Like a virgin Since 2010, together with my running buddies, we have been making yearly trips to Japan and onsens always feature prominently in our itineraries. Takaragawa Onsen was one of the first they visited. I wasn’t with them at that time but they made sure I became […]
One day out of the blue, my mate asked: why are we going to Ginzan? (ok, she meant, why, out of so many onsens, did I choose this one?) I gave her the only answer that came to my mind then: because there’s a ryokan there that looked like the […]
My dad has a new moniker: ex-chairman. (Forced to retire by one of his daughters but that’s another story.) So, the ex-chairman and I were reminiscing about Shima Onsen 四万温泉 (lit. 40,000 onsen). We remembered because it was Hinamatsuri when we arrived (Girl Festival, celebrated on 3 March […]
The weather was dismal when I got off the bus at Nozawa. It was raining/snowing, I couldn’t tell which; I had enough on my hands battling strong gusts of wind that threatened to veer me off the uneven slope. While Zao had been bright, cheerful and calm, Nozawa […]
Cool friends, Hot baths, and Delicious sake There’s something special/sweet about meeting up with old friends in a foreign land. It’s like getting lost and then getting found. It kinda feels like we’ve gone home. We were en route to meet a group of ultra-running friends who had just […]
the last word 