Day Ten

May 10th

We traveled up to Hakone today, where we will spend the night in the guest house of TEL, where Ken used to work. Hakone is a resort area surrounding Lake Ashi with spectacular views of Mt. Fuji. I've heard so much about Hakone over the years, that I was excited to visit. Mom and dad would go there often with Ken and Miko during their years in Japan. Mom and dad also took some of their grandchildren there. Grandpa and Grandma Redding (my dad's folks) even made it to Hakone when they were 85 years old!

Our first stop at Hakone was the Hakone Hotel where we enjoyed a lavish buffet lunch. Seems like we're eating all the time here! It was a rainy, blistery kind of day, so we were glad to finally get settled in to our rooms at the guest house. We were in Room #10, but there were not ten rooms in the guest house. There was no Room #4 or Room #9. This numbers are bad luck to the Japanese, so they just skipped over these numbers in numbering the rooms. We got the only two rooms with Western style beds. The other rooms all were in traditional Japanese style with tatamis. I was glad I had a bed to sleep in again.

We enjoyed another Japanese feast for dinner. We had some traditional Japanese food. Can you believe I actually ate octopus? I can't, but I did. I can't believe some of the things I've eaten while in Japan. Let's see...raw fish, raw squid, sea weed, cherry leaves, twigs of trees for tempura, and now octopus! What's come over me? I decided early on that I would venture into the unknown and try to experience as much of Japan as I could, including eating some things that I had never thought I could. And I'm glad I did!

Before heading to bed we had some fun with karaoke after supper. Look out everyone, a sleeping karaoke lover has been unleashed in me now! I'd never done this karaoke thing before, but I had a blast! We all did. We had the room to ourselves, so we picked out whatever songs we wanted. The system was hooked up by satellite to pick up just about any song we wanted. Of course, the video portion of the karaoke had Japanese models which almost never fit what the song was about. We even found "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" which I found quite moving to sing along with Miko. Ken said that that is the first time he has ever seen Miko sing karaoke.

Following the fun of karaoke, Ken and I headed to the Japanese bath where we had the place to ourselves. I got to where a "yukata" which is a traditional Japanese robe. They were provided for us in the room. I wore my yukata to the Japanese bath down the hall from our room. I am becoming a pro at this Japanese bath thing, so I acted like I knew what I was doing and enjoyed another relaxing bath. I think this is something that Cleo and Barb could begin back home in Idaho! Not sure how we'd segregate the men from the women, though...