Onsens and Monkeys, and Monkey Onsens

Part I: Onsens

I had two days off, so I thought what better way to spend those two days with the girlfriend. Especially since it was her birthday. Yeppers, so after the sports festivities, I drove up to beautiful Nagano Prefecture to pay homage to the 23 years it has been since she entered the world. She (and I) entered the world a long way away from the world we are living in today. Kind a crazy to think about.

Anyway, since she only had a half day of work one day, we went to beautiful Kusatsu in Gunma Prefecture. Kusatsu has arguably the best hot springs (onsens) in all of Japan! The city is very resorty, much like an Aspen or Vale. However, instead of the smell of pine and firs that you might smell in CO, you smell the intoxicating aroma of sulfur. Yep...kind of like mildly rancid eggs. It is this smell (actually the chemical and/or minerals that give this smell) that makes Kusatsu so great. The minerals in the hot, bubbling springs are wonderful for your skin, curing any sort of ache you have, and clearing your respiratory system. Some might find the smell annoying, but you soon learn to love and appreciate it.

Anyway, so in Kusatsu, you stay in some really Japanesey inns (ryokans) and get the Japanese treatment, consisting of about 20 course meals that look a lot more delicious than they taste. Ryokans also supply you with a fancy-shmancy yukata (robes) that you can wear throughout the city as you walk from onsen to onsen. They are pretty cool. That is why Ashlee and I took the opportunity to take a few glamour shots of us sporting our Japanesiness.



Part II: Monkeys

I don't really have much to say about monkeys. I mean, c'mon, what is there to say? Monkeys rock.
I think this picture is hilarious. It looks a lot like one of those Darwin ancestral evolution diagrams. Plus the little monkey is so cute...don't let him fool you though. He ate one of those huge cameras equipped with an enormous zoom lens that looks like a phallic symbol. I think that is why he is holding his stomach.

Part III: Monkey Onsens

Yes, monkeys like onsens too. I wonder if that's why Japanese people like onsens so much. You know what they say: "the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." The monkeys here were running in and out of the hot springs, chasing after each other, and feasting on little insects crawling around on one another.

These monkeys were in the onsen so long that their faces turned red. Either that, or the smell of that huge turd was overpowering.


The onsen is there behind me (you can click on the image to enlarge it). I am told that monkeys from all over the world frequent this onsen because of it's wonderful atmosphere and good-looking tourists.

Sports Day

Sports Day...the day you find out the coordinated from the uncoordinated, the fast from the slow, the athletic from the unathletic. It's a beautiful thing, and I had the pleasure in taking part in it.

Each year in Japan there is a national holiday called "Sports Day." It is basically like the track and field day you had at your elementary school as a kid, but instead of just making an afternoon of things, the Japanese go all out. For instance, the WHOLE village participated (this may not be the same in all areas of Japan. In fact, it may only be my village because it is so small). The elementary school was split into 3 teams, the junior high school into 3 teams, and each neighborhood (spanish: barrio) had old men and women on it.

There are only two words that describe the opening ceremony for Sports Day: Third Reich. Yep, you all remember Hitler I am sure. Well, remember when Hitler's Army briskly marched by him and performed the infamous "hail!" Well, that is what they do here. In my village, however, the role of Hitler was played by the town mayor. I am not joking...look at the pictures.







The Sports Day activities include: many relays, tire-pushing-with-a-tiny-stick race (I partook in this one being the opening leg for the mayor's influential team), tug-of-war, ball throwing in a basket, soccer relays, huge ball pushing relay race, kindergarten kiddy tractor pull, miscellaneous weird make-up-whatever relay race, crazy japanese line dancing, croquet, hurdles, and about a million other games. People who say that the Japanese are only creative in the sense that they can make already existing things better have never been to a Sports Day Festival. Talk about imaginative, well, except for the Hail Hitler thing. Oh, FYI...the symbol for a Buddhist Temple on a Japanese map is a Swastika. Coincidene that both Japan and Germany were axis powers during the Second World War...Hail No!







I did the wheel rolling relay, the Japanese line dancing, 4 man relay, and tug-of-war. Our tug-of-war team placed second. I personally think that we didn't get first because we had two women elementary school teachers on our team that couldn't have weighed more that 150 pounds combined. Funny story about the 4 man relay. My team consisted of Hasuya-sensei, Kyoto-sensei, a second grader (aka 8th grader) Hiromi, and myself. Our team was kicking butt all the way until the last quarter turn. When yours truly was really putting on the after-burners and took a corner of the muddy track a little too fast. Next thing I know, I am flying sideways through the air, splattering on the ground much like a sumo wrestler being tossed, and pulling my sweatpants up that had been pulled down by the muddy earth and my momentum. It was quite embarrassing, although I had no time to think about it. Instead, I hurried to my feet, pulled my pants all the way up, and ran the last quarter of the track. One team passed me due to my fall, but they were no match for my long strides and enormous reach of the baton to barely beat them at the finish. It was seriously one of the most invigorating experiences I have been a part of. By the way, there was a camera crew at the festivities that shows local happenings on UTV (Ueno Television) so the whole village will be able to take in the events over and over again until next year. I have already been on TV teaching kindergarteners. Ratings aren't that spectacular...exception: the older women demographic.