i was told that it was a secret.

after lunch today, Taka-san said that i was going with him that afternoon. Taka-san is my office buddy; he's sort of taken me under his wing. he buys me hot chocolate every once in a while and speaks in really, really fast Japanese all the time. when i don't understand, he says it again just as fast, but with two or three English words sprinkled in. then i understand and we both have a laugh.

i knew it was time to get going from the all the commotion in the office. everyone was talking about sakura, which means cherry blossom, or flower. was Taka-san planning on giving me flowers? did he have a Japanese gardening lesson planned? what was he doing with that white box under his arm?

we walked to his van and started driving. we followed the 317 to Kamibun, the next area over from Susaki, where i teach once every couple of weeks. Taka-san had asked me to help him load garbage before, so maybe he had another job for us to help break up the day. but we kept driving. the 317 turned into a mountain road snaking its way along a small river to the left. such roads are one of my favourite things about Japan; it's off the beaten track that you end up seeing the 'real' Japan, or at least a version that has disappeared from the cities.

over the bridge and up the mountain, we hit a locked gate. 'now what?' i thought to myself when Taka-san jumped out of the van to unlock the gate. we were almost there now; the mono-cultured cedar gave way to a more natural-looking forest cover. we drove past a couple abandoned buildings and eventually came to a stop. still, no word on where we were headed. we got out of the van and walked down a steep path on the side of the mountain. the rush of a fast-moving creek filled the ravine, and then it came into sight: a private rotemburo, or outdoor onsen. Taka-san pulled a couple of fresh towels from the white box and proceeded to strip down to his birthday suite. the middle of a thursday afternoon, and i'm getting naked out in the bush in the middle of nowhere with one of my co-workers. how great is that?

the onsen was built into the stone river bed with cement and rocks. heated to somewhere near boiling with a propane heater and fed by the creek, the onsen was beautiful. we spent fifteen minutes soaking, then jumped into the freezing cold river and back into the van.

back at the office, an hour-and-a-half later, and everyone was talking about our outing - our faces were still red from the hot water!

some secret!