own style of Kabuki-ji. 

Wheeled our bags uk the steep cobbled path to Tajimaya Minshuku (guesthouse) and welcomed by a lovely couple who showed us to out corner room with a great view down  the path for morning qigong. 

This lovely old lady (inside the hut) baked these delicious buns - I had custard with a little surprise chestnut in the middle. Demo oishi! 

We walked around the town and down the Nakasendo Way before the most delicious home cooked meal. Simone went back to don her Yukuta and Haori (jacket) as were most of the guests. 

The lovely owner came out and sang a song from 600 yrs ago. His dad was a teacher. Luckily dancing wasn’t compulsory!

The minshuku had shared toilets with plentiful toilet slippers and a private bath. 

Our bath was booked for 8-8.30pm and then the best dream filled sleep from 9.30pm-7am. 

The breakfast was a mix of Japanese (mackerel, miso, rice) and sadly western concession (ham, eggs & sausage & ketchup!) - a change from my first visit 7yrs ago.

4. Onsen heaven

 Kinosaki Onsen Ryokan Tsubakino

A stylish minimalist ryokan in the process of modernization with a blue-black dark facade and steps to contrast the wood, shoji (sliding wood & paper room dividers) and tatami flooring. 

The staff Japanese and an Indian couple were so hospitable helping us with our yukuta (simpler than kimonos meant as onsen attire) with Obi (belt/sash) and over-yukata in dark blue and and lined brown woven striped short jacket over the top. When doning the yukata it’s vital to wrap right side first then left before the belt as the other way round is for embalming! 

I even tottered around in geta in my yukata - such a tourist! 

We had a lovely woman who served and talked us through the mouthwatering Yukata-filling  11-course  Kaiskeki (tasting menu). The first night featured crab four ways from boiled  with the most umami-ly addictive  vinegar, punctuated by pufferfish karage, snow crab hotpot finished off with steamed egg custard with crabmeat. 

Quite an introduction for my wife whose origins are a country that’s landlocked.  

We were so lucky having 25°C sunshine for our 2+hr hike up and down Daishi-San (Mount) on the day the Ropeway (funicular). 

The onsen-baked egg and Kinosaki gelato shack at the foot of the mountain was closed on a Thursday but that meant the top was virtually tourist free and fortunately bear-free. 

To satiate our sweet tooth after the grilled fish, onsen egg pickles rice breakfast & hike we joined the queue for the local egg-bread speciality, baked to Japanese precision, sharing a traditional custard textures egg bun and a chocolate variant - both delicious! 

Although the mugwort ice cream was not in stock at family mart I did take a Kinosaki Matcha gelato back to the hotel to have with some freshly brewed green tea before sinking into a sweet induced siesta shogun-ess style!

Day 2 bedtime 

I’m lying in my ryokan listening to the rain like in Thailand after my 5th onsen of the day - a private microbubble semi outdoor tub. 

Ichi (1) Japan Blog - 10 March - 6 Apr 2025

Tokyo Daze 

9 & 10 March (Day 1 & 2)

Arrived a day early and on a direct flight thanks to the baggage handlers threatened strike at Frankfurt airport. 

This enabled me to arrive and have a free day in Tokyo before visiting clinics of our acupuncture teachers. 

The flight on a small ANA plane was a contrast to the monster Emirates jumbo changing in Dubai on my first trip in 2017, a birthday gift from Mum & Roy. 

Despite the marked contrast of a Journeys a la Carte tailored trip and the semi-shoestring study stay in the land of the blind Toyohari acupuncturists, I am a mere 10 min walk away from the chic bamboo boutique Hotel Niwa Tokyo. My simple room(s) are in Sotestsu Fresa (FREsh Sense Amenity - who’d have thought of it!). 

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Roy, Mum & I were collected by a limousine people carrier and driven to the neighboring Imperial Palace. Unfortunately I was the only one to exit the limo as it continued driving around Tokyo as no nearby parking and mum stayed to monitor a pump/inhaler to Roy who had an angina attack. A dramatic start but fortunately he behaved himself for the rest of the fortnight. Unlike mum who tripped up walking up a Tori hill in Hakone whilst I was out on a walk with dangerous bears. Mum probably fell into the arms of a young(er) man (- as she did in the Serpentarium in Honduras whilst I was out jogging almost stopping on a black and probably highly poisonous snake). 

So this morning I woke to an alarm at 10am probably sneaking 5hrs sleep to add to the indulgent 7 on the plane thanks to the window seat requested at check-in and thankfully allocated at the gate. It took a while to organise my room change as for the 14 days that I’ll be in Sotestsu Fresa Ochanomizu Jinbocho I have 4 different bookings! Extra night at start in single room and at the end in comfort double with Simone. The double upgrade for 11-17 for my clinic visits and the 17-21 deluxe double upgrade for the workshop. (I now appreciate even more the a la carte journeying!)

I nipped out for a ramen whilst waiting to check the new  room. It was 2 doors down from my old room and definitely not big enough to swing 2 cats instead of 1. But I was keen to get out and the translating machines - small recorder that the receptionist spoke into and it wrote and spoke the answer in English. After being there so long the upgraded me to the illuminated glass version with the words appearing as we spoke. So this is the dizzying digital climax of globalisation - combined by the fact that everyone in the subway, street queues for food, smoking in hidden allocated corners by public toilets are on their mobile. And me to tapping here blogging on my iPhone on my own in front of a male chef and female skewer chef. 

Dinner last night resto above 

and skewers tonight - below 

Cabbage and Miso - really did mean raw cabbage 

- should I intro Hispi cabbage to Japan? 

My 2nd trip to the Imperial palace involved a detour to the Apple Store in the business district of Marounuchi, but have to go to Gonda, shopping district with more “Genii” who will hopefully replace my battery before I go to the President’s clinic over an hour away at 4-8pm. 

I then went to Inari-yu, a local Onsen used by joggers who like me circumnavigated the 5k path around the Imperial Palace and gardens. The guard was politely clear that joggers, like buffalo girls, had to go round the outside, between the most and the traffic. 

I restrained myself to 1 circuit overtaking a man and following 2 younger women in the hope that there was a chance to jog inside. But alas. That will be my Imperial gardens taiji treat if I’m allowed later in the week. Or to avoid shopping in Ginza whilst phone is having new battery fitted. 

The treat of the day was the local Onsen. Between Google’s translating photo camera and the lovely women on the desk, and a little reading of Onsen etiquette by the lovely running blog who led me there I managed to have a lovely clean warm relaxing first Onsen session. 

There were about 8-10 women who came and went and the lovely older woman showed me that I needed to press rather than turn the red and blue taps to fill my bucket. I remembered to wash well BEFORE entering the sauna and not to put towel that i’d washed myself with in the communal bath. 

The Onsen was just one bath that went round the corner. A bubblingly hit jacuzzi at one end and 3 chair baths at the other with a range of powerful jets. I was either the wrong shape or in the wrong position as I don’t think the boobs should have such a pressure wash! 

Having said that I’m definitely not graduating to the hi shower or bidet in my hotel loo!