Onsens were probably one of the biggest things I was looking forward to, and it certainly exceeded my expectations. Onsens are essentially hot springs, but the experience is quite different than sitting in a hot tub. It's uniquely a cultural experience, and if you're willing to immerse yourself in the tradition, I think you'll find it as enjoyable as I did.
Well, you can read about onsens on the
onsen Wikipedia page.
Previous posts in this series:
Part 1,
Part 2 Being on an island with active volcanos, there are over a thousand onsens across the country. Due to the different mineral content in different regions, the properties of the onsen waters vary across the country. As a result, different onsens will be recommended for their curative effects on various ailments such as arthritis or digestive issues, etc.
Although bathing is typically associated with onsens, actual bathing or cleaning of oneself doesn't actually happen in the actual hot spring. Let's cover some basic etiquette.
First off, you bathe or shower
prior to entering the onsen waters. Now you can use the one in your room...
Although, you can take a regular standing shower, I've noticed it is somewhat more typical or traditional to sit down, and shower/bathe using the shower head directly or filling up a bucket to dump water on your head.
The notion of sitting down to take a bath, not to mention filling up a bucket to dump water over your head may seem somewhat odd, but I actually found it quite refreshing. It also partially reminded me of bathing in the Philippines, where warm water didn't necessarily come from our plumbing, and needed to be heated separately. Once warmed, you would scoop out the water with a smaller pail to wash yourself, and this was somewhat reminiscent of that experience.
You'll typically have 3 liquids you can use for bathing: liquid soap, shampoo and conditioner.
Here's what you'll need to know in order to enjoy an onsen.
First off is that a lot of onsen will typically not allow anyone with visible tattoos. A lot of
yakuza (think Japanese mafia) tend to have tattoos, and rather than directly say "No Yakuza" (which would be a very un-Japanese thing to do), it's much easier and indirect to say "No Tattoos" instead. A very Japanese way to avoid being impolite.
Next is to check if your room has a
yukata to wear to the onsen area. Ryokans will typically have one waiting for you in a closet to wear in your room, and around the building. Some hotels will have them as well, but only for use to any spa or onsen facilities they have. It's quite comfy, though it might take you a couple of adjustments to get your preferred adjustments so that you don't feel like you might expose people to a free peep show. You can choose to wear underwear underneath (which I did), though I suppose some people might not (which I choose not to think about further).
If you're staying at a ryokan, grab your bath towel, and the smaller wash cloth for your room and head down. Bring a little bit of change if you're planning on buying anything from the vending machine afterwards.
Make sure to find out what times the onsen is available, and available for your gender. Smaller onsen facilities may split out the time by gender, and if you watch enough anime / read enough manga you have already seen all the hi-jinks that happen when people forget, or they forget to change the signs.
Minakamikan had a fairly large onsen set up, so they were able to split the facilities by gender. The men were able to use one set of facilities before dinner time, and then switched with the women after dinner. The next morning, a third set of facilities became available to men that was only available to women before that. One notable gender difference is that men are allowed to go as late as they want, where the women's onsen closed at about midnight. I'm pretty sure that they do that for security reasons. There are also private baths that you can reserve out in the case of couples or families.
In the changing area, you'll find a basket where you can place your underwear, your yukata AND your bath towel. I was a little bit confused of whether I should bring the towel in with me, but really all you'll be carrying around is the smaller wash cloth. You won't need the bath towel until you're done with the onsen.
Unlike gym locker rooms perhaps, there is no need to feel overly conscious of walking around with no clothes on. It's pretty typical in Japan to enjoy an onsen with family, friends and even co-workers. Since people are fairly accustomed to the nudity, you (typically) won't see any inappropriate looking. You may see younger people being a little bit more conscious and using the wash cloth to cover their privates, but everyone else is fairly oblivious.
Next, you should find the bathing area, which generally looks something like this:
You'll see wooden stools near open stalls containing a shower head, bucket, and shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap. Some of the fancier faucets will dispense just enough water to fill a bucket, which I found pretty convenient.
Now I have heard of people rushing through the washing process in order to get into the onsen quicker, but I think they lose a little bit of the
process of enjoying an onsen. Since the onsen is shared water, bathing is essential to keep the waters fairly clean of dirt and any loose hair. So if you take the time to wash yourself properly, not only will you be maintaining the purity of the water, but will be able relax yourself for the experience. I recommend sitting, and washing from the top down (e.g. shampoo -> conditioner -> liquid soap). Don't forget to scrub your back as best as you can as well.
All set? Time to jump in! Well, actually don't rush in. The water can be fairly hot! Until your body adjusts, you will want to ease yourself in with your feet first.
Once you're ready, you can fully immerse. I'm no expert, but you likely want to keep track of how long you stay immersed. Until you have a better sense of what you can handle, you may not want to stay immersed for longer than 5 minutes to begin with. Step out, give yourself a little break, and you can plop right back in. If you're at a bigger onsen, you can use this opportunity to try different onsen pools.
What do you do with your wash cloth, you may wonder. Well, you can either toss it to the side, or you can just let it rest on your head while you're immersed, which is what I did.
If you get the chance to, you do have to try an open air onsen. There is nothing like the feeling of contrasting temperatures on your face and body. In fact, it was under 30 degrees Fahrenheit for the trip, and when I first tried the outdoor onsen it was 1 am! I didn't spend a lot of time out there, but it was a wonderful feeling.
Anyway, after about an hour of alternating between immersing and taking breaks from immersing, you should be ready to head out. Dry yourself off in the changing area, and you're good to go. You likely will not want to take a shower afterwards to allow any minerals from the onsen water to soak in. You'll start to feel a bit thirsty, and many places will have some cold water waiting for you as you walk out.
Me? I cooled off with some lemon soda and some ice cream.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Definitely leave any comments if you have any questions that I didn't answer. We'll finish off with one last post about breakfast at Minakamikan, and we'll head back to Tokyo.
-- to be continued --
