For the last two days, we've been living it up old-school at two different ryokans. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel with an onsen, an onsen being a natural hot spring bath. The rooms are traditional tatami-style, so during the day the set-up is for hanging around and eating, then at night the ladies of the hotel come in and lay out your bedding for you. Your meals are served in your room (breakfast and dinner are included in your room price), and are made up of all kinds of traditional Japanese foods. Basically you soak in the hot springs, eat and drink all while laying about in yukatas the whole time - it's all about relaxation at a ryokan. The following are photos from both ryokans; one was near the ocean (Sea of Japan) while the other was more up in the mountain regions. Both were unique in their own ways and had amazing food. Now we're off to Tokyo! 
The rock garden in our tatami room.
The beds are laid out by the hotel workers right before bedtime. The bedding is a traditional futon mattress with a down comforter.
Local crab, cooked with the claws cut for easy eating.
A sashimi platter, including two local favorites that I've never had before.
Fish and head cooked in mild sauce. Nice teeth!
Cooking more fish at our table.
This is a meal at the first ryokan, the one in the mountains. We each got a whole crab, plus a ton of other fish and other local favorites.
Fish with a root vegetable and seaweed salad.
Five different grains covering steamed shrimp balls.
Though we always start with beer, sake is the main drink of a ryokan dinner.
Soft shell crab with crunchy noodles and caviar.
Sushi rice with salmon, pickled ginger, egg and mushrooms. 
1 comment:
YUM!
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