Naturist Resources > Asia

Onsens, Japanese Hot Springs.

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collegeguy77:
Moved to Japan recently... Went to one in Tokyo so far... Plan on hitting up a bunch

JT:
Im glad this got bumped, I learned something today. And I really want to try this.  It seems really relaxing, calming, almost like a kind of meditation or the way you feel the day after a good therapy session and a good nights sleep. 

I can sense how this is a healthy thing for people

SurfNatural:
This is an small trip report on the areas in Japan I mentioned (Yufuin and Kurokawa)

Yufuin
Small famous Onsen town in southern Japan. My wife and I stayed one night here and enjoyed it overall. We stayed in an standard onsen hotel and had fun walking along the main street area. The highlight of our two day stay here would have to be our visit to the small and rustic onsen that was probably fed by the oldest Onsen in continuous use in the city. "Shitan-yu is an old, mixed bathing, open-air, hot spring public bath located by the side of the lake. The building is thatched with the onsen pool being half-covered by a roof and half-open to the elements."(forgot where I got this quote from but it is spot on).

Shitan-yu was our first use of a mixed gender Onsen and we will always remember it. Since it was a public and unattended onsen you could drop 200 yen in the coin slot and stay as long as you wished. While we soaked, a heavily tattooed man and his bubbly young daughter (maybe 5-6 years old) came into the small Onsen. This was particularly touching because here was a dude who I would have never seen in a typical Onsen (those with tattoos are typically forbidden from entering most staffed onsens due to their possible gang affiliation) and was probably one of the most sweet and caring fathers. Seeing men with their daughters in the Onsen is not unusual if their children are still young (before puberty) but in my broken Japanese I could hear him ask frequently if the water was to hot and if she was comfortable to which she always responded happily. Not only was he being quite attentive but he was also taking up the role of courteous host as he asked my wife and I questions in Japanese while we fumbled our way through conversation.  The nervousness my wife had with being nude with complete strangers in a confined space melted away as time spent with this gentleman showed everyone in the spring that day how dated the tattoo ban truly was.

Getting late here but I will write a review on Kurokawa a little latter. Also a beautiful spot.

Big thanks to: http://www.soak.net/

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