Day Four 四 Plunging into Japanese Culture

On my fourth day I made a journey of epic proportions. Restin, my host, had an amazing cup of coffee ready for me when I woke up. I enjoyed my cup of coffee again while sitting out on the balcony gazing at drizzle that was coming down on the streets. After that, I had a nice breakfast at the bakery and cafe across the street. They have a large assortment of baked goods for the lowest prices and I got a delicious chicken sandwich unlike any I've ever had before from the café next to the bakery. After that I went back home to make plans for the day. I used tokyocheapo.com to give me some help on finding a good Sentō (Japanese bath house). I ended up deciding on nu land, a large bath house with an onsen, Japanese hot spring. At the time I didn't realize how far away the place was from where I was stayin, it was on the farthest opposite side of Tokyo. I bought a ¥600 open train pass and went on my. I got off at the Nihonbashi station and transferred to the asakusa line, but I ended up getting stopped going through gates. I was very confused, but I found out the asakusa line wasn't part of tokyo metro, it was under toei transportation, and my pass that I had just spent ¥600 on was invalid here. So I had them upgrade the pass for ¥400, this allowed me to take as many trains I wanted on either line. I ended up getting on the wrong platform though, my mistake cost me 45 minutes, not that I was in a rush or anything, but my mistakes this day just kept adding up. I finally got on the right train, it flew over the town of Ota-ku the sight was absolutely beautiful, I saw plenty of cherry blossoms and houses, the coolest part were the number of graveyards in this city. Around 10 tiny graveyards rested at the side of this train line, each with its own beautifully unique design. When I got off the train I once again my pass wasn't valid here, even after the ¥400 upgrade, another blunder. I had to pay ¥200 more to pass through the gates. I wandered the streets to Nu Land, the sento, for about 2 km in the rain. The city was on the far outskirts of tokyo, once again there were no tourists, businessman and college students were walking at break neck speeds al through out the tight streets of Ota-ku. There weren't many big stores, just small restraunts, the streets smelled of freshly cooked ramen and steaming hot pork. I arrived at the bath house, I had studied up on the rules and removed my shoes put them in the locker and bought my ticket for ¥600, turns out I could have saved ¥140 if I brought my own towel which tokyocheapo failed to mention. In the locker room I dropped every last article of clothing on me and entered the giant room of baths bare naked in front of 20 other random naked Japanese men. This took boldness and bravery, but I was focused on following on all the rules of the sentō. Before you can enter the baths you must completely wash yourself, I pulled up a stool in the line of sitting showers and filled up a basket with hot water an poured it over my head, this was the first time hot water touched my body for days, the sensation was exhilarating. I completely scrubbed myself down and shampooed my hair. I cleansed my entire body and then proceeded to entering the first bath. The water was bubbling and sizzling hot but no jacuzzi could ever relax you as this giant bath did. After that bath, I headed over to the black bath, the water was pitch black, you couldn't see the bottom, and there was a fountain on the side with dark colored water pouring out of it into this steaming hot bath. My next bath was the onsen, the outdoor hot spring bath. This was by far my favorite, I laid my body down in the boiling water and enjoyed the beautiful setting surrounded by bonsai trees and bamboo walls. While out there I had a pleasant conversation with a middle aged Japanese man, he told me it's rare to see foreigners in these baths. After I finished exploring all 8 baths I squatted myself down again at the group of showers with mirrors and scrubbed myself for thirty minutes. I left the baths cleaner than I had ever been before, my soul cleansed as well. On the train home I had to pay another ¥200 making my total journey ¥1400, the cost easily could have been cut down but I learned from mistakes and overall had an amazing day, an experience I will never forget. I once again fell asleep on the train, but luckily this time it wasn't the last line, I made it home at 11:30. I would be lying if I said I didn't have the longest... Hair there ;). Thank you to all my followers for showing support. I'm out for now.

Outside onsen

Inside