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New Zealand broadcaster with J Force Ulric Williams, introduces a talk by official New Zealand newspaper correspondent, Dick Cross of Christchurch, [military service number 297030.] He talks about a recent trip he made to the Japanese Alps.
He describes the journey from Tokyo which took two days by train, accompanying an American railway inspection officer. The Northern Japanese Alps are one of three ranges that extend for around 100 miles throughout the main island of Honshu. At Matsumoto they changed to a car for the last 35 miles, which took four hours along a narrow road, climbing steeply. They climbed past waterfalls and hot springs towards Mt Yakedake, an active volcano. In Kamikochi, they reached the Imperial Hotel, a western-style hotel popular with tourists before the war but now abandoned and boarded up. Instead, they stayed at a traditional Japanese inn.
Dick Cross explains the routine involved in taking a bath in a traditional Japanese onsen spa. The bath water was from a mineral spring and was extremely hot. After the bath, guests put on padded winter kimonos. Girls were waiting with dishes of sliced meat and vegetables which were cooked quickly on a brazier. Beds consisted of a Japanese mattress on the floor and three eiderdowns.
This recording is one of a series made by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service unit stationed with J Force troops in Japan, 1946-1948. The recordings were sent back for playing on radio in New Zealand as part of the series 'With the Kiwis in Japan.'