HOT BATHS
May
26
The Hori’s were one of my Grandpa’s best friends. This bathhouse has been preserved at the Neely Mansion in Kent, WA.
My earliest memory, as a 4-yr-old, is of a trip to a hot spring in Idaho with my Mom and Grandpa. The week of soaking was to help my Mom’s health. Grandpa once told me, his favorite memory as a teenager in Japan was a trip to the Onsen or hot springs, “It was special. I got to go to the 'Onsen' for a few days with my friends!! It was because I had studied hard and worked hard.” The rest of his life, Grandpa was known to have made many trips to the closest hot springs here in America with his Japanese friends. When the soaking was over they played cards and the game of “Go” into the night.
Cousin Daisuke and his new bride visited us recently from Tokyo. Their plan for their next get-away was to an “Onsen” in the Japanese Alps. That seems to be the in-thing for young people there.
"There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them." -Sylvia Plath
