Atami, the onsen city

Atami, the little city on the eastern coast of Japan.
熱海 (Atami) means "hot sea", and is mostly known for it's hot springs. Tokyo Institute of Technology had organized a short trip for us foreign exchange students. We arrived in Atami, in the evening, after a stop at the Asahi Brewery.
The hotel we stayed at was really nice, called Heartpia. The rooms had tatami floors and most things were included. After settling in and going to the onsen on the top floor once, we were treated to a very nice dinner!
After the dinner and a lecture with discussions we went back to the onsen once more before going to bed.

This view is what we woke up to. Pretty beautiful ain't it?
Guess what we did in the morning, before the breakfast buffet.. That's right, we went to the onsen for a third and last time. It's been a while since I stayed at a hotel, and this whole experience was really nice.

We were given the great opportunity to meet the mayor of Atami, Mr Sakae Saito, a previous student at Tokyo Tech. He told of his student life, him studying abroad and how that gave him a better understanding of the importance of an international outlook. Few of his friends, and in general few engineering students go into politics.
Atami, like many other resort cities, have faced challenges like how to attract more people to visit. Urbanization means people move into bigger cities, which is one reason for fewer residents in smaller cities like Atami. Many families and couples visit, for instance to honeymoon. Personally I think more people would visit this nice little getaway, just one meagre hour away from the busy life of Tokyo, if they only knew what was available.
Though bath houses, spas and similar activities are not too difficult to find inside Tokyo lately which may also affect peoples desire to escape the big city.

After the memorable lecture we were given a guided tour around the hillside city. All the way down to the beach. We were divided into groups and each group were guided by a Japanese student.
The shore is crescent-shaped and has both harbors and a beach. It's sad that there weren't that many people walking around. Though I can just imagine what it's like here in the summers!
The weather this day was a little cloudy with a few drops of rain, but it made for some nice pictures I think.

Summers should attract more people. Though I've heard that beach visits aren't as popular among Japanese people as it is for some Swedish people back home, so I'm not sure.
I will probably go back for a day visit then.
Now we visited in late December - probably not the coldest couple of days during the year, but this is not high-season for a resort like this. I wish Mr Saito good luck and I hope Atami will see more visitors in the coming years.

As always, more pictures can be found on my Tumblr