Josh's 26th Birthday!

Nagano – June 2010

Josh’s 26th birthday brought on a VERY relaxing trip to a not so far away place. I told Josh that we should do something very special for his birthday. I did a little Internet research and presented a few ideas :) We both agreed a relaxing weekend in Nagano would be the best!

Josh and I met in Tokyo at Tokyo station. We bought our shinkansen (bullet train) tickets and were well on our way! The first day brought us to a little artist village called Obuse. We enjoyed the day going to the Hokusai museum, drinking sake at the sake factory, and talking over coffee and cake! We walked around the cobble stone streets and soaked in some good ole’ Japanese culture!

We had dinner reservations at our ryokan (onsen hotel). We stayed in a very old ryokan near Jigokudani monkey park. We had reservations to enjoy Kaiseki – a traditional multi course meal from Kyoto. It was included in the price of our room. When we arrived at Yudanaka station where we were welcomed by a staff member of the ryokan. He picked us up and took us to the gorgeous hotel!

We checked in and were taken to our room. There was tea and confectionaries waiting for us. We nibbled and took a rest until dinnertime. We changed into our yukatas – cotton kimono. We were allowed to wear the yukatas around the hotel premise and also within the town. So, with that said, we wore our yukatas to dinner! We had a private room and enjoyed SO many different types of food! Think of all the Japanese food you have ever eaten and add about 20 more items! Ha ha! We were able to sample fish, meat, tempura, vegetables, tofu, soups, rice, desert, and beer!

We took a stroll in our yukatas after dinner. Then we were able to sample all the various baths. There were 8 baths in total within our very own ryokan. The onsens, or public bath, are separated by gender. They had 4 male and 4 female baths. At 9 PM and 9 AM they clean and switch the gender. You can tell each bath as it has the kanji (and color coated) for male and female on the outside of the door. There were inside and outside onsens! It was very relaxing! We really enjoyed this! =)

The next morning we wore our yukatas down to breakfast. We enjoyed a nice western style breakfast in the same little private room we had eaten in the night before. After breakfast it was time for a little nap, a little bath, and time to head to the monkey park!

It was kind of hot that day. We walked the 45 minutes up the hill to the monkey park. We strolled around and were surprised a few times by monkeys. There was a geyser and hot springs all around! We walked up to where all the monkeys were! They were adorable and literally monkeying around! They were simply adorable! Josh and I stopped at a vending machine and got a beer. We sat down and enjoyed the beer before heading all the way back down the hill. My knee was hurting…so an idea popped into my head! Why not hitch hike!? I mean, come on!, Japan is one of the safest countries in the world – why not!? So we did just that. I explained that my knee was hurting and that we wanted a ride down the “mountain” and he said okay!

We had not had lunch yet so we found this adorable little curry shop café that our hotel recommended on the city map. The café can hold about 10 people – this is no joke! It was an adorable café and Josh and I split the curry set lunch. She gave us cherries as a service item! Cherries in Japan are so delicious – you know why? They come from America ;) hahahaha!

After lunch we enjoyed hoping around more onsens and then we had massages scheduled. We both enjoyed those separately . While Josh was getting his massage, I decorated our room to surprise him when he returned! I had brought a lot of things with me to decorate the room to make it extra special for him! He really loved it and appreciated what I did for him! I had balloons, streamers, wine…

After our relaxing massages and rest we went out into town and had a glorious sushi dinner for Josh’s birthday! It was huge! We were also able to go and eat there in our yukatas! It was such a memorable journey to Nagano!

The next day we walked around the town and drank coffee at a small café near the station. We then said good-bye to Yudanaka station and were well on our way to Nagano city where we hung out for part of the day and then found ourselves back in Tokyo!

What an AWESOME way to celebrate a birthday!! =)