Every day since we left Tokyo we've been travelling further and further to the west. Today we were going to travel most of the way back again. Unfortunately the bullet train was heavily delayed, perhaps due to the bad weather, so we spent most of the day sitting on the train.
We were staying in a traditional Japanese Ryokan high up in the mountains at Hakone, and we finally arrived by cable car just after the sun had gone down. On the first night they were serving us an 11 course (!) Kaiseki meal, so we just had time to change into our robes before the eating started.
After dinner a guy came in to take away the dining table and lay out the matresses for bed so we went to try the baths which are heated by a natural hot spring. Unfortunately they're completely segregated, so we couldn't help each other with the long list of bathing rules. When you enter you have to sit on one of the little wooden stools are wash yourself thoroughly using 3 soap dispensors and a little wooden bucket. Once you're clean you can climb into one of the rock pools, where the water is so hot you start cooking pretty much immediately, though they give you a little wash towel to soak in cold water and put on your forehead.
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