[ Aug.2018 ] They said it was extremely hot this summer in Japan and we went there at the end of summer to visit our family and friends.
It was not as hot as it was during peak time, but still we experienced the very heavy air, which weighed on us and made us feel like it was difficult to breathe.
Under those circumstances, we visited Katsuura in the Chiba prefecture as our short family holiday.
We did not go there to do sightseeing, but to stay in the hotel called ‘Katsuura Hotel Mikazuki’, which has hot spring swimming pools.
This was the second time for us staying at the ‘Mikazuki’ hotels.
The first time was in Kamogawa in the Chiba prefecture.
Last time, I was impressed by the room and this time, too, the room was good.
We had three rooms: the Japanese tatami mat room, a Western style room with sofas, and the bedroom.
It was facing the sea, so the sound of the waves was very nice.
They do not provide Yukata, a casual kimono, as most of the other Japanese hotels do, but a simple red dress.
The colour was strong and it was pretty, so if the fabric quality was better, I would have bought one.
For men, it was blue shirts and shorts.
Our main purpose here was the “Aqua Palace”spa.
It is in the separate building where the car park was and after registering at the reception on the 7th floor, you can go either up to the 8th or down to the 6th floors.
There are many hot spring pools on the 6th floor and on the 8th floor there was an ordinary swimming pool with a view, as well as small hot spring pools.
On the 7th floor, there was a facility for the hot stone spa, too, which my family wanted to try.
This one was very similar to the one we experienced in Center Parcs just a few weeks before.
People lie down on the heated stone.
The one in the Center Parcs was a nicely shaped bed, but here it was a just flat one, so it was not as comfortable.
The 
room was heated, so it was like a sauna.
I felt good after staying there without moving and I felt like sleeping, but my family could not stand the heat, so we gave up after half an hour, though we could have stayed there for one hour.
Then we changed in to our swimming costumes and went to the pools.
For us, the 6th floor was better than the 8th floor.
The room was huge and within it there were various kinds of baths.
The main one was the big swimming pool with some waterfalls, which worked as showers.
On top of that there were wooden baths, various Jacuzzis and so on.
It was getting dark outside and they illuminated the inside with many colours, which created a rather strange and interesting atmosphere.
After enjoying the spa, we had dinner.
When we went to the restaurant on the 2nd floor, our meal was ready on the table on the tatami mat, which means that we would have had to sit on the floor and eat.
However, for my elderly mother, it was impossible to do that, so we asked the waitress to move our foods to the ordinary table.
The table itself was smaller than the tatami mat table, so the waitress had to move our food little by little during our meal.
She was very nice and kind.
Although this is a big hotel, their service was very good.
The food was very good, too.
We started with the plum sake, then the wooden box of starters, Sashimi, Namerou (Miso-based fish tartar), steak, turban shell, Tempura, abalone, etc.
All of them were good, so I ate almost everything.
It is impossible to be on a diet in Japan.
