When you make a reservation on my annual Hokkaido Photo Tour or any of my Japan Photography Workshops, there is a section to check off for your preference for Western or Japanese style accommodation and food. First, my team and I go through each reservation to ensure we have the correct accommodations selected. The next step is checking for food or other allergies such as flora or fauna. Also, during the registration of a Japan Photo Workshop, my style is not to bombard clients at one time with endless questionnaires that, in my opinion, border on obtrusive, but if clients join at the last minute, I have to use the industry’s standard approach which I feel to be mechanical, and being Canadian born, I don’t like to push. I enjoy getting to know my clients’ preferences and mindset before our start date. Also, well before the workshop begins, six months or earlier, I send an email to clients with recommendations for gear and clothing. I used to send pamphlets with return postage, but many of the pamphlets did not return, and the clients responded by email, so I have since forgone sending my pamphlets by post. My team and I’s goal is to have our clients feel relaxed, almost in a state of Zen upon arrival in Japan with all their questions and concerns answered. Occasionally, I video chat with participants if that’s their preference, or sometimes an old-fashioned phone call.
If everyone chooses the Japanese accommodations, then I choose one of my favorite traditional Japanese Ryokans on my Hokkaido Photo Workshop. And this is no ordinary lodging, for it's where Hayao Miyazaki was inspired to create the film 千と千尋の神隠し or in English ‘Spirited Away’. However, almost every year, one or two clients check-off Western-style rooms, so I choose Western-friendly lodging so participants can enjoy the relaxing and rejuvenating elements associated with a bed and shower in your room; at Japanese Ryokans, you would sleep on futons, which I find comfortable, but some don’t, and there is no shower in your room, but there are private healing hot springs or communal ones, male and female bathing separately.
Every afternoon, at my all-time favorite historical ryokan, where I stay once or twice a year, there is a tour around the hotel, sharing the architecture and history of the storied inn. Usually, I skip tours of hotels thinking the tour contents will be shallow, sales-orientated and uninteresting, but on my first visit to this unique Japanese inn, I was assured that I would learn something. I was initially skeptical, but as the tour progressed, I made sure to approach this event using a tool I always carry: the "Zen Buddhist Beginner’s Mindset." I try always to have an open mind, and with an open mind, you can’t go wrong, and this approach gives me the joy to always experience a new fronteering angle with fresh eyes as if each visit were my first encounter.
On my first adventure staying at this Edo Period Japanese Ryokan, clients and I had suite rooms. And as I walked into the inn, I started drooling at what lay ahead of me in terms of architecture. In all my years in Japan, I had never seen anything like this ryokan. We spent three days photographing the inn, and I have spent more than a dozen times there, but I am still not finished photographing its splendorous magic. Photo opportunities are everywhere, and HDR is a must, and this is time consuming visual arts. When we first checked in, I talked with the owner and staff and asked if it would be okay to photograph throughout the hotel. The present owner, a representative of the 6th generation of owners, and the family have always been visionaries and gave their blessings. They continue to allow us access to photograph in their historical, mind-boggling ryokan. I truly understand now, after all these years, why Hayao Miyazaki was inspired by this transcendent piece of living art.
This traditional Japanese Ryokan has a history reaching back to the Edo Period, specifically for the region’s therapeutic power of its onsens. Countless travelers have used the hotel as a reinvigoration station, preparing themselves for the second half of a longer pilgrimage further north on Japan’s main island, Honshu, or even up to Hokkaido. As travel became easier for the Japanese during the Showa Period and during the tumultuous 1950s, the hotel became an even more appealing beacon of light for travelers to soak in the milky white hot springs to rejuvenate their health and spiritual mindset. And everyone who has taken a Japan Photo Tour with me knows I love to relax after a long day of photography in the healing onsen from destinations as far north as Hokkaido and as far south as Okinawa.
One of my favorite hot springs is in Rausu is a free open air onsen, and immediately after disembarking from our ship from the morning photographing the Steller's Sea Eagles in the pack-ice, my team and I always take about 30 minutes to soak in these healing hot springs. I usually recommend clients not to join us in these outdoor hot springs because the temperature is often around -10℃, and the water temperature on the male-only side can be scorching hot, sometimes around 50℃; by contrast, the women's side is usually around 43℃ and pleasant. Interestingly, there is a cold water tap, but for some reason, the men's side is always super hot, so if I’m alone or with friends, clients, or my team, I turn on the hose for the cold water so the hot springs will cool down. Even fully open, the cold water takes 15 - 20 minutes to reduce the temperature to the same level as the women’s side. When the hot springs is super hot, I spend about 10 minutes washing and splashing the hot springs water over my body to acclimatize to it, so I am sure not to go into shock when getting into the hot springs. In February 2020, Martin from Europe, a good friend and client who has joined me on several expeditions, enjoys Japanese hot springs, and he was going to enter this hot springs with me, but when we were in the changing room, I noticed there were several locals in the hot springs pool, and I knew I could not turn on the cool water without being frowned upon. Also, a new team member of mine was bathing for his first time at these hot springs, and I did not have time to warn him about the scalding hot water; anyway, he quickly washed and jumped into the bath. He looked shocked and left the hot spring after one or two minutes. Martin understood and walked back to the SUVs. I enjoyed a 20 minutes soak in the onsen, as did my wife, on the female-only side.
Another element that sparked Hayao Miyazaki’s Japanese animation film is the portions of food the inn offers. In Spirited Away, the lead character’s parents sit down and indulge in a seemingly endless supply of food, and due to an enchantment, they are transformed into pigs. I can’t say the food is enchanted, but it is most certainly delicious and abundant. The amount of food that arrives as part of your set meals at the ryokan seems to be made for twice as many people as are actually dining, and every time I stay there, all of the tables in the huge Japanese style dining room have half of the served meals leftover. Before I came to Japan, I was a vegetarian, but a part of my upbringing and tradition is always to accept the food I am served, and this tradition has been reinforced by Japanese dining customs. At this ryokan, and all over Japan, many recipes, particularly sauces, have a fish or poultry base, so I have had to develop a bit more culinary plurality. However, for participants, my team and I take the time and make sure our client's culinary needs are fulfilled and that they can enjoy the Japanese dining experience with a toast before returning to explore the amazing traditional inn or a pre-slumber soak in one of the amazing onsens.
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