Last night, my family (my dad, mom, and little brother) arrived in Takasaki at 9 pm. So crazy to finally have them here! After a quick stop at 7-11 to get some food, I drove them back to my place. We were up pretty late chatting and unpacking. We managed to fit two people in each of my rooms. Saturday morning, we left home at about 9 am to drive up to Tanigawadake, a mountain on the border of Gunma and Niigata, in Minakami. We parked at the ski area parking garage to head up the ropeway on the side of the mountain. It saves you a three hour steep hike up the side of the mountain. Although it was pretty warm at the base, the top was pretty windy and chilly! I wished I had brought my sweatshirt with. The views were stunning at the 1300 m, and we decided to take the second, shorter lift to the very top of 1500 m.

Wow, just wow! Mountains and greenness everywhere. The peak of the mountain is at about 2000 m and the surrounding mountains still had some snow on them. We scrambled over a rocky area to have lunch while admiring the beautiful view, although our seats were rather uncomfortable. We ended walking to the shrine on the opposite side of the lift too. On the descent, I noticed that the rest of the road we wanted to drive to Ichinokurasawa Gorge was closed. Back at the center I asked and found you had to take a bus to the gorge. Sadly, we had just missed the bus, and it’d be too late to catch the next. We decided to head over to Takaragawa Onsen where Papa and Mama would be spending the night at the ryokan as an anniversary present.

On the drive over, Papa wanted to stop by the dam. The roads were crazy curvy and small, but it was a fun ride! The lake was so empty. Everything is really dry before the rainy season. Arriving at the onsen was confusing, because there was a guy at the gate who wouldn’t let us park down by the entrance as I had done last time. We tried explaining to him that some of us were staying overnight and that Lars and I were just going to the onsen, but it was too hard to get our point across. We had to park at the furthest lot, just outside the entrance while Papa and Mama pulled their suitcases down to the main ryokan entrance. It was actually hard to find! Completely tucked away, down the road, over a bridge, past all the parking, and around the corner.

After dropping them off at the reception, Lars and I slowly made our way to the onsen entrance for the non-overnighters. The guy there actually spoke really great English and was surprised to hear that it was my second time there. Although he overcharged us each by 100 yen according to the signs around and what he typed into the register...not sure if there was a recent price increase or what. It seemed fishy, but this is Japan… Lars and I rented a towel as well. We walked past all the old timer decor and the black bears in the small cages, before stopping and hanging out by some tables. Papa and Mama still hadn’t shown up about 30 minutes later.

I wanted to find a toilet next, but the signage was really lacking. I ended up asking a staff member who for some reason had trouble understanding me (although I’ve asked this many times before with no issues…). There was one in the ladies bath which she then went to show me the way to. Then I explained to Lars how to get changed and what to do with his clothes. Lars finished quicker than me, and had started heading into the water when I came out. I had to explain to him again that we need to pre-wash first around the corner. The water that had felt so cold in the winter was hot now! We rinsed off and got in the first bath which was really hot. Lars was freaking out a bit about all the men who were not covering themselves properly, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. We tried out all three baths and hung out in the last one the longest because it was much cooler.

Lars started getting red quite quickly so I had to remind him to sit outside and cool off. I went to see if I could track down the parents as it had been over an hour waiting for them. Finding people with blurry eyesight was a little tricky, but I finally spotted them coming down the path and waved Lars over from the opposite side of the river. Once again, I explained bathing etiquette and we joined the parents for a short round two. They didn’t stay in the water as long, and we both ended up getting changed around the same time. This time, I learned that the guy’s changing room was much bigger than the woman’s. Makes sense with the higher number of men there. Also as a guest of the ryokan, the baths are open 24/7! You could go for a dip in the middle of the night.

After saying our goodbyes, Lars and I made the trip back to Tomioka where we stopped at a kaiten sushi place for dinner. It’s the closest one to my house that I haven’t tried yet, but the fish was amazing! A step up in price and quality. It was crazy full on this weekend night. You had to order from the servers directly, but Lars is a pro. He immediately just picked up the menu, said sumimasen, and pointed to what he wanted. He’s already adapted well to being in a country where he can’t speak the language.