Winter is fast approaching and you are probably wondering where to go and what to do, no?
In this post I will make a recommendation on best places to go and best things to do.
I recommend to go somewhere cold.
The kiss of winter is bitter icy cold. The howling winds kissing frozen faces. That’s how it feels in Japan, too. It stays cold like this for six months out of the year!
Winter without the snow is not winter….
( unless you are south of the equator )
Like how the sun and moon compliment each other, so does hot and cold. Ice and fire. Cereal and milk. Legs and stockings. Feet and pumps. Japanese sake and Japanese food. Like cheese and crackers. Hot springs and Jukujo. The scenes and the senses have to be just right. Just perfect. This is Japan.
This is the national flag and this is the kikku.
This is the song of the flag
This is an onsen married to winter - connubial bliss.
This is sake and snow - snow chilled rice wine. The snow was so high that I could open my room window and stick the sake bottles in the snow - Who needs a fridge when you have all this natural cold.
When snow falls you can’t hear it because the pitch is too high. What you hear instead is the sound of whooshing winds, hot breath, and your heartbeat. Snow absorbs sounds.
The best place to go is to Japan. To the snow. To the cold. To the hot spring in the snow. To the hot spa cottage with a “kotatsu” a low wooden table frame covered with a futon. Under this table is a heating element. There is hot Japanese rice wine on the table and it makes your face squint when you drink it.
Next to that is a huge bowl of “nabe” a Japanese hot pot dish packed with vegetables, tofus, and meats that everybody shares around the Kotatsu.
Enka music from the T.V. Off in the corner there is a gas heater warming the place. Mixed in with the sounds of masticating mouthes is laughter. The atmosphere is warm and convivial. This is really Japan.
If you are fortunate enough to enjoy it with a Japanese family in the countryside and have an opportunity to experience a really beautiful aspect of Japanese culture then by all means, try it.
On many occasions I have been invited into many Japanese homes for the holidays. I have experienced this in many prefectures with families of friends and lovers. Unlike Christmas in the U.S. where it’s like a feeding frenzy around a tree with presents, in Japan it’s about the warmth in the cold. The food with the sake. The love with the folk music. The outdoor baths in the snow.
Simplicity is beautiful. Serenity is beautiful. Good food with friends is beautiful. Good sake is beautiful. Good snow is beautiful. Warm Kotatsu is beautiful.
When I am not visiting friends and family, I like to travel solo to places like here
One of my other favorites is here.
If you like hot milky colored baths that are hot and therapeutic I recommend here
What is your winter fantasy? Tell us a story of winter…
There are hotspring spas in every corner of the world including in California.