FINALLY, after a lot of searching I came across Blue Mermaid Resort in Kushimoto. Kushimoto is about 3 hours from Osaka, on the southern most tip of Honshu island. I had never heard anything about Kushimoto before but was sold on the idea purely because it was by the ocean. After living in the middle of a very crowded city, in a tiny apartment, what I was most craving was SPACE.
When we woke up on Valentine's Day Glen was sick with a cold. It was pouring with rain and I immediately started panicking that this was going to be a disaster. The hotel staff spoke no English, we had no idea where we were going and the pictures were only so-so.
Thankfully it was amazing.
The rooms at Blue Mermaid were bigger than our apartment, with floor to ceiling windows that look straight out on to the ocean.
They were a mix of traditional and modern- with concrete walls and tatami mat floors. There were two levels- a kind of living area with a long couch, coffee table and bathroom. And a bedroom with traditional Japanese futons and a huge plasma TV.
Everything in the place was designed to make the most of the views. It felt sooooo good to be surrounded by the ocean. The rain just made it better- we were snuggled up all warm inside transfixed by the waves crashing against the rocks.
Or sitting in the balcony hot tub.
This is the traditional cedar bathroom with shower and wooden soaking tub.
I bought along some food and we had a picnic in our room on the first night. However, we were loving it so much that we decided to stay another night. Blue Mermaid is so isolated that there are no restaurants or shops closer than 30 minutes drive, so we just lived off the hotel breakfast and a cheese platter for two days! Thankfully we had plenty of wine and Moet as well.
Smoked cheese, camembert, blue castello, goats curd, marinated olives.
Smoked duck, goose pate, salami.
Watching TV in hotel issued pyjamas. Japanese TV is all about cooking and variety shows. Often combined. I watched 45 minutes of a comedians taste testing tuna.
The BEST part of the whole thing- the outdoor, cliffside hot tub. This was BOILING but so satisfying. We spent a lot of time in here.
The bathroom amenities included pyjamas, robes, shampoo, eye cream, nail file, razor, toothbrushes AND SCRUNCHIES. Black and white polka dotted scrunchies.
Each morning we had breakfast in a private room on the other side of the resort. The staff were so lovely and helpful- they printed off pages of English translations to communicate with us.
Japanese breakfast of carpaccio salad, smoked fish, omelette, rice, miso soup, pickles and vegetables.We took an early morning train back to Osaka yesterday, in time for work in the afternoon. I came back feeling refreshed, excited and so happy.
