Last week to celebrate the end of Dr. Flynn's visit to Japan, the Hippo office arranged a thank you trip to Lake Kawaguchi, which is right at the base of Mt. Fuji. Several of the Hippo staff attended, as well as some Hippo members from other parts of Japan like Osaka, and I was invited along with some of the other interns. Everyone had a chance to talk together and share experiences and impressions throughout the weekend and the area we visited was really beautiful. We stayed in a hotel with a great view of Mt. Fuji across the lake. We were lucky to arrive on a clear day so we could see the mountain, and trees were just starting to change colors for the fall. It was a really nice trip and it was nice to see a little bit of Japan outside the city-ness of Tokyo.
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| View of Mt. Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi from the hotel |
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| The small tourist town that surrounds the lake |
At the hotel, I had the opportunity to experience a very Japanese tradition - the onsen, or public bath. The hotel had an onsen on the top floor that was fed by the water from natural hot springs and had an amazing view of the lake and mountain. One Hippo member told me that two of Japanese people's favorite things are the onsen and Mt. Fuji so it was really special to be able to experience them both together! People also told me that they were impressed that I was open also to the experience of the onsen, as many foreign people don't try it because they don't feel comfortable with the idea of being in the nude around strangers (even though, of course men and women's baths are separate). This actually didn't bother me at all and I would encourage everyone to experience it if they are in Japan. It's really nice! I went three times in our 24 hour stay at the hotel. We even got up early in the morning to be able to see the sunrise over the mountain from the onsen. Unfortunately when we got up all we could see was white because it was foggy, but it was still worth getting up for.
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| Japanese onsen looking over the lake and mountain |
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