To Kusatsu Onsen

Time for a break from the active days on the coast. I'm leaving Tohono for the Nagano Alps via Tokyo, it's an 8 hour trip. I'm booked in an actual hotel with an Onsen.

I saw my third Serow as it was running down the railroad track in front of the honking train that was riding through a tunnel of forest along a swift rocky creek.

I'm standing in the Omiyo train station and I'm hearing bird song up above coming from the metal rafters while I'm looking out at the concrete jungle through the windows of the station, but when I close my eyes I'm right back in the green jungle that I spent the last 8 days in.

I fall asleep on the Shinkansen and over each by a few stops. Oops on a bullet train that's a long ways off. I back track and catch a later bus.

Tonight is my Japan splurge, a hotel with an Onsen. I soak and sleep at will until the morning.Read more