Last week my husband, ELSI PI John Hernlund, and I returned from our first official vacation since starting at ELSI at the beginning of August. Tokyo Tech offers employees 3 days of summer vacation that must be used by the end of September or they expire. Well, if they're going to make us, then fine, we'll go on vacation.

The adventure started at Tokyo station where we picked up some fine sushi, sake, salad, sandwiches, and coffee before boarding the Shinkansen because you know, 1 hour and 15 minutes is a long time to be without sake or sushi. Our stop was Ueda which is the largest town in the middle of a mountain valley. It is cute with temples and onsen and beautiful scenery. We got on a local train which took us through peoples' back yard rice fields that were golden and being cut and dried for harvest. At the end of the line was a cozy place tucked next to the mountains called Bessho Onsen. One of the owners of the ryokan where we were staying was there waiting to give us a ride up the hillside. We had a lovely kaiseki dinner in our room while our 13 month old daughter Camilla explored her new surroundings. She actually made a lot of progress on her walking with the tatami floors. We then spent the next day traveling to/from the next valley over to Jigokudani National Park to see the famous snow/onsen monkeys. The area is literally covered in monkeys. You have to be careful not to step on the babies as they scurry underfoot. We then returned to the ryokan for our kaiseki dinner.

Here is a little bit of background on staying at a ryokan/onsen. Ryokans can come in many sizes and be traditional or modern. We prefer the smaller, traditional ones. Kaiseki dinner is served in your room in many courses of small dishes of carefully prepared and presented food. They are just the best. There are so many new flavors and textures and food artistry at work, it is feast for all of the senses. During your after dinner dip in the onsen, they move the table over and set up futons for sleep. In the morning, the process is reversed. Oh, and they provide a yukata (robe and belt) to wear around the building as you travel back and forth between the onsen and your room. (Hmmm, onsen etiquette is a blog entry in and of itself, will get to that later.)

The next day we changed locations from Bessho Onsen to Matsumoto and went through the town of Nagano where we toured the temple Zenko-ji, one of the most venerable temples in Japan. It has an underground passage that is completely still and dark. You have to keep your right hand on the wall to remain oriented. It is supposed to represent the stillness and darkness of death. It was a surprising and unique experience.

In Matsumoto we stayed in the ryokan area of town called Asama Onsen. (Note: We took vacation the weekend of the Autumnal Equinox holiday. Since this is not a big deal in the USA, we didn't think much of it. However, it is a big holiday here. All the hotels and ryokans were booked for the Saturday night, and we were almost too late to get a coin locker for our luggage at the Matsumoto train station on Sunday. The only way we got a hotel was with Sayaka Sugimoto's assistance. She sat beside me and using Google Maps, she called every ryokan on the map until we found one with a Japanese room available. You have now been warned.) Matsumoto really clicked with us. The town has an artistic and youthful energy, and of course, Matsumoto Castle is spectacular.

After our time in the ryokans, one of the most uniquely Japanese experiences a visitor can enjoy, we developed the notion that ELSI should strive for the ryokan standard of hospitality. From my perspective, the essence of ryokan hospitality is an attention to detail, an anticipation of the visitor's needs, greetings that are warm and genuine with the guest leaving feeling rejuvenated and inspired. There will be almost countless visitors passing through the doors of ELSI over the years. My goal is that we all provide each of our guests with a visit that is intellectually stimulating and logistically smooth. It is a high standard, but if we work together and share the commitment and responsibility, we are poised to be the best institution to visit in the world.