Taking a break in Naruto, Japan

After leaving Hiroshima, our next destination was Naruto, Japan, a somewhat small village known for its resorts, spas and whirlpools under the bridge. We finally managed to figure out how the GPS unit works (it’s 100% Japanese) so we didn’t get lost getting here. The hotel we’re staying at for one night is the Renaissance Naruto Resort (part of Marriott). One thing that made this ride very pleasant was the six (6) kilometer bridge that we took to cross over to the islands where Naruto is. The views we witnessed off the bridge were stunning to say the least.

Driving around Naruto was extremely joyful, as the roads were very well kept, and there were a lot of twists and turns getting around. It gave this very quant feeling that all three of us enjoyed. We found a really nice spot to take pictures of a beautiful bridge that was void from the public. Supposedly, there are whirlpools that form under this bridge every six hours, but we haven’t managed to observe any yet. We’re going to be taking a boat ride tomorrow and hope to catch a glimpse of one.

Dinner was quite a unique experience for all of us (maybe less-so for Fallout). What was being served at the hotel restaurant was 100% authentic Japanese cuisine. There were plenty of raw fish, eels and other uncommon North American food to go around. This made Hinjew and Thundergod a bit squeamish, as they do not enjoy raw foods very much. Of course, while having dinner, we had a few looks from the locals as to how we were handling ourselves. It was that, or they haven’t seen any non-Asians in their lifetime, which brings me to another topic I cannot avoid: the Japanese love watching foreigners. Either they are intrigued by us, intimidated or hate us, we’ll never know. What we can tell you is this: each time we ate around the locals, we got looks… plenty of looks. Dirty or not, they enjoy watching us.

Once dinner was over, a slap in the face was delivered when the bill was handed over to us. The dinner was a buffet for three people with two domestic beers. With the taxes and service fees added, the bill came up to 15,000 Yen, or about 180$ CAD. There was nothing special about this buffet, and the food (while tasty) was nothing to brag about. Yes, we did have a unique Japanese cuisine experience, but the numbers just don’t add up. Regardless, we know Japan is pricey, but there are limits too we’d like to think.