Japan Hour Day 1: Atami

We decided to take 2 nights out of Tokyo and to do it Japan Hour style, i.e. using trains and booking accommodation separately in small towns away from the city. The first night was at Atami, and the second at Kawaguchiko, which is one of the Fuji Five Lakes. We bought a JR Kanto Area Pass for 8000Yen, which we thought was pretty good value.

Bright and early at Shinagawa Station waiting for our train on the Tokaido Line

Being good Singaporeans, our first stop was Gotemba Premium Outlets : ) We had to change to the Gotemba Line at Kozu, along the way to Atami.

First stop: food court for refueling. This katsu curry was so-so only.

Gotemba has 2 sides to it, connected by this bridge

Lovely scenery

Refueling again with Coldstone Creamery. The one on the left is only available in Japan, with green tea ice cream and mochi balls.

We sat outdoors eating with a brilliant view of Mount Fuji in the distance

By the time we made it to Atami, it was already dark. We knew Atami wasn't going to be fabulous, and booked a really cheap (well, by Japanese standards at least) hotel called Grand View Atami. This was our room, which was rather...small.

We headed out to the beach for a bit of a walk before dinner - the place was pretty deserted.

What Atami town looks like at night

We found this American-style diner called Jonathan's, which is rather similar to Denny's. I got the set dinner, which came with this weird looking corn soup.

And this hamburger steak set with cheese sauce and rice.

The hamburger steak was pretty juicy and yummy

The husband had the omu rice with beef curry

Tomato sauce-flavoured rice....it was not too bad though.

The set even came with dessert. I forgot how much the entire thing cost, but it was pretty reasonable I recall.

After dinner, it was time for a bath at the rooftop onsen
Make sure you go into the correct one

What an onsen looks like on the inside

Lockers for valuables

And baskets for the yukata and towel

Where you bathe before you get into the bath

And the onsen itself, with a view of the sea

We decided to get the hotel breakfast for 500Y per person, which was pretty good value for a buffet. There was a Japanese spread, as well as a western spread with eggs, ham, salad, cereal and bread and all that. The Japanese spread looked a lot more appealing.

Miso soup and rice

And these broiled fish waiting to be grilled.

I got a variety of pickles and broiled salmon

With miso soup, natto, seaweed and rice

It's really sticky, but after getting used to the taste, I'm quite hooked on natto

Simple miso soup with leek and tofu

Grilling the fish. This was really quite nice.

One last walk around Atami before heading back to the train station

View from the rooftop

We saw this lovely tree along the way

Right next to the train station, there was a really interesting shopping street

Seafood on display

More seafood

Despite being warned that it was really boring, we were quite pleased with the experience. Atami has definitely seen better days but with our low expectations, it was still a memorable trip.