Bizarre Journeys

If it was not for the promise of surrounding fall colors and an onsen only lit up with oil lamps, I would not find my way to the wonderful Aoni Onsen in Aomori and finally connect with the onsen experience. Aoni Onsen was like a scene from one of the novels of Tanazaki with its very traditional feel with each guest perfectly playing the part. Aoni is close to the onsen town of Kuroishi but not right in the town and rather enjoys its own secluded location deep in the forests of Aomori. I now realized that the experience can be very different when one stays at a secluded single onsen as opposed to an onsen town served by many different facilities.

Visiting Lake Towada has been on my list for some time as a fall outing but it was not until this year that I found the opportunity by timing it relatively right. I traveled to Lake Towada Area and Oirase Stream, one of the most famous spots for fall foliage in Tohoku and in Japan in general, on October 25th based on the forecasts and the average peak color times in the previous years. The colors were almost at their peak color when I was in the area and I was probably only few days earlier than the optimum time.

Even though we do not have to choose, I will get this out of the way right away. I would in any given year happily give up sakura season for an extended fall in Japan. I love watching the excitement of Tokyo residents during the sakura season, families enjoying the season in one of the many beautiful parks of Tokyo including my neighborhood park Mizumoto Park, possibly dad and mom taking off a day from work, packing a picnic basket with enough food for the whole day, bikes parked nearby…and the list goes on. The atmosphere excites me more than the flowers. But when it comes to fall foliage or koyo (紅葉), I get close to losing my mind, especially in Nikko.