I left my apartment earlier than usual to catch my first Japanese train to prefectural orientation! My nearest train stop is about a 10 minute walk from my place. I pass the shrine right by my house. I got there early (left time to buy ticket and get lost). It was drizzling a little so I took my umbrella. Everyone uses proper umbrellas with a handle here and puts them in umbrella stands. I felt like Mycroft, heh. Buying a ticket was easy enough, just said the name of my destination. I had to take two trains, one first to Takasaki and the second to Maebashi. The second leg was JR Rail whereas my first train was a private line.

Meeting Gunma-chan!

Nicely enough even my tiny little station had a toilet. Public toilet access everywhere is quite nice. The train was two cars long and definitely was more of a slower ride. It was pretty full, a commuter train. I saw K who was riding the same train, but there were no spots together. The people were all rather quiet, sleeping, reading, or on their phones. The journey took about 50 minutes and I stared out the window. It was rather pretty with the rice fields and people biking on the paths between them. I need to see what biking trails are in my area. Since my train has the silk mill, there were English announcements as well announcing each stop and from which car you could exit.

At Takasaki, we had to exit the station and re-enter for the JR rail side. Now this was a proper sized train station. This is where I’d catch the shinkaisen too if I wanted to go somewhere. We found the ticket machines and the English option, whew. But then neither of us could remember which line we had to take. I knew the price and location of Maebashi so we guessed and confirmed with a station worker. Then it was through some proper automated gates and off to the tracks. Maebashi was only about another 15 minutes away. K and I elected to walk to the Kencho rather than splitting a taxi. It wasn’t too far, about a 20 minute walk. We arrived there promptly on time.

We received more papers and sat sweating in our suits. The ceremony began with more officials and their introductions. After they left, we peeled off our jackets, and Gunma-chan came to visit! We got to take pictures with it. Then it was a long day filled with rather useful workshops. For lunch, we ate in the cafeteria again. Much better experience this time. I got curry, yum! Afterward, I visited the Gunma-chan shop and bought some cute stationary! I haven’t seen any postcards yet, but I’ll have to check the touristy area. After the rest of the workshops, we walked our luggage and things to the hotel to check in. There was wifi in the lobby, yay! We all had single rooms to ourselves.

After returning my key to the front desk, which we had to do every time we left since they were actual keys, I used the rest of my time for internet. We had to go back to the Kencho for a dinner reception with our suits once more. The basement was rather hot, the fans barely helping. The servers started bringing out all the food. So beautiful and delicious looking. We listened to some speeches including an excellent one by a fellow ALT. Everything was translated into both languages. Then it was kanpai time! They had plenty of non-alcoholic drinks this time so I took ginger ale. The food tasted as good as it looked. And the sushi! Ahhhh. I ate so much.

After dinner, karaoke had been planned. I didn’t sign up because I thought it would run too late for my early bedtime self. (They got back around 2 am!) Instead, I met up with some people at the hotel (5 other girls) and we went to a sentou! A sentou is an indoor public bath. You have to pay extra to rent towels so I took the hotel one with. It was a short walk from the hotel. When we entered, you had to remove and lock up your shoes right away for 100 yen. I ended up splitting a locker with another girl. Then at the front desk, we gave them the locker key and they put our receipts in a little plastic envelope with a number on it. A couple of us spoke Japanese so that wasn’t too rough. Entrance cost 730 yen.

We then headed upstairs to the baths. There was a large restaurant and a food and gift shop as part of the building. We approached the two curtains, red for women and blue for men. There were more lockers here where you could lock your valuables for 100 yen. We all shared one. Past the curtain…all the naked women. Good thing, nudity is not a problem for me, ha. There were baskets where you could place your clothes and things, a long mirror with blow dryers and chairs, and more lockers. After stripping down, another girl and I realized we forgot to bring small towels with so we had to get dressed again and go to the main counter. It was 80 yen to rent one. Luckily she had some money on her because all my stuff was locked up!

I headed in past the sliding door and promptly realized I forgot to take off my glasses. So much steam. I dropped those back off and went to find a stool and washing spot for my pre-wash. They had shampoo, conditioner, and body soap to use. You had to put your hair up though before you went in the water. I put my little towel on my head (which really did help with the heat) and made sure it didn’t accidently slide off my face into the water.  We soaked first in the indoor bath and then headed outside. We definitely got stares and laughs especially when it came to A! She clutched her little towel to herself and shimmied around to avoid showing anything. I’m glad she wasn’t too uncomfortable to even try it out though. I hope we weren’t too obnoxious.

There was also a sauna and a cold tub for post-sauna. That water was rather cold, but maybe it was just the temperature difference from the super-hot water in the other areas. We didn’t stay in that long. I started getting very tingly toes so I bowed out. Then it was time for a post-bath rinse and back to getting dressed again. I felt amazing afterward. My skin tingled softly and I felt warm and comfortable all over. Falling asleep was no problem! I definitely want to go to an actual onsen now.