Onsen (Hot Springs) in Japan
From my first week in Japan, and at least once a week
thereafter, I constantly received invitations to partake in this age-old
tradition of getting naked in a hot bath with a group of complete strangers.
I started a part-time job teaching English outside of my
university commitments and every Saturday, on the long drive back to the city
after teaching kids out in the tea farms, my boss, a tough businesswoman in
her late fifties would ask if I’d like to try onsen today.
I am all for immersing myself in a new culture and fitting
in with the locals, but taking a naked
bath with my boss just really didn’t seem appealing to me. I tried a lot of
things in Japan- natto (fermented soybean sticky, nasty, spider-webby goo), all
kinds of raw seafood, acupuncture, 40% alcohol made from sweet potato… the
list goes on… but this was one thing I just could not bring myself to do!
There was one point where I went on a camp with 300 young people committed to international understanding (which was fantastic!), and the shower room was just a tiled room, around ten by five meters, with shower heads and taps spaced all around three of the walls. No dividers, no shower curtains, just a room full of naked girls. We were informed that showers may be taken between 6 - 8 pm. I seemed to be the only one who found this confronting. And I dealt with this by sneaking out at 2am to have a shower…
In around the third month of my exchange, I was invited by a group of friends to go and visit the nearby active volcano, Sakurajima. We met at the ferry terminal in the morning and enjoyed a steaming hot bowl of udon noodle soup on the 15-minute ferry trip. When we landed on the volcano, we hopped on a bus which circumnavigates Sakurajima and I stared in awe out the window at the stunted pine trees, the black, ashy soil, and the massive concrete contours that have been constructed to encourage lava to flow in an orderly, less destructive fashion.
We hopped off the bus at a look-out point where we could walk through the ‘volcano fields’, which had been flattened by the last big eruption, when the volcano connected itself to the peninsula on the other side of the bay.
After at least an hour of taking photos together in every pose imaginable, we hopped back on the bus that headed to the ferry terminal. But we had one more surprise stop. A hotel called Furusato Onsen Hotel. On reading the sign I started to panic a little bit… but maybe I could just sit in the lobby and look after everyone’s bags.
I started to explain to my friends that I really wasn’t comfortable with the whole onsen idea but they reassured me that there was nothing to worry about. I took a deep breath, told myself to toughen up, and decided that I would conquer this challenge.
We paid our money at the counter and were handed a little package including an A4 sized plastic zipper bag, a tiny towel and a white, cotton yukata (like a summer version of a kimono). I had no idea what any of it was for, but I bundled mine up and followed my group towards the elevator.
The doors closed behind us and I held my breath waiting to descend into who knew what sort of scene… I nearly fell over when the elevator moved sideways! Not quite sideways, but diagonally down. The novelty of this actually took my mind off the ordeal I was about to go through.
When the elevator doors opened, we split into male and female groups to go into our respective change rooms.
There were a couple of young women in their early twenties who had just finished undressing and were putting on their robes, while an elderly lady was walking naked from the shower to the changing area to put her clothes back on- which I noticed were folded and placed in the plastic zipper bag. And so it begins, I thought. I was pleased to see the showers had curtains, and there were also a couple of toilet cubicles. Perfect, somewhere to get changed into my yukata!
We exited out the back door of the change room and discovered the boys were waiting for us, also dressed in white robes. As a larger group now, we followed the signs down the corridor, stepping through a warm foot bath, and finally exiting out into daylight.
It was the most magical outdoor setting I had ever seen! Before us was a huge volcanic rock pool, positioned right on the edge of a small cliff which dropped a few meters into the sea below. It was a natural infinity pool, with steam rising off the water like a ghostly fog.
There was a massive tree growing out of the rock above a large, jacuzzi-sized alcove to the right, with its root system twisting around forming a ceiling. This little room had been made into a shrine, with a thick, twisted rope draped around the tree, connecting it to a torii gate. The sun was close to setting, and with the temperature of the air dropping, the heat of the water was quite magnetic. This is when I noticed that the people already in the onsen were wearing their robes! No nakedness with strangers, or my group of friends. I breathed out a huge sigh of relief, and as I stepped into the blissfully warm pool I felt completely at peace knowing I could enjoy this magical experience without any self-consciousness and especially content that I would be able to look my friends in the eye tomorrow.
As the sun descended, and the sky transformed through stunning pinks and oranges to dark blue, fire torches were lit beside the pool and I felt so incredibly fortunate to have witnessed each of these faces of Furusato Onsen. The lights of Kagoshima city sparkled on the other side of the bay and it was incredible to imagine that while every-day life rushed by over there, with all it's problems and responsibilities, this onsen sat here quietly, peacefully watching on, without a care in the world.
I managed to complete the rest of my year in Japan without
getting publicly naked, although I did return to visit Furusato Onsen a number
of times.
It wasn't until a couple of years later, on a two week holiday to Japan, that I tried naked onsen for the first time. I was taken to Ibusuki by the mother of a friend of mine. We were buried in hot volcanic sand- dressed in yukata thankfully! After our relaxation time, we climbed out of the sand and headed back inside to shower and dress. Unfortunately, our belongings were on the other side of a public bath and this was the only way through to get them. I made the decision to embrace the situation. The time had finally come.
After my quick shower, I attempted to cover as much of myself as I could with the tiny towel I had been given and walked out into the pool-sized bath. My friend's mum was already sitting inside with her eyes closed and her head tilted back, enjoying the warmth of the water. I looked around and the half a dozen other ladies were doing the same, so I found a spot a few meters from everyone else and sat down.
Being blonde, fair-skinned, blue-eyed and quite curvy, I expected at least a curious sideways glance- but nothing. It was as though I was invisible, no-one's eyes ventured outside of their personal space... except mine! On realising this, I diverted my gaze to the water directly in front of me and stayed there quietly until I noticed my friend's mum was ready to leave.
I can't say I loved the experience, I think it would take quite a bit of repetition to reverse the effects of my conservative (prudish) upbringing, but I can say that I did it, and it wasn't terrible.
I might even do it again one day.
Just on an end note, I have been informed that Furusato Onsen Hotel closed down a couple of years ago due to bankruptcy, so if anyone knows Richard Branson, please feel free to pass this on, and ask if he has ideas of how to re-open the place :) Thanks.
