Hakone in the Rain

Okada Museum of Art, Hakone

Trees turning at Gora Kadan

Shrimp Dumpling Soup with edible Chrysanthemum, Red Spinach and a touch of Yuzu flavor

Thinly Sliced Toro Sashimi

The Tenderest Meat Ever for Shabu-Shabu

Hot Dashi for Dipping Meat and Vegetables 

Outdoor Public Mens Bath with steam rising

We woke up to a rainy day on top of our mountain in Hakone. If you are on vacation and its raining, what a place to be: Gora Kadan is an incredible onsen and there are nearby museums. We took a long bath outside in the rain enjoying the hot volcanic waters. The trees are turning red, especially the maples in the quintessential autumn weather.

After a long soak, Hiroshi brought us a feast of a breakfast. He continually reminds us we don’t have to eat it all! After getting dressed the staff drove us to the Okada Museum of Art. This is a brand new museum and just opened on Oct 4^th. It is typical of many Japanese museums (now that I think of it, American too) where a business tycoon buys a ton of art and builds and endows a museum. Think of the Norton Simon Museum, The Getty Museum, The Broad Museum, The Huntington Museum, The Hammer Museum all in Los Angeles.

This is a splendid museum, devoted to Oriental Ceramics, Japanese Painting (mostly on screens), and other arts. It covers 5 floors of a brand new building. We spent almost 3 hours enjoying the art. The museum is having a soft opening (very Japanese) and we were practically the only people in the museum. We had a great time. It amazes me that there are large ceramic vessels that are from 2500 – 3000 BC, still in existence. How they found there way to this collector I am sure would make a great story. If you are wondering how this esthete mogul made his money the answer is simple: Slot Machines. He is one of the biggest manufacturers of them in the world. Who would have thought?

We returned to the hotel and relaxed before our massages. After our massages the rain had let up and we walked around outside, returning for some champagne. Another long soak in the natural hot springs off of our room was next on our agenda.

We had a multiple course dinner again. I can’t believe how much they serve. Hiroshi said again, we didn’t have to finish it all. A few of the standout dishes were the Shrimp Dumpling Soup the dumpling was like the lightest matzo ball ever, of course since it was filled with shrimp, it wasn’t exactly kosher. The Sashimi was spectacular. You used your chopsticks to roll the sashimi up and eat in one or two bytes. We had never eaten Shabu-Shabu before. I can’t describe how tender the meat was, you dropped it in the bubbling dashi and it cooks in less than 30 seconds. The meat as you can see in the picture is incredibly marbled. We had three different sauces to use with the cooked meat and vegetables.  They served us a giant platter of meat, we only ate about half of it. Later tonight will try the public bath here at Gora Kandan. Tomorrow we leave from our mountain top and take the bullet train to Tokyo.