Not long after I arrived in Japan (less than 24 hours actually), I was told that I had to be sure to go and check out an onsen while I was here and was then shown approximately where the closest one to my apartment was. It’s a nice traditional bath created by hot springs, the Japanese go all the time, I was told. Well alright then, I like hot springs and relaxing and traditional cultural experimentation, I’m in.

Fast forward a few weeks and a new female coworker and I become friends. We decide to go on a little excursion one weekend and think maybe we’ll throw in a trip to the onsen while we’re at it. ‘Oh we’ll just pack our bikinis and we’re all set!’ she announced in the office. A sea of giggles was all we got in return. Silly foreigners that we are, we forgot to read up on the most important rule of onsening (and there are a few): you go completely naked. They say bath, and they mean bath.

As it turns out we didn’t end up onsening that weekend after all. But soon came our next chance. A road trip with 3 male friends that started as a trip to climb a volcano but ended at a gorgeous little onsen town called Kurokawa, famous for its 23 hot spring onsen resorts, so to speak (entry is very cheap). But if we were going to do this right, we had a couple rules we wanted to set out first. 1 – it had to be scenic. 2- the baths had to be segregated. As much as we appreciate the boys, nuding it up in a pool together when some of us have to sit across from one another the next day at work didn’t really seem that cool. Not to mention any random old leering men loitering about. Thankfully most onsens in Japan are segregated but it’s best to double-check first.

So off we went, me and a practiced nudist (ok, not really, but she is German), to get our first public bath experience. The basic rules are: no clothes and nothing fabric (i.e. towels) should come into contact with the water, you must at the very least rinse off before going into the bath, if not sit on the little bucket provided and scrub down with soap then rinse before going in (the levels of strictness varies by place), and no real lounging about outside the baths. You’re allowed to carry around a modesty towel as you move from bath to bath, but it does seem sort of silly when you just have to drop it about 2 minutes later. Some ladies also wear a towel on their head, which we assumed was a complex way of keeping it dry, but is often wet with cool water to keep you from getting dizzy. I may try this next time, it was HOT, let me tell you (from the temperature people, let’s keep it clean). The baths we had to use were apparently 80°C and set in amongst rocks and bamboo forest, enclosed by a wooden hut immediately next to a powerful waterfall. We were dizzy from the heat, but the atmosphere was pretty intense in itself. We felt like ladies back in olden times washing ourselves by the shore with buckets. A bit surreal, and definitely unlike any visit to a spa I’ve ever had. Then, when we’d had enough, we reconvened with the boys at a neutral, fully clothed tea hut outside and relaxed until we pretty much melted into the floor.  An initially uncomfortable, but ultimately two thumbs up experience.

Most people are afraid of change if nothing else, but so far my experience with Japan has been, and particularly regarding onsens, are you brave enough for tradition? So far, my answer has been yes, how about you?

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