Soba Noodles, Snow Monkeys and Some More Karaoke

Our Royaken Inn isn’t built for or used to larger groups, so to make sure they can handle us Rachel has staggered our breakfast times and like the legend she is, has put me on the later breakfast time so I get a marginal lie in today. Even better than this, when I get down to breakfast they have made me the wrong thing, I insist it is fine and eat what they have made, but as I finish Rachel turns up with my right order, that’s right two breakfasts, what a start to the day! After breakfast(s) I head back to the room and chill for a bit as we have some time before our first activity of the day. Amanda is out and about so Rebecca, Natalie and I have a lovely chat while we get ready for the day. Rebecca tells me all about life as a librarian in the States which is actually a lot more interesting than one might initially think. For example, I never knew you needed a masters to be able to officially be a librarian. Natalie and I talk about a certain doctor way down in Mexico that she may or may not have a thing for and if/how she should broach the subject. I, of course, suggest something crude and stupid which instantly gets dismissed but, hey, I tried.

Once the noodles are made some of us played a card game Jas taught the group to kill some time before they are cooked. My table having clearly on purpose added extra water and flour to make extra noodles has now got enough for Rachel, so she joins us for an enjoyable lunch. The noodles are a little inconsistent in size but nice nonetheless although I actually prefer the starter sort of dish the teachers make us with a section from one of the massive apples they grow around here. I am loving the food in Japan but fruit seems to be something that isn’t often available and when it is, it is rather expensive. Once the group is full from lunch we are given a little time to digest it before we head of to our next activity.

Feeling nice and fresh for the day, we head down to the dining area now set up for our forthcoming activity: a soba noodle making class. I am on a table with the Guernsey Gals, Brooke and Katie, as well as Ashley. We have a hilarious time spending more time in fits of laughter than actually learning about the noodles. Firstly our table is left behind instantly, with four groups and only two teachers. We take it in turns being told the next steps and, as luck would have it, our table is always the last to be told the next step, leaving us often a little confused. The first step unsurprisingly is making the dough for the noodles which is a rather hands dirty and sticky situation. Katie and I get stuck in and get ourselves covered, we also add too much water during this process and end up having to be saved by one of the teachers who adds some more flour and lets us know we are gonna have a rather large batch of noodles at the end. The next step of rolling out the dough is even funnier as the technique is a rather peculiar one. So our group gets to laugh while we watch the other tables slowly get taught this technique one by one before being taught ourselves. Having rolled the dough out flat, you flip an edge over the rolling pin, bang it down, then roll it out so it slaps on the table, then move to a different angle. Anyway you can imagine the sort of jokes we of childish brains make with techniques that involve phrases like bang it hard, slap it, switch positions and when the professionals do it. The sounds alone are enough to make anyone laugh – bang, slap, bang, slap and so on and so forth. The lesson ends with slicing the noodles from the dough with a scary knife that looks like a samurai sword and a cleaver had a baby.

Over the years these onsens have become world famous and a national park. Studies have been done on these snow monkeys which has shown that they get the same sort of muscle and mental relaxation as humans do from these hot springs and have been noted to be particularly popular with pregnant female monkeys getting close to their due dates. Jas and I end up walking around the onsens and getting photos of the cheeky monkeys together before heading to the gift shop a little earlier than most people. Later the group say we missed a rather fascinating, if fast, display of monkey sex but luckily two separate people caught it on tape, so we still got to see the rapid display!

Karaoke Kings & Queens

Super Soba Noodle Cooking Class of 2023

Slap Bang Noodles
(click on the top right hand icon)

Jigokudani Monkey Park

The rest of the day is spent having dinner and then, true to form, heading back to the karaoke bar a couple doors down. We have a few more people with us today but when we ask for Lucinda’s vodka coke with a little bit of lime he remembers us from the night before and lets us take a photo with him. It is another great night. Luckily for me everyone in my room, Amanda, Natalie and Rebecca, were digging the karaoke so I didn’t have to worry about waking anyone when I got back at around midnight. Lucinda came to our room and played cards and chatted until 2am and ended up sleeping in our room not wanting to wake up everyone in hers. All in all another great night which ended in the best way possible: a little drunk playing cards and chatting with new friends.

Snow Monkeys at the Jigokudani Monkey Park!

As I have mentioned this little town has many onsens due to the many hot springs in the area. Well back in the day the onsens weren’t inside little buildings as they are today. Traditionally they were open air and apparently over the years a curious monkey or two would come into town from the surrounding mountains most likely looking for food and discovered the pleasure of the hot spring. These monkeys then told their family and friends and before long every winter the town was filled with monkeys looking to have a nice bathe and escape the snowy peaks of the mountains. Now although in Shintoism all creatures are believed to have a soul and to be treated with respect, as I have mentioned, traditionally the onsen is a very sacred place for the Japanese and even clothes are considered too dirty to enter so you can imagine they didn’t take too kindly to monkeys having a dip. So the town’s people not wanting to hurt or kill the monkeys, as they respected their right to seek warmth and comfort just as much as humans, decided the best option would be to build the monkeys their own onsens using the hot springs higher up the mountain. This meant they no longer had the need to come to the human-used ones in town.

Slap Bang Snow Monkeys
(click on the top right hand icon)