Seaside sojourn

While I didn’t manage to dig out pretty sea shells in Atami’s pretty, idyllic beaches, I still had a fab time with Adrian and Kazuko. Atami is south of Tokyo which is a popular onsen destination for old folks who want to ease the pain in their joints. But our purpose that Monday was to visit the Museum of Art and a very local chow. By the way, I’m no longer a Shinkansen (bullet train) virgin.

I’ll let this be more a pictorial ramble…

Kiunkaku

This is a famous mansion owned by a Japanese railway tycoon. We didn’t expect much by the modest front door. But look what we found.

Gorgeous manicured lawns.

I love red leaves…it’s spring but it looks like fall.

A roman bath — a twist to the onsen?

I love the doors with mountain ranges painted on them. Reminds me of our tatami style house in Yokohama with mum and dad when I was a wee one.

What do you do when you poke a hole in a paper window? Turn it into a flower. Kazuko said she had her fair share of deliberate hold pranks as a kid.

This house was a mix of ryokan and Western interiors. The railway boss apparently loved having a sun room.

Lunch was a tasty tempura soba set. The noodles were al dente, the sauce full of chives and wasabi to give that extra kick and the tempura veggies and shrimp were so delicately prepared with light flavours that it wasn’t cloyingly oily.

Back on the road

The bus window to my left had a retro soft focus effect on the streets of Atami. I felt all soft and fuzzy inside.

Bubble museum

The Museum of Art in Atami was built during the glorious bubble economy days when big was better. I was impressed by the sheer size of the place.

Very retro space age architecture.

The Noh theatre within the museum. It’s not kabuki — think they use these masks and different acting techniques.

Red and gold don’t just feature in Chinese culture. This is a rich man’s tea house re-assembled in the museum. Gaudy.

Henry Moore’s King and Queen. I thought this was done with a dash of comical farce as the figures looked bored and restless on their stone bench.

Beautiful gardens with picture perfect flowers. It felt like someone took a big paint brush and coloured our day beautiful.

One of the public holidays during Golden Week is Boy’s Day and it’s typically sympbolised by fish flags. So cute.

Vanilla ice-cream in red bean sauce was delish and was washed down with matcha. What a great snack.

An actual babbling brook.

A hidden bamboo forest near the tea house where we had our short break.

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