6
65rosessamurai
Guest
I went to Wakayama Prefecture with Yuka for a few days, to do a "family thing". We went to have a small picnic on the beach, with pigions circling us like a band of injuns ready to attack at the first sign of a food crumb!
We stayed for two nights in this homy hotel, which wasn't bad considering it's reasonable pay. There wasn't anything glamourous about it, but I think it was worth staying again when we go next time.
We left Wednesday night, and arrived late, but traffic was sooo smooth, despite it was raining pretty hard sometimes--which kept me awake all the way. Sometimes I got so nervous driving through the mountains, thought I was gonna break the steering wheel right off, though!
Thursday, was when we went to a picnic, and then to a small amusement park. It wasn't bad, got some neat photos, maybe I can post later.
We went to eat "Kaiten Sushi" later that night, and except for some "newbie employee" putting on too much wasabi sometimes, the food was pretty good!
The next day, we did something for Yuka's dad, and then afterward, hopped in the local "public bath", which had natural hot spring water.
It was divided for guys and girls (some areas of Japan don't separate the bath for men and women!), and as I went into my half, I could hear the women cackling on the other side--seems Japanese women cackle the most! Anyway, when I was done, and drying myself with a handkerchief sized towel, stark naked, some 50 or so year old guy comes walking in the bath, and left the sliding door WIDE OPEN! I'M standing in my birthday suit and with the handkerchief sized towel in my hand waiting for him to close the door! He didn't budge, in fact, just started taking off his shirt, and as I walk to the door to close it, I turn around and tried to say in Japanese to close the door behind him.
Well, I had just gotten the shakes because I didn't eat for six hours and the hot bath seemed to suddenly drop my sugar level and I couldn't think straight, so my simple Japanese came out wrong, and it sounded like "after closing door, please can't you?" and the guy ended up ignoring me anyway. That's when he started taking off his shirt and had a tatoo from his wrists down to his waist! The guy was Yakuza!! I looked at it from the side of my eye, but when I saw it, I said outloud "It figures!", cause that was the kind of experience I was having at that time! Then, the guys buddy had come in soon after him, and he also had a tattoo all over his back and chest. At least that guy seemed less intimidating, but I still just wanted to get the heck outta there before something happened.
Most cases with public baths in Japan, is they don't allow Yakuza, because they disrupt the other customers in many cases. I thought maybe because this is Wakayama, maybe it's a "Poor Japanese Mafia", and the old beat up little car parked in front was their mode of transportation! I laughed at that thought, but after Yuka and I left there, I started telling her about the Yakuza there, and her jaw hit the floor! She indicated how rare it is for anyone to see a Yakuza with their tatoos so up close, so indicated I was quite lucky, in addition to being lucky!
Our trip home was a little more easier, no rain, and there was very little traffic. I got home and crashed in my warm bed!
We stayed for two nights in this homy hotel, which wasn't bad considering it's reasonable pay. There wasn't anything glamourous about it, but I think it was worth staying again when we go next time.
We left Wednesday night, and arrived late, but traffic was sooo smooth, despite it was raining pretty hard sometimes--which kept me awake all the way. Sometimes I got so nervous driving through the mountains, thought I was gonna break the steering wheel right off, though!
Thursday, was when we went to a picnic, and then to a small amusement park. It wasn't bad, got some neat photos, maybe I can post later.
We went to eat "Kaiten Sushi" later that night, and except for some "newbie employee" putting on too much wasabi sometimes, the food was pretty good!
The next day, we did something for Yuka's dad, and then afterward, hopped in the local "public bath", which had natural hot spring water.
It was divided for guys and girls (some areas of Japan don't separate the bath for men and women!), and as I went into my half, I could hear the women cackling on the other side--seems Japanese women cackle the most! Anyway, when I was done, and drying myself with a handkerchief sized towel, stark naked, some 50 or so year old guy comes walking in the bath, and left the sliding door WIDE OPEN! I'M standing in my birthday suit and with the handkerchief sized towel in my hand waiting for him to close the door! He didn't budge, in fact, just started taking off his shirt, and as I walk to the door to close it, I turn around and tried to say in Japanese to close the door behind him.
Well, I had just gotten the shakes because I didn't eat for six hours and the hot bath seemed to suddenly drop my sugar level and I couldn't think straight, so my simple Japanese came out wrong, and it sounded like "after closing door, please can't you?" and the guy ended up ignoring me anyway. That's when he started taking off his shirt and had a tatoo from his wrists down to his waist! The guy was Yakuza!! I looked at it from the side of my eye, but when I saw it, I said outloud "It figures!", cause that was the kind of experience I was having at that time! Then, the guys buddy had come in soon after him, and he also had a tattoo all over his back and chest. At least that guy seemed less intimidating, but I still just wanted to get the heck outta there before something happened.
Most cases with public baths in Japan, is they don't allow Yakuza, because they disrupt the other customers in many cases. I thought maybe because this is Wakayama, maybe it's a "Poor Japanese Mafia", and the old beat up little car parked in front was their mode of transportation! I laughed at that thought, but after Yuka and I left there, I started telling her about the Yakuza there, and her jaw hit the floor! She indicated how rare it is for anyone to see a Yakuza with their tatoos so up close, so indicated I was quite lucky, in addition to being lucky!
Our trip home was a little more easier, no rain, and there was very little traffic. I got home and crashed in my warm bed!