I’ve told you about Toya Onsen Town, but I wanted to tell you about the beautiful hotel we stayed at. Its full name is The Lake View Toya Nonokaze Resort. Cab drivers only reacted to the ‘Nonokaze’ part. It is on the Main Street of the town – there’s a 7-11 across the street. But it is a world unto itself. It has an enormous lobby and two connected 10 story towers, so it holds a lot of people.
It took until Lake Toya on this trip to see signs autumn.
We had a lovely room with a western style bed – yay! One thing about Japanese hotels – they all provide a sleeping garment. Usually they are a white waffle textured nightshirt that buttons up the front and is about mid-calf length. They are really sized for Japanese people, not people with curves, so sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Some hotels provide a cotton yukata, others provide two piece pjs. This is more common when there is a public bath on site and it is common for people to wear these outfits throughout the hotel. (Wilf wants me to clarify for you that public bath does not mean open to all the public. It means there is a communal bath for women, and a communal bath for men. Some hotels have private baths that you can book and couples can go together, or families can share. Bathing culture is a whole thing here. It’s one of the best things about Japan…..)
At Nonokaze when I opened the dresser drawer there was the white nightshirts with a note ‘Please only wear in the room.’ And then two more outfits. Yukatas and sashes – one blue and one red. And two piece pyjama sets – baggy pants and a loose fitting wrap type top, one blue, one red. The note with them said please wear freely throughout the hotel. In the cupboard there were proper heeled slippers and blue and red short lined jackets. A full wardrobe! Replenished daily. The public baths are open most of the day so people will go before or after meals, sometimes twice a day. Lots of people in the hotel clothing all through the hotel and the restaurant. I’m always a little anxious about the yukata – will I get it tied correctly. Will all the goods be covered up and will they stay that way? (Trying to walk at a measured pace so the robe doesn’t fly open takes practice. Especially in slippers)
Our accommodation included breakfast and dinner. This time it was not the formal dining as we had at Aizuwakamatsu. This restaurant was a buffet. A buffet that would put a cruise ship to shame. Western and Asian food, lots of local specialties. It was amazing. We met the chef in charge of the Western menu – he’s from France so there were touches of French cuisine evident.
There was a little mini-Airstream trailer in there, one side of which was coffee and drinks station and the other was the pasta chef. Everything was delicious and we got to sample a whole range of Hokkaido specialties – they are known for their dairy products, as well as beef and seafood.
Being right on the lake meant we had front row seats to a gorgeous view and the boating activity.
Swan boats for rent. Some are the usual paddle boats, but some have outboard motors, so zoom, zoom!
Not only was it a beautiful hotel with gorgeous views, a luxurious onsen, great food and lovely rooms, but…..
Every night at 8:45 there was a fireworks display on the lake. This is the view from our window. The tour boat is out, on the water, and there’s another boat firing off the fireworks. It starts to the west of us and moves along the coast, stopping in front of the big hotels. On the second night another boat joined in.
The second boat was dropping the fireworks onto the water and then racing off so we wound up with displays like the above – some in the sky, some on the water.
All the places we’ve stayed at have been wonderful and different, but this was really wonderful.
From here we begin out journey back to Tokyo and that includes an entirely new form of accommodation for us – an overnight ferry!
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