Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Tomo and I are in Karuizawa, Nagano-ken, enjoying a nice getaway at Hoshinoya ryokan. It is really, really, really, really nice. We had a 7 course French dinner and then took a bath at the onsen. Our room is right on the water (after some discussion that our first room was not what we were expecting…), there are floating lanterns decorating the water as well. It has a special meditation spa as well as the onsen that we have yet to visit.

When we arrived, we were ushered into a greeting room where they have a musician playing traditional instruments. It is hard to explain what he was playing, but one of the instruments was a metal bowl that was rubbed around the rim to make it resonate. He had wind-chimes, steel plates, gongs, etc. I’ll post a picture. Unfortunately I left my card reader at home. You can check it out at http://www.hoshinoya.com/en/index.html. It feels a little “culty” but I can handle it!

Now I am too relaxed to continue. More tomorrow? Do NOT ask about the price.