Onsen buddy

Today I went to an onsen. My Japanese friend picked me up from my flat and drove me there. More specifically, he picked me up from my flat and drove me there in his spanking new Porsche Carrera! He's 62 (yes, really), loves jazz, speaks really good English, has been to England loads of times, and is generally fascinating.

We got there and did the usual onsen stuff - sat around in hot water, went in the sauna, etc. This place had an outdoor bath, which is my favourite kind, especially in the early evening. Best of all is in winter when it's snowing - your top half is absolutely freezing and your bottom half is all warm and lovely.

After that, we went to his friend's little tiny restaurant, where we met a couple of his old man friends, feasted on such delicacies as octopus tentacles and fried pig tripe, drank lots of ume sour (potato wine with sour plum cordial) and generally set the world to rights. Even though he can speak excellent English, I refused to speak a word of English today, so got lots of Japanese practice.

We're now onsen buddies, and we're gonna do this every week. Can't wait till next Sunday!