02.12.11
Hot Springs
We have had fun this winter going to various hot springs (for some reason, a lot of my students call them “spas,” which doesn’t quite seem to ring true, so I usually call them on it). Places like Yunishigawa and Yashionoyu. Note, on our visits to the latter, we boys weren’t rewarded with the sight of beautiful, unclad ladies bathing in a hot pool. That’s just what you see on the website. These exotic-sounding names aren’t actually so difficult to understand once you know a bit of Japanese.
For example, 湯西川, or Yunishigawa, is simply a string of three kanji (the Japanese version of Chinese characters) meaning “1. hot water 2. west 3. river.” So you can more or less figure out what it means for yourself. Tonight we went to Yashionoyu and the twins had a lot of fun melting snow and ice in the hot water. I took a couple of plastic basins and filled them with snow from the little yard just outside the pool. Last time we did this, one of the old men in the hot pool, grumbling to the air, muttered something like, “You’re going to cool down the water!” and I don’t know if he was being serious or just being sarcastic. Anyway, I just ignored him and he didn’t repeat himself. But I mean, was the geezer’s comment worth responding to anyway? The pool is open to the winter air and is continually under attack by the forces of cold. Obviously, there is a powerful heater keeping all that water hot. One or two little basins of snow, in addition to all that cold winter air, ain’t gonna matter a whole helluva lot.
Anyway, it’s time to go to bed soon. My energy is beginning to flag. Here is a nice pic from our trip to Yunishigawa. Hmm, was that in December or January?
