Trip 3: Days 13 & 14 - Osaka to Arima Onsen

On day 13, we woke to the pitter patter of rain on the window; bad weather for another day of travelling as we transferred from Osaka to Arima Onsen - our last onsen experience for this trip. But before we left Osaka there was one last item on the food wish list - soufflé pancakes from Cafe Gram. We dutifully walked to the outlet in Shinsaibashi by 10:45am to line up (I know right) for the 11:00 opening. We were assigned our pancake tokens and waited our turn.

Soufflé pancakes from Cafe Gram - world famous in Osaka.

Our turn eventually arrived and our pancakes were duly consumed. They were pretty good too - light and fluffy like no pancake you've ever had - but I gotta say, the cafe itself was pretty damn dirty. I could have sworn I'd left Japan for that half hour. It was just filthy - and first thing in the morning! Anyway I digress.

Having filled our bellies, we set off for Arima Onsen with a little subway action and then a JR Limited Express from Osaka station to Kobe-Sannomiya. We even got to sit up front and watch out of the driver's windscreen. Geek fun.

A drivers-eye view of the trip from Osaka to Kobe

Soon we were in Kobe-Sannomiya and looking for the bus to Arima. Lucas and I had caught the sucker in the opposite direction in Trip 2, so I kinda knew where to look. What we didn't know is that there are reserved JR buses, and there are local buses, and they are both heading to Arima from the same bus stop. Confusion ensued and confusion was duly bested, and soon we were slowly rolling along the highway in a local bus. Thank god for the Takyyubin - it would have been hell with our full luggage. Finally we arrived and we trudged up the hill to Negiya Ryofukaku in the rain.

Our nice traditional room at Negiya Ryofukaku

Ahh, back in a ryokan. We dropped our shit and headed straight for the onsen - we'd gone almost 3 full days without immersing ourselves in restorative waters, so things were getting dire. With that taken care of, and with perfect calm restored, we headed out for some dinner at a local Izakaya recommended by the ryokan.

We found the Izakaya 'Arimaya' without issue. Unfortunately, they were old school and didn't have an english menu. Even their menus were hand painted rendering google translate useless. I was able to order beer easily enough, but food was another story. Thankfully one of the young staff finally came over and offered to help. With a little back and forth - us suggesting dishes and he answering in the affirmative - we were finally able to order. We did remain ignorant of the cost, which was concerning knowing as we did how quickly a hefty bill can be rung up in such establishments.

Beer, snacks and Arima Cider Teppo Water in Izakaya Arimaya.

Anyway, long story short we had a lovely meal of sashimi, karage chicken and tempura, washed down with beer and the local 'cider' which is basically just sugar put into local ground-carbonated water extracted from one of the onsen springs. It's very famous stuff for this area, and is pretty refreshing! After dinner, it was yet another trip to the onsen and then bed.

Day 14 also dawned wet. We rose late and stumbled into the onsen for a wake up, finally leaving the ryokan at about 10:30am without breakfast. By this time the rain had eased, and we decided to spend the day exploring the village. To do this, we needed coffee.

Exploring Arima Onsen

We finally found a place that served hand-dripped coffee and gave it a try. Turned out to be worth the quite hefty price tag - the coffee was very good indeed.

Finally found a hand-dripped filter coffee 

Restored to 100% cognisance with a little caffeine, we continued around the town; locating the Tansan Spring from whence carbonated water is ejected straight from the ground. Apparently, in recent years the iron content of this spring has been increasing and you can really taste it alongside the slight soda taste of carbonation.

Tansan spring: like drinking almost-flat mineral water from a rusty tap.

It is said that man cannot exist on coffee and rusty mineral water alone. With this in mind, we went in search of something more substantial. This took the form of a potato croquette and a beef mince patty from the local butchers shop. The croquette was very tasty, the beef not so much, but at least sustenance was acquired and subsequently consumed.

Potato Croquette - a tasty brunch.

We continued walking aimlessly around the town, uncovering each of the onsen spring sources dotted here and there, and checking out some of the shops along the way.

One of the many tapped onsen springs scattered around town

With the taste of croquettes not yet a distant memory, we decided to stop into a small craft beer establishment for a small drink. We both selected some very dark 'Japan Black Beer', and it was pretty well received.

Japan Black Beer - yum.

More walking ensued, with visits to several local temples that were established very early in Arima's long history as the first onsen town in Japan. History Factoid: the town was established by General Hideyoshi Toyotomi in the 1500s, but was well known even back in the year 631 with visits by then Emperor Jomei when it was accessible only by priests.

Osenji Temple at the heart of the village

We also sampled many of the sweet Tansan Senbei (carbonic acid crackers) being made around the town. We purchased some from a guy who was selling them directly out of the hot mold - challenging purchasers to take the first bite when the cracker was still chewy and pliable.

Straight from the hands of the Tansan Senbei dude to you.

With the afternoon getting on and energy levels flagging, we decided on another coffee. We headed to a little place we'd spied earlier - the Fish House Cafe. Here we had a glorious affogato - probably the best I've ever had. The secret being the flakes of Tansan Senbei in the bottom of the glass that helped soak up the excess coffee. Heaven.

Affogato is the best way to end a day on your feet.

Finally, we headed back to the ryokan and a hot soak before dinner. The view out over Arima was nice and clear as we climbed back up the long driveway.

Arima Onsen in the sunshine

Dinner was another elaborate ryokan affair, served right in our room by our lovely hostess. We have been so amazed at the range and quality of food that we have been served at each and every ryokan we've stayed in this trip, and this meal was no exception.

