Kurokawa Onsen via a huge smokin' volcano. Mt Aso is erupting and we feel our first earth tremor
Trip Diary Day 19 - 17 April 2019 - Takachiho - Mt Aso - Kurokawa Onsen
Check out Episode 15 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.
Misty morning and Family Mart
We checked out of Takachiho B&B Ukigumo by 10. Our ultimate destination for the day, Kurokawa Onsen, was only a couple of hours away so we before we left Takachiho our plan was to visit the sites like Amanoiwato we’d missed the day before.
It was a damp morning with a sky full of low cloud. We stopped to take pictures of the clouds cascading over the mountain tops from the Family mart where we bought some sandwiches, fried chicken and iced coffees. We stopped another couple of times to take pictures of the beautiful farm terraces, mountains and mist.
A Haiku
Seven eleven
Family mart or Lawson
Conbini are great
Amanoiwato Shrine
Amanoiwato-jinja is a lovely Shinto shrine to the sun goddess Amaterasu and the cave where the she hid from her brother. The shrine is perched above the gorge and the Iwato river. According to the legend, the goddess hid in a cave after a battle with her brother plunging the world into darkness until she was lured out by a spirit. The temple was lovely in the rain. We made good use of the umbrellas we’d picked up back on Naoshima. There were many tourists with red umbrellas listening to their tour guide before quietly praying in front of the shrine. About a 100 meters away is the start of the trail to the rock cave. Ama-no-Yasukawara.
Amanoyasukawara
If you had no idea about your ultimate destination on this walk it would still be a lovely walk. It was a beautiful trail meandering along river with a few small waterfalls and rapids. The trail crossed the river via an old stone bridge. It made a beautiful place to photograph the tourists streaming by with their red umbrellas. Green moss covered the rocks and some of the bridge stone work. The cave is was a huge open cavern at the base of a cliff next to the river. Modern visitors have left thousands of stacks of stones balanced in piles in tribute in around the cave. The cave is where 8 million deities gathered to discuss how to lure Amaterasu from her cave. I don’t know how big the deities were but there might be 8 million stacks of stones here. The shrine is inside and piles of rocks balancing on every surface except for the shrine itself. It was an amazing sight to see. Brandy and Georgia contributed their own pile of rocks to the collection. It rained some more on the way.
A Haiku
Eight million spirits
Eight million shaky rock stacks
God I need a beer
Back at the trail head are a few tourist souvenir and food shops so I bought a local dark beer for 900 yen. Quite expensive really but apparently it’s the world’s best dark beer. I was going to save this one for a special occasion.
Mount Neko
We drove across some gorgeous countryside, rolling hills and conifer trees, all the time seeing some craggy mountains in the distance. We stopped in the car park of Tsukimawari Onsen when we saw what looked like a jagged volcano nearby. Mount Neko (Nekodake). It is near Mt Aso. Actually Aso is so huge it is probably a peak within Aso’s caldera. The view leading to the mountain was lovely and green. What I originally perceived to be pasture was in fact a golf course. Still, it was a great view.
Mount Aso
We continued on into the town of Aso and stopped at Family Mart for cash and supplies - more iced coffee. Mount Aso had started erupting at 6.30 the night before so we wanted to get to viewing area. As we drove to viewing area he other side of Aso, on the the way to Kurokawa Onsen, we drove through some fields just outside of Aso and caught sight of the plume coming from Mt Aso. This was the first time I’ve seen an erupting volcano.
We stopped at a nearby Family Mart to take pictures and decided the viewing area we we were heading towards was in the wrong direction for the best photos. We turned and went back towards the Mountain to see how close we could get. We stopped at a farm just out of town when we saw a sign suggesting that we shouldn’t go any further. The road wasn’t closed. I think it was open to residents. There were farms and businesses and homes dotted all over the lower reaches of the volcano. I worked out we were only a couple of kilometres from the crater. I was happy enough to stop there. We took photos and video of the the plume as it ebbed and flowed.
Every time I’m within spitting distance of a volcano, erupting or not, the thought occurs that if she blew we’d be vaporised by the pyroclastic cloud as it engulfed us in seconds. Pyroclastic flows are hot volcanic gas and whatever else is spewed from the volcano as it erupts. It can move at up to 700 kph. Yeah, there was no way we could outrun that. Realistically, it didn’t matter if we were here or 15 km away on the other side of the caldera if it blew. I guess if we were on the other side of the caldera I might’ve had enough time to post a picture to Instagram of the thing leading to our impending demise.
We stayed for about an hour. Till the cows showed up. The cows didn’t seem concerned about the volcanic plume behind them. They just stared at us. A couple of sakura trees just framed the vista perfectly. Sakura, cows and volcanoes. What a day.
A Haiku
Smoking volcano
Fair Sakura fields of green
The cows do not care
We still had an hour to go to Kurokawa Onsen. It was only 20 kays away so I figured it must be a winding road. We drove up the caldera on the northern side of the valley opposite Mt Aso and found the view point we were originally heading to. We stopped again and took more pictures. No cows or sakura here though so it was far less interesting. It was the car park of a campground. Former campground possibly. The shop appeared to be closed permanently or at least for the season.
We passed an Airstream caravan covered with American flags selling corn and corn based souvenirs an then a grove of topiary animals. You can see some quite eclectic stuff on the side of Japanese roads. Once we rounded a bend to see giant Statue of Liberty. It was part of some American themed fun park in the middle of no-where. I think it was near Nagano. You can find some pretty interesting things like that all over Japan. There were some more terrific views of Mt Aso from the road almost right up until the point we turned into Forest Lodge - Kurokawa Mori no Cottage - where we were going to stay for the next couple of days.
