Ryokan

After returning from our home stays, we loaded once again on a bus to head out towards Miyami Island were our Japanese style hotel was located. Japanese style means that 4 of us shared a room that looked huge when we entered to see a low table in the center and a floor covered with tatami mats. While everyone attended a Japanese style (sit-on-the-flloor) meal, hotel employees laid out the beds -- thin mattresses covered with a sheet and a pillow. There is no covering sheet -- just a light down-like comforter. I thought the mattress in the New Otani king-size bed was extra firm, but sleeping on the floor is hard. You could take a Japanese style bath in the room -- you sit on a stool and wash yourself and shampoo your hair. There’s a drain in the floor of the room. Then you get in a hot tub to soak. In a home, everyone in the family would use the same water -- that’s why you only get in when you’re completely clean. Some of our group bravely tried the onsen -- a public bath. There the procedure is the same except the soaking bath has many hotel guests. You can’t take a towel into the room. The Japanese are less hung up about body image than we Americans are.
Monday
We had looked out over the lake the night before, but we couldn't see much. We woke up to a gorgeous view, looking over at Miyami Island. After a breakfast buffet, we headed back to Tokyo on the bullet train. I’m back in a room overlooking the New Otani gardens for my last days in Tokyo. Two more days of meetings before we head for home.