We got up at 7:30am and drank some coffee as we got ready to check out of our Airbnb by 10am. I left our Airbnb host a note with a beer for him. He said he was always drunk after 5pm, so I left a note saying “ enjoy this beer after 5pm on us – Kuma chan” because he had called me kuma chan because of my winter toque with the double pompoms. We left at 9:45am and walked to the train station about a 30 minute walk away. We got some coffee and onigiri at the station for breakfast and booked tickets on the Komachi train to Tazawako. The entire journey only took 15 minutes, however our train was a bit delayed due to snow. Train delays are super rare in Japan, however in the snowy north they seem a lot more common. We arrived at Tazawako at 11:08am and found some stamps for our notebooks. 

Tazawako is full of dragons and huge dragon heads on the platform. There is a tale from Tazawako of a young girl who turned into a dragon at this lake. The tale says that the girl looked into the lake and saw that her reflection was beautiful. She wished to be beautiful forever, so she was turned into a dragon and lives in the lake to this day. You can travel the lake on a circle bus for 1210 Yen and see the statue of the girl that was turned into the dragon, as well as a beautiful red torii gate.

The bus schedule is super specific and not very often at uneven increments, so it did not fit into our schedule. We bought tickets on the but to Nyuto Onsen from a vending machine in the tourist information station, The one way ticket cost 840 Yen and we jumped on the 12:25 bus to Nyuton onsen, leaving from platform #1 just outside the train station. The bus ride took about one hour from Tazawako station to Taenoyu onsen. The drive was beautiful and snowy, and the time flew by as we watched the scenery. Take a ticket as you embark and then drop your ticket in the payment hole as you exit the bus. We arrived at our ryokan, Taenoyu at about 1:30pm and walked around a bit, seeing the beautiful man-made waterfall close up and filming Jives rap (and fall into a snow drift up to his crotch).

We ventured into the onsen at about 2pm and sat in the welcome area, worried we were too early for check in. A lady came over and asked if we were there to use the onsen, I said no, “staying” and she ran off to get someone to check us in. They instructed us to take off our boats and they checked our temperature. Then we were ushered to a restaurant room and given matcha and a mountain vegetable miso soup. We were cold and the tea and soup was so delightful. A lady then came over and explained all the bath information, asking when we wanted breakfast and dinner and booked us a time at the private onsen bath. She then gave us keys and showed us the place for dinner and breakfast (different for each meal). She took us to our room afterwards. When we entered the room the lady started freaking out because our bags had not been brought in. I told her that we had just brought a small handbag (as we had left our big bags at the train station in a locker).

She seemed shocked, but relieved, and held her head like she had a headache. We then sat at our little chairs overlooking the waterfall (you could see the waterfall from our room!!) and had the beers we had bought at the station. Our room was so fancy, it had a kotatsu-like table on a luxurious carpet and a cabinet full of teas and coffees and snacks (bean treats and a cheese and Yama snack) . We had our own private bathroom ( no shower, but who needs a shower at an onsen?) and it just felt like we didn’t belong (even though Jives was wearing a fancy three piece suit)… okay, maybe I just didn’t belong. 

We changed into our yukata. Jives had an extra large to try on and it fit with room to spare, a first on this trip! I put on a medium size yukata, although a small one probably would have fit, being a bit taller I usually go one size up. The Yukata was white and brown with a bright yellow belt. The next layer was the vest which was either red or green and then there was a top layer of a quilted jacket. We set out on our first onsen adventure. The bath had two sides and a mixed gender bath outside. At 8pm the segregated sections changed so that men and women had a chance to experience all of the baths. First off the women had the left side changeroom and  bath and the men had the right. I entered the chance room and chose a basket to deposit my clothes in and proceeded to the wash area. There were four wash stations in the same room as the first bath. I washed and then went outside to the mixbath to meet with Jives. The ground was so cold and covered in ice and snow. I got in the mix bath and no one was around. Jives joined me soon after. This mixed bath was incredible and honestly the highlight of the trip. Snow was falling down and the mixed bath faced the waterfall. The snow was piled so high and the temperature of the water was so perfect. With the cold snow falling and landing on your face, it created the perfect balance. We sat there quite a while on our own, and about 30 minutes later a man arrived, looking bashful. I didn’t mind at all, as we had been in the public baths for weeks and I was growing accustomed to it. As well, the water was very dark and no one could see below the waterline. Then a few minutes later another man arrived, and another and another… until it was me and four men in the bath. The first man that had entered turned to me and said “ I hope you don’t mind it’s men’s bath” and I said “no it’s fine” thinking he meant there were just so many men in the mixed bath with me… then he said “no, the mixed bath is back there, this is the men’s bath”. SHIT. I said sorry (gomen nasai) soooo many times and ran from the bath in terror. I had committed the ultimate onsen faux pas, I was mortified. 

