Japanese Onsen
I took some photographs of the second Japanese Onsen that we visited during my time in Japan, so that you can get an idea of what they look like and how they are set up. Don't worry, there are no naked bodies in the photographs anywhere.
If you remember from my previous blog post, Onsens are hot springs and are the old, traditional method that Japanese people used for bathing. However, the ones that we visited during my trip were more set up for attracting tourism. When I entered this particular Japanese Onsen hotel, I dispensed with my shoes and Superman socks and plunged my feet into a pair of undersized, feminine looking slippers. It got me wondering: do all Japanese people have small feet? I found myself strutting around the place like a drunk transvestite. Thankfully, we left our slippers outside before we entered the spa bath area, so no danger of stumbling into a naked Japanese man. Once inside, we removed all clothing, grabbed a towel and flannel (and camera) and entered the spa bath area to quickly shower before jumping into the baths. As I mentioned previously, men go into different spa baths than women. Damn them for spoiling the fun! We had an indoor (photo 1) and an outdoor (photo 2) spa bath. Notice, in photograph 3, how they even cater for kids by providing smaller stools.