The Ryokan Experience

A traditional ryokan is a Japanese inn. You stay in rooms with woven tatami mats and futons. The downmarket ones that we stay in have shared bath and bathrooms... which can be charming. The temple we stayed at in Koyosan... not so charming. There are three potential Ryokan issues: Food, Bathing and Bathroom. I will skip the details on the problems with the latter issue.

The room was great, but the shared bathrooms, while clean, were a little too shared. Ideally, if you don't have your own bathroom in your room, you at least have a room to close the door for a little privacy. Then there is the bath. Whether staying at an onsen (hot springs) or a ryokan with shared bath, you are probably going to end up scrubbing down with some strangers... and it is very intimidating.

BATHING
David has graciously agreed to show us how bathing should be done vs. what he does. I am going to interview him about his recent experience bathing with a very efficient Japanese bather in Koyosan:

Jenny: David, tell us what you saw. I know it is traumatic, but hold back your emotions and share.

David: Well, I first saw that there were shoes in front of the door to the bathroom, so I knew someone was in there, and that I'd be bathing with him. When I got in I saw an older Japanese man hunched over a plastic stool he had flipped over and was using as a bucket. The bucket was filled with soap and water and his glasses were floating inside. He dipped his rectangular washcloth in and began to furiously bathe himself, grunting and moving at an incredible speed. I felt silly standing underneath my shower head, carefully washing myself at a leisurely pace.

Jenny: When you say furiously bathe himself... do you mean he was mad? Describe...

David: No, it's just that he had probably done this a million times, and it was all very efficient, mechanical. He somehow managed to throw all of his stuff into a bucket of water, dip a rag in the bucket, slap himself with the towel, and walk away feeling clean. I, on the other hand, needed to carefully rinse, wash, and then rinse again.











BAD












GOOD

Yes... bathing with the ultra-clean Japanese people can be intimidating. You think they are noticing that you did not grab some part and scrub the hell out of it in the way that you should. They are all professionals. And the reason it matters is not only because you don't want them to think of you as a dirty American, but because you then get into one giant hot bathtub and soak with them. So, you don't want them to think you are adding pollutants to their nice little human teapot. Best to make a big show of it. And if you want a towel to dry yourself at the end? Too bad. Somehow you have to use the wet rag you just bathed with to dry yourself off. Will someone show me where the van for the Ritz Carlton is?

FOOD

When you stay at a Ryokan, you generally get a traditional dinner served either in your room or in a big room with lots of cushions and trays for you to eat your food. We like the in-room meal because Carlos isn't going to every other person begging for food or just plain swiping it.
The food at other ryokans has been pretty intensely Japanese... a whole 5 inch sardine split in half with the head on cooked in salt, a square of tofu with some chives on it, and some orange soda - if you please. The temple food was all vegetarian and all nasty. Water-logged tofu dumplings, water-logged vegetables (we don't know why everything was water-logged), lots of slimy stuff. Here are some photos of the dinner and the foods we rejected.
























We were so hungry we even resorted to crab poppers... whole crab you are supposed to just pop in your mouth and chew!!! Ick.































The room was lovely, though. They almost always are. Beautiful and soft tatami mats and freshly plumped futons. A bit slumber party with Carlos who babbles for about 90 minutes ("train, no train, hi mommy, are you hungry? do you want a cracker? Come in!") before finally shutting up and falling asleep.
























Here are some pictures of Carlos. He is so cute you could just eat him up. He is also very naughty...shocker. Double click on the middle one so you can see his precious laugh when he thinks he has tricked David.