Another amazing ryokan dinner.

After another post-dinner soak we were finally ready for bed. Our last futon sleep for the foreseeable future.

Trip 3: Days 11 & 12 - Nikko to Osaka

We woke early on day 11, a day destined to be consumed in its entirety by travelling, to an amazing clear blue sky over Yumoto Onsen (figures). We packed our shit together, said goodbye to our luggage once again, and headed for a quick soak before one last amazing ryokan breakfast.

With our goodbyes given to our delightful hosts, we headed for the Yumoto Bus Terminal and our 1 hour bus ride back to Nikko. From here on in there's not much of interest to tell. Arriving at Nikko Tobu Train station, we found that the typhoon had affected a portion of the track, so what we thought would be a quick run into Tokyo turned into a 3 and a half hour marathon involving busses and four local trains before pulling into Asakusa at around 1:30pm. Not rivetting reading I think you'll agree.

Once we arrived at Asukusa, the day started to look up. We made directly for our favourite restaurant and ate a well earned ramen and gyoza combo.

Well earned lunch of champions

After a quick coffee at Tullys (can you tell we've been in the sticks for over a week?) we jumped on the subway for Tokyo station. Finally ensconced on the Nozomi Shinkansen to Osaka, we could finally relax.

Cut to two hours later, and after we checked back in to our old Osaka hotel we headed out for dinner in Dotonbori. This time we chose a very lively Yakatori place that seemed more like an Izakaya than anything else. There was carousing, the clink of beer glases,  and smoke was heavy in the air.

The first yakitori of the trip. Yum!

We ate some tasty morsels and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. On leaving the restaurant we felt like a nightcap, so we walked further down Dotonbori to one of the fresh melonpan purveyors for desert.

Divine melonpan and softserve goodness

Both hot and super fresh and freezing cold all in one package - the fresh melonpan filled with soft-serve icecream was divine.

Day 12 dawned grey and wet in Osaka, and the rain never let up, even for a second. After a meagre breakfast in the hotel, we made our way back towards Hozenji temple and the small woodblock museum Kamigata Ukiyoe.

He we were not only able to view the exhibits, which were amazing, but we also tried our hand at woodblock printing; completing both the beginners and intermediate courses on offer.

Woodblock printing at Kamigata Ukiyoe.

This was great fun, immensely satisfying, and somethinng I've always wanted to do.

After our printing successes we headed for lunch at Hokkyokusei Shinsaibashi Honten - reportedly the very first restaurant to serve omu-rice in Japan. Of course that's what we had to have and it was sooo good.

Chicken omurice - delicious.

The rest of our day was largely unsuccessful. We braved the crowds of Umeda to visit the Hanshin Tigers baseball store and then the Pokemon Center. We also thought about visiting the sky tower, but the rain and the entry fee dampened our enthusiasm. In the end we just gave it up.

If you are still reading this, and why would you, then you'd know that another meal is due to close out this extended treatise. And you'd be right. After a little rest we ventured back to Dotonburi in search of Osaka style okinomiyaki. With the help of google reviews we found a great place right on Dotonburi itself and consumed yaki-soba and modanyaki made right there at our table.

Yakisoba and Modanyaki - glorious.

What a great way to end the day.

Trip 3: Day 10 - Yumoto Onsen & Lake Karikomi

It was raining lightly but consistently in Yumoto Onsen when we awoke quite late (8am) and consumed a massive breakfast before jumping in the outdoor onsen for our morning soak. Finally ready for the day, we chucked on our rain jackets and pack covers and out we went into the wet. The plan was to take it very easy today given the wet conditions. There was a 16km round-trip hike on offer in the hills surrounding Yumoto, but given the rain we opted to do the first 2.5kms to Lake Karikomi as a there-and-back-again type deal. I think 5kms between trips to the onsen is enough to ask of anyone.

It turned out to be quite a rough trail, especially given damage by recent typhoon Hagibis. With the constant rain, the rocks were slick and the onsen manager quite earnestly warned us to be very, very careful! We were dutifully careful, with only one slip recorded.

The trail started at the source of the entire resort's onsen water - the geothermal springs from whence the water, steam and sulphur emerged from the ground.

Capped geothermal springs supplying the entire resort with onsen water

From here it was up, up, up the side of the valley en-route to the lake. At the start the trail was easy enough, but it started to get rougher the higher we went into the valley.

The trail started easy enough 

But then degenerated the further we went

Despite some treacherous sections, we reached the 2.2km mark without too much effort and started to descend the last 300m down to the lake itself. This was through some pretty dense pine forest with huge rocks and plenty of typhoon damage. Luckily there were some (undamaged) stairs to help us, but we still made slow progress due to the rain.

The last 300m down to the lake were slow going, despite some stairs

Despite the slow progress we were soon down and finally looked upon Lake Karikomi. I won't say that it wasn't worth the effort, but it did seem little pay-off for all our exertions.

Lake Karikomi in all it's glory

We consumed some chocolate, peanut bars and mandarin jubes (3 of the 4 major food groups) and were soon making our way back to town. Here I not only ruined the gps route I'd just recorded of the walk (and so the relive video shows only half the trip), but we found and consumed what could possibly be the worst ramen in Japan.

Bellies full of regret, we took a short walk around town looking for coffee, and soon retired to the ryokan for yet another soak. This was duly followed by a beer during ryokan happy hour, and then an enormous, highly delicious dinner.

A little tapitty-tap-tap at this laptop, and it's high time we had a post-dinner soak and then bed.
Peace out.

Here is the relive video that I completely fucked, showing one half of the hike: