Christmas 2011: Japan with Jaime (Day 3)

Christmas Day
Christmas Day started off pretty late again. We went out for a perfect Christmas brunch at a small café/restaurant not far from our hostel, and then set off for a smaller town (still huge, though) called Nara. This place is famous for free-range deer that will walk right up to you and eat straight from your hand. We thought it sounded Christmasy enough to feed deer small, so off we went. We hit up another temple first, with the biggest Buddha statue in Japan (the world? Japan? I don’t remember), and then took out our cameras for the deer experience. It was pretty wild. The deer are a bit aggressive, and one bit and slobbered all over my jacket. 

One the way back to Osaka we planned on going to a spa. We got off the train at the stop closest to SpaWorld, and figured we could find somewhere to have Christmas dinner along the way. Ok. So, it was a good thing we had a peaceful, quaint Christmas breakfast, because our dinner was anything but such. We apparently stopped in the most ghetto neighborhood in Japan. We had a hard time finding a decent restaurant, but eventually settled for one out of sheer hunger and coldness. The food was good…nothing like some good ole sushi on Christmas (actually, it was exactly what I was in the mood for)…but the environment left a bit to be desired. The drunk table next to us kept asking us, via charades, if we had any cigarettes. And a heavily intoxicated man from another table approached us on his way out and asked in broken English where we were from and if we were “a pair.” Alright. 

Then there was the spa. The communal, nude bath house. Once we stopped giggling about how awkward it was, it was actually amazing. It was the perfect thing to do after being cold all day, and was actually super rejuvenating. There were wooden-barrel baths, stone baths, middle-eastern baths, a steam room, a salt scrub room, and even outdoor baths that had giant tea bags in them. It felt like I was in a giant cup of peppermint and jasmine tea. Well, I guess I kind of was. While in the salt scrub room, a handful of Japanese women about our age knew enough English to explain what to do with the giant goblet of salt in the middle of the room. I appreciated their help, but it was definitely a new experience to converse with complete strangers, in a well-lit room, completely in the buff. We ended our time there with a massage, and then headed to the train station.

After buying our non-refundable tickets, we were informed that our train didn’t run again until 4 a.m. Interesting. Thankfully the taxi ride was pretty cheap.