Asaba features on NHK!
NHK World’s series Have A Nice Stay has an episode on Shuzenji featuring Asaba onsen. Watch the video below to get a feel for the town and the onsen we will be staying at.
Invitations are done!
Jen and I are happy to have the invitations finally sent out. Look forward to receiving it in your (real-life) mailbox soon!
A new Church
Unfortunately not ever goes as planned. Our initial idea was to getting married and celebrate in Japan. The churches we contacted in Japan did not want to marry us as they did not know us. This was disappointing to hear but all things have a silver lining. We are now getting married at Our Lady of the Assumption in Saanichton, Vancouver Island. This is especially good news as this is the Church of Grandma and Grandpa McGeough. Grandpa has not yet been able to attend and grandchild’s marriage as there has only been one (Kelsey!) and he was not able to travel to Ontario. Its time to bring the wedding to them! This also allows many of Mathew’s family to attend being a west coast based family.
The wonderful Father Rolf has given us his blessing to be married in his Church on September 24th before flying to Japan to celebrate as originally planned!
Trying a Kimono
We both love all aspects of Japan including their fashion. One thing we have never tried in Japan is renting kimonos to wear to get the real experience of living a traditional Japanese life. Kimono actually just means “worn object” and has come to mean the long robe that’s so closely associated with Japan. Rather than the traditional wedding dress and tuxedo, we are considering buying kimonos; however, since neither of us have tried one Jen sought out a place in Toronto to wear them. Thankfully there is one Japanese kimono teacher (it takes a while to learn how to properly dress in a kimono) who rents kimonos for special events and photo shoots. She was kind enough to let us come to her house to try wearing a few different styles and to learn more about them.
Once Jen get excited about something there is no stopping her enthusiasm. Many kimono books were purchased and devoured learning about the history, fabrics, colours and patterns of the different types of womans kimonos. Mathew decided he should invest some time into researching men’s kimonos. There’s only one style for men; pick a dark colour and you’re done. With the research done is was fashion show time!
Choosing the Venue Part 2
The second venue we needed to visit is nestled in the town of Shuzenji. After a few days in Tokyo visiting friends, shopping and dinners we hopped on the bullet train to the city of Mishima. We took one stop on the local train to see the city a little bit but mostly to see Mishima chruch, the closest catholic church to Shuzenji.
Train stop in MIshima
Greg at the entrance to Mishima Catholic Church
We wandered around the church to make sure we in fact at the right place and eventual wandered in. The church was a very nice white, bright, high ceiling church with enough room to house our 30 odd expected guests. Unfortunately there was no one there and the mass we thought was scheduled was only once a month. We headed back to the train station to make the final leg of the trip to Asaba Ryokan!
We arrived at our home for a night to a spectacularly beautiful entrance, greeted by several of our hosts. Our hosts English was not as good as the staff at Beniya however Greg’s language prowess allowed is to get checked-in and asked for a tour of the place. We settled in our rooms and were then taken for a look around the Ryokan. We had booked the smallest rooms in the place and it was very welcome to be able to see many of the rooms before making a decision on a wedding venue. Our evening was then filled with a walk around town, bathing, eating, relaxing and sleeping; a perfect last night of the trip. The next morning we awoke to breakfast in our rooms and packing up to head home.
The entrance of Asaba
Looking cool in front in the temple
Choosing the Venue Part 1
Our mission was clear, to find a wedding venue that is traditional, beautiful, has an onsen, 15-20 rooms, in nature, accessible from Tokyo, and willing to host us. The last criteria was a lot more difficult than we realized. Jen and I had gone through every English and Chinese website about the best onsen in Japan, cross referenced the nearest catholic church and cataloged the number of rooms. After extensive research we had a long list of two possibilities. After discussing which of these two would work for us we had an even split of opinions, Jen for Asaba and me for Beniya Mukayu. The only way to settle the decision, set off to Japan with Greg and Kelsey to try them out.
On August 18th the three musketeers ventured off to Japan to roam the countryside looking for suitable locations to host a spectacle. As this was Kelsey’s first trip to Japan we had to do a little sight seeing in Tokyo before we set off to our first onsen. While wondering Ginza we came across the greatest find short of the holy grail; we found Waldo.
With this great achievement we made our way to Ishikawa prefecture to visit Beniya Mukayu in Kana-onsen.
The first venue we checked out was a nestled away in the foothills of Yakushiyama mountains in Ishikawa prefecture. A modern design, feeling of zen and bilingual staff greeted us after the bustle of Tokyo. Beniya is owned by a couple who treat their guests as this was their home. We were lucky to enjoy a tea ceremony perfomed by Kazunari Nakamichi, owner of Beniya and master of tea ceremony.
After our tea ceremony is was off to the baths for a much needed soak. Relaxed and bathed we enjoyed a wonderful dinner together before Kelsey went off for a massage and Greg and I went for another soak before returning to our room to lie in the hammock and read.
Our time was short, only one night but the morning we had our breakfast together and headed into town for a short walk. There is a little funicular that takes you down to the town that is a short 2 min ride. There wasn’t much open in the morning but we stopped by a little store for Kelsey and Greg to buy Japanese ceramic tea pots. We visited a small shrine and then made out way back up to the onsen to depart back to Toyko. A short one night visit but enough to get a sense of the place.