Hakone...

We really dropped the ball on this trip...but made the best of it anyways :) We had thought we were going to the town of Hakone to walk around and sight see since it is in a very beautiful mountainous region. Turns out the trip was to an "onsen" family park. "Onsens" for those of you who do not know are the popular Japanese hot baths. Luckily, there was a swimsuit rental shop there...yes I wrote it right...a swimsuit rental shop! So Hairpin was a trooper and got himself some shorts and a longsleeve swim top to cover his tattoos. That's another thing here in Japan, tattoos are construed as only to be had by bad people; associated with gangs. The"onsens" and water parks will not let you in if you have tattoos that are visible. So he covered up his arms with the shirt, his wrist with his watch and the lifeguard was kind enough to offer him some tape to cover his calf tattoo!






It is hard to see...but there are little fish in the picture eating away at Hairpin's dead skin!!! That was one of the baths that was offered and it was a fun experience. They tickled me too much, but Hairpin stayed still and I think he may have had about 80% of the fish at his feet at one point!