Toyota Showcase, New Homestay person, and Onsen

Today started with a trip to the Toyota showcase in Odaiba. There is a cluster of three Toyota related buildings. The Showcase, History Hall, and Innovation room or something like that. In the showcase they have a track that runs in a outside of the building where you can drive a hybrid car. There are two levels to the building with one containing all the Cars, vans, and Lexus models, and the other has the SUV's and some more vans along with some driving games and different Toyota tech showcases. There is an entire section devoted to Hybrid technology, how it works, and why it's good.

In The Toyota History Hall they have exhibits that they rotate through, the one now is for the MR-2. So they talk about the history of the MR-2 and have all the production versions of the car on display along with a Race spec MR-2. There are other rooms with Old cars including a Delorean, Mustang, Corvette, and 2000GT. There is a hall filled with car related merchandise from Magazines to models and clocks they have it all. There is a cafeteria and a place outside where they have what looks like a renaissance painting with a Toyota in the middle and different Toyota related saying inscribed around the area.

I headed back after that and worked more on my paper for Intellectual Heritage.

My Host Parents have taken in another student, he's from Switzerland and he is studying Kendo which is Japanese stick fighting or training for using a sword and is the top student in his class. He is here for 3 months studying Kendo and Japanese.

Tonight was awesome for a couple reasons, mainly Onsen! My host Parents took me and the Swiss kid to Oedo Onsen Monogatari which is one of the most famous Onsens in Tokyo. It was totally sweet! http://www.ooedo-global.jp/english/index.html

First we get there and put our shoes in a locker. From there we picked out the Yukata that we were going to wear for the day. Yukata is like a Japanese robe and they are super comfortable. They had a 12 different Yukatas to choose from with designs of Samurai or just more plain style. After you pick out your Yukata you tell the guy what number you chose and he gives you a Yukata in your size and you choose a belt of whatever color you like.

After that we went to another room with a locker for our clothes and walked around in our Yukatas.

Outside they have a cool old school Japan set up with a J-style bridge and landscape and inside they have a J-style city area. It's really sweet cause everyone is walking around in Yukatas and it feels like you've gone back in time.

We signed up for something called a Sand Bath and got some food at one of the many cool restaurants they have there. We went to a restaurant and had something similar to Shabu Shabu but there were two sauces over a heater to cook the plate of meat, vegetables, gyoza, and fish. You are also provided with 2 dipping sauces that correspond with each sauce that you cook your food in. Needless to say, it was really good!

From there we headed to the Sandbath. This was sweet! You remove your underwear and change into a different Yukata. Then you go in a room which is big enough for 8 people at a time. There is a walkway in the middle and sand on both sides that is heated from underneath by a large boiler. There were 2 guys working that came and buried you up to your neck in the warm sand and you lay there and relax for 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes they 2 guys come to check on you 2 times to make sure you are not too hot or if you need more sand anywhere.

After that we headed back to a shower room where we cleaned off the sand, put our underwear and Yukatas back on and headed out to the grounds outside.

Outside was interesting because they had small streams of hot spring water that you would walk through which had rocks on the ground and when you walked on them it kinda hurt more than anything but it's supposed to be good for you.

They also had a thing called the Fish Doctor where you can put your feet or hands in water with a bunch of fish that eat of dead skin or whatever from your feet or hands, we didn't try that.

Finally we headed to the Onsen! Went to another room where we took off all our clothes and ran around naked. The first one was filled with a kind of mineral water that was yellow in color and had a soapy feeling and a salty taste. Next we went in one that had awesome bubble jets. From there we went outside into one of the ones outside After that we went into another one outside that was about 40 degrees Ce (104F) We headed back inside to the Sauna, it was really really hot! 80 degrees Ce (176F) That's really hot but I think I sweated out of every pour. After the about 20-30 minutes in the sauna we went into another pool that was only 20 degrees Ce (68F) and it felt like it was freezing cold after being in the sauna.

Finally we finished it off by going to the shower area where you have your own little shower area with Soap, Shampoo, Conditioner, and Shaving Cream in case you want to shave. Back in the Room where we disrobed they have sinks with mirrors, hair dryers, Q-tips, Gel, Hair Wax, pretty much anything you would need including tooth brushes. We put our clothes back on and headed out to the cafeteria where we enjoyed Ice Cream and headed back home.

I can't wait to go again, this is definitely a place I recommend to anyone visiting or living in Japan.