Kusatsu 2005

I went on a day trip up north to Kusatsu. It was nice to take the train for only a couple of hours (starting off with some fresh chocolate croissants from St. Marc Cafe) and be one of only a few gaijin in the whole town.

train seat table with a croissant in a wrapper and a bottle of aquarius drink

a tree-lined road to the centre of town with buildings and mountains in the distance

The hot springs were nice too, I went to a bathing place for about 90mins and my rings tarnished (oops), but now one has nice purple higlights ;).

the main hot spring in the centre of town with shops in the background

water cascading down a sluice to a lower area

a right hand with rings that look discoloured

I tried some weird rice snack that was pretty spicy, but good. The only drawback to the town was the sulphur smell, but it was worth it.

a stick with cubes of rice snack on it with coarse seasonings

a view from the train platform of trees with mountains far in the distance