Our first stop was Kinomiya Shrine to pay respects and visit the huge camphor tree. To get to the shrine, we had to hike up a bit of a hill. My son was having a hard time going up, so we tempted him by telling him he would see "Totoro's tree" at the shrine. Kinomiya Shrine was beautiful. There is something about shrines here that make me take a deep breath and feel more relaxed than when I entered. The energy is just different as soon as you walk under the tori (gate).
One of the main "attractions" of the shrine is a 2,000 year old camphor tree. This is what we were referring to as the Totoro tree, because it is where the large Totoro lives in the movie. Although I was enticing my son with the tree, I really didn't fully know what to expect. The tree was huge!!! It was so breathtaking. There were huge boulders woven into the roots that were exposed. You couldn't really see where the rock began and where the tree ended. It was so neat to see something so old and revered in nature. Many large shrines have a large tree that is honored, but this camphor tree really was above all others. I read somewhere that it is the largest camphor tree in all of Japan!
After the shrine, we wandered back into town to explore and shop. While sightseeing, we walked past a beautiful building. It was a sweet shop that was built by a famous shrine builder from Kyoto using the same techniques. And it was jaw droppingly beautiful. The attention to detail was incredible. I was too shy to ask to take photos of the inside. Maybe if I had bought something I would have!
Atami is a coastal town, which means it is also a seafood town. There were many shops with drying fish. They gut the fish and open them up to dry out over night. Then you take the fish home and grill it. Since I had never had the fish, we decided to buy some and eat it at home. (Spoiler alert - It was delicious! We will definitely be eating more of this type of fish!)
We also enjoyed a delishous lunch featuring sashimi and kamaboko (fish cake), as well as crab miso soup.
Throughout the town there were vents with steam billowing out of them, releasing the steam from the hot springs below. There were also little "onsens" to stick your hands or feet in the warm water all over the place! We made sure to test the water at each and every one we came across.
We even found a special steam vent that you could use to soft boil or hard boil eggs in! We ran across the street to purchase a ¥30 egg that we could soft boil. We put it in the provided basket and let it sit in the steam for 8 minutes. Then we tried to cool it off in the water fountain right next to the steam vent. I carefully peeled it, trying not to burn myself because it was still quite warm. As we bit into it, smiles came across each of our faces. It was so yummy and perfectly soft boiled. What a fun and random thing to do!
All throughout the town, we were greeted with the town mascot. I got quiet a kick out of him because usually the mascots are cats or dogs or something else that is considered very cute. Atami's mascot is a balding older man with a comb over. No joke. And, yes, he's still adorable!
And just like that, our mini-vacation was over. We took the Shinkasen back home and went back to our routine and normalcy. But we did it with shoulders that were a little less tense and minds a little less cluttered. We hope to go back again, as it was a good time for everyone.
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