BBQ AND BATH

Nothing like one last bbq for fumi going away. With fumi and yuka, we rounded up the goods at the local jusco store, beef, chicken, shrimp, scallops, and of course beer. Set to go we decided to go to our near by bridge in town, under the bridge was a nice paved piece of cement where we could put out our grill. Not quite the golden gardens bbq of back home, but it will do. Just sat and chatted and had a good time. Nothing like a a good ole bbq in japan.

Of course after stuffing ourselves we also smelt like bbq. Smokey clothes and hair is not good. So to top things off fumi wanted to hit up the local sento in town. A sento is basically a huge nice public bath for the community to use. Very popular in japan, not so popular in america. Anyways lucky since tatsuno is very small, everything is super close. So we rolled down to the sento, i have been to a couple before but not this one. I particularly did not venture to this one in fear of seeing either my students or teachers. It is one thing to see them, it is another to see them naked, or in fact they see you naked. But just for fumi i braved it.

Fumi being the onsen/sento specialist with over 20 in his belt rest assured that this one was very nice, and if not the nicest one he has been to. When arriving, i would believe he is correct. Being brand spanking new, it carried a nice designer look, with an old japanese feel. By far it was the best one i went to. Usually they have their regular baths inside, with cold pools, hot pools. But this one had a electric shocking chair, this was for muscle stuff, then it had the usual sauna, but also included a steam room that was supposed to be good for your lungs. I tried to go in, it smelled like curry, but damn it, i hate the heat, and i dont like curry that much, it was way too hot for me for that brief 5 seconds. My lungs felt better afterwards, but maybe that was because i could breath regular air again. To top off things, they had a nice cave, and inside the cave was a low pool with a rock couch that had water streaming over it where you could sit. And when you sit you can relax to surround sound music, a tv and dark mood lighting as if you were in a movie theatre. That was great! To end things my favorite was the slab of rock. Basically it is just warm trickling water over flat rock with soothing music in the background. Ah it was heaven. All i need was a ocean nearby and some cocktail waitresses to bring me some mango juice. Darn too bad i didnt have one of these in my home, i would sleep on it everyday. As my new tradition after sentos, i bought a green tea and vanilla soft cream (ice cream) to finish off the nite. Yum!