I changed and headed back to the room, where I looked up and read about eight blog posts confirming that I was in fact in the mixed bath, but I was still certain that I must have screwed up somehow, as I don’t read Japanese very well, I must have missed a sign or screwed up somehow. 

Jives and I walked to the vending machine to get a beer to calm my anxieties as I was really shaken up that I had somehow gone in the men’s bath, the thing I was the most terrified of accidentally doing. At the vending machine the same man that had told me I was in the men’s bath walked up to me and said “I have to apologise, that was the mixed bath, I was confused!” Ladies hour in the mixed bath had just started and he must have been kicked out of the mixed bath. I felt better, but so so embarrassed. 

We retreated to our room to have our beer, and stayed there until about 6pm  when we headed down to dinner. We were the first to arrive for dinner and we were seated by the river view and waterfall. We told the ryokan that we do not eat meat, but do eat fish, so they had arranged a special meal for us. There were so many dishes; a walnut with a small pick for digging out the nut from the shell, some pickles, little stringy green veggies, an egg custard, sashimi in a leaf pinned with a sakura pin, and a shelled something… They instructed us to put a fish on the little grill which was covered in miso and there was a sort of veggie hotpot. Next they brought us a light coloured fish sashimi and we ate the hotpot with a rice dumpling. The next course was a mushroom soup in a clear broth, which was incredible but so simple. We thought the meal was over so we got up to leave, but the staff told us we had dessert and a green tea coming. Dessert was the juiciest orange, two strawberries and a mochi in a leaf. The server lady let me keep the sakura branch that was decorating my plate (I had said how beautiful it was to her). We also split a beer with dinner.

We then returned to our room to get our towels and go to the bath. We didn’t realise the bath was closed from 6-8 to clean before the women’s and men’s sides switched. The nice man cleaning the onsen told us to come back at “hatchi” 8pm. We returned to our room and sat watching the waterfall and the snow falling down, as the sunset. We headed to the baths just after 8pm to enjoy the other baths we were not able to try earlier (as the mens and womens sides had been different). The changerooms had changed, so I entered on the right side this time. This change room was much larger. I chose a basket and changed, then walked by the outdoor bath to get to the wash area. The shower room was long and skinny with four wash stations. The room was also floor to ceiling cedar and smelt amazing. I then went up the stairs to the two smaller baths. The first small bath was locked, but I was the only one in the other small bath for quite awhile. The bath had completely clear water with a large pebbled bottom. Eventually another lady came in and told me that there was no one in the outdoor bath so I went to that to give her some space. The outdoor bath was surrounded by rocks and looked out over the snow and some snow covered trees. The bath was dark in colour and very bubbly. After a few minutes the same lady came into the outdoor bath with me and joked that the water was too hot close to the bubbles (I actually thought it was cooler than most of the baths). A third lady came in after a while and I decided to get out.

We headed to the private bath at 10pm , walking through the main changeroom for the private onsen. The private bath was right next to the mixed bath and also overlooked the waterfall. We had 30 minutes in the bath, it was super clear and very warm. Jives built a snowman within reach of the bath. It was lovely. We headed back to our room and made a green tea and went to sleep in the futon that had been put out for us as we had had dinner. 

We woke up the next morning at 7:20 to have breakfast at 7:45. We were the first people at breakfast as we had a bus to catch at 8:50am. Breakfast was elaborate as dinner had been the night before. We had a bunch of pickled veggies, some fish and salmon to grill over a fire, another hotpot with veggies, soya sauce and miso paste. We also had an onsen egg with a bowl of rice and nato to eat together. We then had dessert, a kiwi and strawberries with a coffee. 

We then packed up our bags and headed to checkout. We paid for the beer we had the night before and the cute cleaning man got us our boots from the cupboard. We could stand inside to wait for the bus he motioned, as it was -17C outside, but we didn’t want to miss the bus. The super cute cleaning man waited with us outside until our bus arrived and then waved as the bus drove off.