Forest Lodge Kurokawa Mori no Cottage
We called Forest Lodge Kurokawa Mori no Cottage the Christmas village. Not because of the Alpine style cottages. Not because we visited at Christmas. We didn’t. It was April. The central courtyard was loaded up with Christmas decorations. A couple of snowman, reindeer and a Christmas tree. We loved it.
The friendly woman at reception checked us in using an iPad English-Japanese translator. It worked perfectly. She gave me maps and asked if we were going to eat in town and offered to take us to the izakaya we had marked nearby. She also showed me where the TI was. Close to the souvenir store which also sold groceries and booze. As we left the office she gave the kids couple of packets of toys, plastic bow and arrows.
We had a great large cottage. It reminded me of the alpine style houses in the European Alps. We had bunk beds upstairs. The view from the balcony was mostly obstructed by conifer trees but we could see an sensational setting sun. The cottage also had a good kitchen and very deep bath.
There is a beautiful private outdoor onsen near our cottage behind reception so before we went out we went and booked it for 9.30. It was 6.30 by now so we went looking for the near by izakaya. And we sort of got lost. We drove up a driveway that lead to more cottages we but couldn’t seem to find the izakaya. Nothing looked a restaurant.
We drove down into Kurokawa Onsen. It is all ryokans. Many onsen towns are mainly hotels and ryokans. Often there are very few other shops and restaurants. Or if there are restaurants they’ll only be open for lunch because the assumption is tourists will eat at their accommodation in the evening. Based on our experience with ryokan meals that is an entirely reasonable proposition. The food is generally outstanding. Slightly larger towns will have more restaurant options, a convenience store or supermarket. We found the TI, parked and walked down to the shops where we did find another izakaya. Apparently it was open till 9, or so we thought. We felt we enough enough time to buy some groceries and then go back to the restaurant at 7.30. When we arrived the owner indicated that the restaurant was closed. 8 was listed as the closing time but most places will stop taking orders half an hour beforehand. Oops. Before we headed off to see if any other izakayas were open we checked grocery souvenir shop to see if they had some prepacked meals. Worst case we would come back and get those because they were open till 10.
Syokusai Hanaakari (Hana Akari)
We drove back to the original izakaya. Most of the houses were dark. I don’t know if they were empty holiday homes or the residents just go to bed early after a hard day in the onsens. The house at the izakaya address was dark and it had nothing outside to suggest it was a restaurant. There were lights on inside so I tentatively opened the front door. It had the vague look of a rustic restaurant entrance. A dog barked and I chickened out. As I was getting in the car an old man came out. He looked at us and said 4? I said yes. He said come in. It was the right place. His wife put the dog away and they motioned for us to go and sit at a low table with lounge chair type chairs.
I still had a slight nagging feeling that a lovely old couple had just invited us into their home. The eating area was just like a big lounge dining area in someone’s home. The man brought out a menu. It mostly came down to pasta, hamburger or steak. They tout themselves as doing western style food. I couldn’t recall the last time we went to a restaurant in Japan that served mostly western food. Perhaps one of the French restaurants we visited way back on our first or second trip to Japan. We were all about hitting up Michelin starred restaurants back then. Here’s a tip for Australians wanting to try some of the best French restaurants. Fly to Tokyo and go to Joel Robuchon or any of the other restaurants where top foreign chefs have set up digs in Tokyo. Joel Robuchon died in 2018 but I’m certain the corporate behemoth than runs his former empire hasn’t allowed standards to slip. He probably haunts the Chateau in Tokyo anyway. Oh yes, the restaurant in Tokyo is a reproduction of a classic French Chateau and a good chateau needs a ghost. There are also home grown Japanese chefs, like Ryozo Monguchi’s and his restaurant Calendrier in Osaka, that do some of the finest European style cooking ever. What? You think Japan is only about Japanese food? Haven’t you seen Iron Chef? Going to Tokyo is heaps cheaper than flying to France from Oz and many of these top restaurants have lunch time deals that are a fraction of the cost of an evening meal. They are le yum.
Tomato pasta for Georgia. Hamburger for Brandy and steaks for us. And a large Asahi because beer. Syokusai Hanaakari is lovely cozy place. A real surprise find. The steaks were superb. Somewhat expensive, about 2500 yen each (AU$31), but not gobsmackingly so. We weren’t in Kobe. The pasta was homemade without egg. Shell said she’d go back for the pasta. High praise indeed considering Michelle’s homemade pasta is some of the best I’ve had. Come to our place for a duck ragù sometime. Or don’t. I’m not good a sharing. Ask the kids. The steak here at Syokusai Hanaakari though was tender and quite awesome.
The restaurant was closed when we arrived but they re-opened for us. It must be quiet in Kurokawa Onsen at that time of year. The owner took photos of us for Instagram. His son came home and helped with the English. The owner gave the kids a delicious orange. Really sweet, both the gift and taste. All up 9050 yen (AU$110). Expensive but oh well. We’re getting towards the end, of the holiday and our funds. On the whole it was one of the most pleasant experiences we’ve had. Lovely people and place.
Earthquake!
We were back at the cottage for our 9.30 onsen. A beautiful onsen. Hot but not too hot. We had a delicious soak. Everybody loved it.
Back home at home we made up the beds. The kids had the top bunks. At about 11 we heard a slight rattling upstairs. Brandon called out and said the bed was shaking. Michelle and I didn’t feel anything downstairs but we could hear the rattling. It seems we had a small earth tremor. Not really surprising since there was a huge active volcano not that far away. After this it felt even closer. Four visits to Japan and this was the first time we’d been aware of an earth tremor even if we didn’t actually feel it. Georgia slept through it.
Epic Family Road Trip Japan on Youtube
Check out Episode 15 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.
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