Sometimes I struggle to say something new about Kurokawa. I have been visiting regularly since 1996, and I lived and worked there for a year in 2006-07. I’ve led students on field study tours twice now, and I fear my stories may be stale. To combat this, I do two things: first, I make students write about their visit to Kurokawa, and I hope to see it again through their eyes. Second, I purposefully emphasize the standard narrative about Kurokawa, received from print and video, as well as from many individuals there. Then I contrast this narrative with small bits of information that undermine it. Far from reinforcing what we think we know about the place, I hope this gets students thinking that there may be hundreds of little stories that comprise the resort, thus creating a thoroughly incoherent narrative of place. Such a disjointed narrative more closely resembles our daily experiences of place, which are not constructed by an overarching storyline. If I can get students to question Kurokawa’s narrative (and my repeated stories about it) through their writing, I believe I’ve helped them achieve a higher level of learning; the ever-elusive critical thinking.

Many students emphasized the opulence of our accommodations and service; some were impressed, others disgusted. Especially since we visited immediately after walking around Tsuetate, the contrast could not be missed. This timing was intentional, of course. I thought it would be effective to visit one place, then the other. Even without my interpretation, I think the students would have picked up on the differences. Unfortunately, the realities of the tour logistics preclude us from visiting each place without any guidance – just giving them one or two hours to walk on their own in both places, then compare notes. This sounds like a great idea, but then we would have to return to each to point out things that needed clarification or were missed. And we cannot afford such a lesson – both in time and money.

Touring Kurokawa

After checking into our inn, I led a one-hour walking tour, pointing out facilities of interest (some mentioned in my various papers on Kurokawa), explaining changes, and providing orientation so that they could navigate the resort later on their own.

Tourists dressed in yukata

As if on cue, we saw tourists in yukata exploring the narrow streets, eating sweets, and taking photos between baths. The weather was outstanding, and we saw the best side of Kurokawa: a weekday in May – between Golden Week and rainy season.

Group photo in the heart of Kurokawa

Later, we met for dinner and to talk about the different baths we had tried. This is, after all, what Kurokawa is all about.

Used bath passes (nyūto tegata), one (well-reported) secret to Kurokawa's success

Date of visit and photos: May 22, 2012