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Going to a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) is always a special experience – being welcomed by the extraordinary Japanese hospitality, hanging out in a yukata (the light cotton kimonos) during the length of your stay, bathing in the beautifully decorated hot springs, sleeping on a futon (which can best be described as a somewhat firmer duvet), and – of course – having a delicious meal in the evening.

Where we stayed last weekend was particularly memorable, though. Other than during our past visits to ryokans on our trip a year and a half ago, we were now at least vaguely familiar with not only the language, but also all the dos and don’ts to avoid potential pitfalls (probably one of the worst of them being to forget taking off the toilet slippers after leaving the bathroom, and directly stepping on the tatami mats). Apart from us being quite relaxed from the beginning, this ryokan was also extremely cordial (even by high Japanese measures), and most beautifully located.

We had rented a car for the weekend and drove all the way down to Shimoda, in the southern part of the Izu Peninsula, a few hundred kilometers south-west of Tokyo. Not the actual reason of our visit, but still an interesting side-fact about the historic relevance of this place: After the American Matthew Perry had arrived there on his “black ship” back in the 1850s, Shimoda became to be the first Japanese port to be opened to American trade, ending the country’s century-long period of isolation. As a matter of fact, exactly last weekend the annual “black ship festival” took place to commemorate the event, so we found the town very lively and full of food stands, selling both Japanese and American snacks.

History apart, we had been told by many people about the beauty of the Izu Peninsula. And although my expectations were high, I have to say I was still really impressed. The whole peninsula has an extremely abundant vegetation, densely covering its hilly surface in different tones of green, from luscious dark colours to the almost yellowish colour of the bamboo woods, with some funny-looking scoop-shaped trees, currently in light-green blossom, in between. The latter ones by their looks strongly reminded me of giant broccoli (sorry, this is about as far as my botanical expertise goes).

On our way down south along the eastern coast we came by stunning cliffs reaching into the sea, which offers unusually clear, blue-green water. No wonder the diving centres were already busy, even at this time of the year. Just as for divers, the peninsula is obviously a paradise for surfers, who in hundreds enjoyed the (currently gentle) waves in about every accessible bay that is not a fishing port.

The coastal villages became increasingly charming towards the south of the peninsula, but this was not the only reason why it was a good idea to go all the way down to Shimoda: suddenly vast sandy beaches appeared between the volcanic rocks, and our ryokan directly overlooked one of them. From our spacious room we had an unspoiled view of the beach, and in the evening we could enjoy our private outdoor hot-spring-bath, listening to the waves of the sea.

You see, our stay was all about being pampered. Of course, this also included savouring some local culinary delicacies. We were served dinner in our room, and what they dished up was truly amazing. We started off with some exquisite sashimi and quite a few other dishes, all lovingly arranged on the low table. Then the lady just kept coming again and again with more and more dishes, all of them unbelievably appealing. Needless to say, the main topic of the dinner was fish and seafood, the highlights being different types of giant prawn (which we got both as sashimi and grilled), a deep-sea fish called kinmetai, stewed in a tasty juice, and – most spectacularly – a delicious abalone, which was still alive when put on the mini-stove right before us.

Luckily neither Simon nor I are fussy about such things, so we endlessly enjoyed this dinner. The healthy attitude of the Japanese towards their food, “the fresher the better”, is just sooo refreshing!

It had been such a relaxing and enjoyable weekend that even the huge traffic jam into Tokyo on Sunday evening could do no harm to our good mood. I had no opportunity to do any mentionable cooking, though, so the next recipe will have to wait until next week. In a shop in another little onsen (hot spring resort) on our way back through the mountains we stumbled over some red rice, which I am very curious to try out in the near future…