It was time to do some more exploring in Iwate prefecture. We left Yokosuka at 05:26am on a local train and headed to Tokyo. After a couple of train transfers we arrived at Tokyo station and caught the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) for Iwate; in particular Shin-Hanamaki station. We arrived at Shin-Hanamaki station and then proceeded to Hanamaki station by local bus where we transferred to another local bus that took us to the first location to explore on this 4 day adventure, "Dai-Onsen" (the time was 11:36am).
The bus dropped us off here at the only bus stop in town. The bus stop is on the left, on the right is a public toilet. When one is in the middle of nowhere, having a public toilet next to the bus stop is a wonderful combination and so civilized!
This is where we went for a soak in a hot spring and lunch. A lot of the small town hot spring hotels (which I will refer to as an Onsen from now on) quit offering daytime service because of COVID19. We were fortunate to find this place was back in the daytime service.
After a long soak in the bath and a delicious lunch we set out to explore the rest of the Dai-Onsen town. Since most of these towns were established before cars were invented the roads are narrow and twisting.
The place with the lanterns in the entranceway is a famous 3 story, wood construction, Onsen.
On both sides of the road flowers are blooming everywhere.
Not all is well in paradise. For every house or Onsen hotel occupied or in business there is an equal amount that are in disrepair, abandoned and out of business.
This large hotel across the street from the bus stop is out of business and wasting away; so sad.
A quick check of google maps showed us that there was a nice waterfall in the woods a few kilometers down the road so we decided to walk there and check it out. We passed more abandoned buildings along the way.
We found the trail to the waterfall and we also found warnings for bears. Every 50 meters or so along the trail were these stations with a bell. Ringing the bell is supposed to scare the bears away. WTF! I was thinking to myself, "what kind of self-respecting bear is afraid a ringing bell"? I was also thinking "what the hell are we doing here"? I guess I fear my wife more than a bear because she said we're going to visit the waterfall and I said "yes dear".
So, here we go.
After crossing a bridge over a stream...
…we got our first glimpse of the waterfall.
Not exactly Niagara Falls, but it was nice.
This gives one a better perspective of how big the waterfall is. A young boy and his mother, I guess they're not afraid of bears too.
Back on the main road and fortunately for us it was a short walk to the nearest bus stop.
After about a 20 minute wait we were picked up by the local bus; we were the only passengers.
The bus took us back to Hanamaki train station. This statue dedicated to "Peace" is near the front of the station.
And, here comes the free shuttle bus that will take us to our Onsen for the night. Our onsen hotel is in an area where there are several onsens, this bus stops at all of them. Hanamaki train station is on the right-side of the bus.
We have arrived! The area we are staying is Namari-Onsen and this is the entrance to the Fuji-San-Onsen Toji style Inn.
More info here!
The Fujisan Inn is famous for it's deep hot bath.
Great Info here! That is the reason we stayed here.
Photography of the hot baths is prohibited. This is a picture of the riverside of the hotel I took in the morning after we checked-out.
Day 2: It's a long walk to our next Onsen hotel. The local bus schedule didn't meet our needs; in other words there ain't no buses running until after lunch and that's too late in the day for us. We decided to walk the 5 kilometers to our next destination. It was a pleasant walk in the middle of nowhere.
Along the way we stopped at an unusual museum setup in an old school house. It was a big two story school and the museum was filled with old items of nostalgia; like this old Commodore computer. I have to say that the museum was fascinating and we spent over an hour there.
Some info on the museum here
Well, the walk is over and we have arrived at Oosawa-Onsen-Inn. We will spend the next two nights here!
Part 2 is coming soon!
Thanks for stopping by!
Mike
Bonus shots, not from Iwate!
