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After leaving Narita City on May 16 our first stop was a three night's stay at Naruko Onsen, some three hours north of Tokyo by train. Our ryokan had two public indoor onsens (one for men, one for women) and one private outdoor onsen (which you reserved in half hour increments, so both of us could use it together); our room also contained a hinoki (cypress wood) o-furo, so we weren't short of options for a good soak.
During our stay at Naruko Onsen, we saw the Kokeshi Doll Museum on May 17 (when it was raining all day), and Sendai, Matsushima & Matsushima Bay on May 18 (when we had great sunny weather all day). In addition, we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on May 16 (which also happened to be the only day in which Jane had Japanese food that she did not care for -- salmon stomach).
Naruko Onsen
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Here is the hinoki bath tub in our room, which is a fancy wooden o-furo. In a Japanese household, the o-furo is filled with very hot water, then the first person showers and gets into the o-furo; once he is done then the second person showers and gets into the o-furo, etc. The key point here is that, because everyone is clean once he/she showers, everyone soaks in the same hot water in the o-furo -- you do not pull the plug on the o-furo when you are done soaking!
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