Life isn’t always about finding new things, but also discovering some old stuff too!

Life isn’t always about finding new things, but also discovering some old stuff too! For us, Tsurunoyu was the oldest and farthest hot spring we could find in Japan. Having a history of nearly 350 years, they offer a very traditional style. The onsen features four baths, each with water of a different composition. But, the most interesting thing there was a mixed bath. Which means “Let’s bathe together with strangers!” Of course, I set my mind to bathing together with men before going, but the reality is no joke. With no clothes, I just couldn’t get myself to make my way to the mixed bath. Because it felt so odd, I sat in the before-bath for almost a half hour. But then I thought of Telmen waiting in the pool below and I said to myself, “This is the place you planned, and dreamed of going to for so long. So let’s face it, you can do it. You are braver than you think.” What surprised me inside was that the mixed bath has milky water (see pictures) so once you’re in nobody can see anything, anyways. So my odd feelings were gone and an extraordinary lifetime experience began. With the outside temperature sitting at just  -2°C that day, once you got inside the hot water, you couldn’t stop telling yourself “Oh, this is just so good. I don’t wanna come out!” Plus, it was January, and Akita’s normal snowy weather just continued unabated. Every moment was so precious, even I wanted to forget to take photos. But “we couldn’t”, and here is the results. A magnificent sight that cannot be captured or described but instead must be be experienced and enjoyed at least once in your lifetime, no matter the cost. Actually the cost of the day trip spa is 500 yen, $4.2 in US 🙂

Photo by: Telmen Buyannemekh and me