Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We started the morning out right with another trip to the onsen. This time we went to a different one that was supposed to have blue water but it didn't look that blue to us. We got a private indoor onsen that had a nice view out of the window to the garden. The bath was filled when we arrived and it was a much more pleasant temperature than last night's bath.
After the onsen we visited the 8 hells or jigoku as they are known. They are 8 different hot springs that due to varying chemical balances etc. they are unique. For example boiling mud or bright blue or red water. There is even one that steams heaps and apparently is the perfect temperature for crocodile breeding so there was heaps of enclosures filled with crocs enjoying the hot water.
It was about 2pm once we finished seeing all the hells and we then took a bus down to the city centre to check it out. There wasn't much going on there really and after some burgers for lunch (Shannon accidentally ordered a shrimp burger which he said was actually very delicious) we took a bus back up to Happy Neko.
We chilled out in our rooms for the rest of the arvo and mentally prepared ourselves for another onsen visit that evening. We had decided to go back to the onsen from last night but this time use the public baths, so men and women separate. We were both a bit nervous of being nude in front of other people and also of doing something wrong. There are a few rules to follow when it comes to using onsens.
Around 9:30pm we headed down to the onsen and bought our tickets. The good thing about using the public bath is that you don't have to wait, so we were able to walk straight in. We agreed to meet back up in the courtyard in half an hour and then went our separate ways.
As soon as I walked into the women's change room I saw a lady's naked bottom and I was thought "here we go!" but it turned out different to how I thought it was going to be. Everyone is doing their own thing and really pays no attention to you. I found my locker and got unchanged, making sure to go to the toilet before heading to the bathing room. Everyone has a little hand towel which they use to cover themselves when moving around so with towel in hand I padded down to the baths. To the right was a washing area so I headed in there, pulled up a stool and used the body wash provided to clean myself. There were a bunch of other women in there too but everyone is facing outwards towards the mirrors on the walls so it's really not strange at all.
After rinsing all the soap off I walked over to the baths and selected an empty one to hop into. I submerged myself and then started to unwind. More than anything I felt a bit lonely because almost everybody there was there with a friend; it's a real social event. I wish we had places like this in Australia and that we had been brought up to be open about nudity in places like this. It was really quite liberating to be in a place where all the women were nude and proudly walking around. To me, it really brought out the point that everybody is different and we all have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to body image.
After soaking in that bath for a while I tried out the waterfall bath. This was a shallower bath that had about 8 sprouts of water cascading down, so basically it was like having a shower except you could sit there or lie underneath it and the pressure from the waterfall was quite hard. I gave myself a bit of a massage with the water and then trotted over to another bath.
Time went quickly and soon it was time to get out and meet up with Shannon. I saw some women exiting the bath and then rewashing themselves in the bathing area so I followed suit. When I went to the exit and was drying myself in the designated drying area I read a sign that said you rinse off all the medicinal purposes if you wash after exiting the bath so I was quite distraught that I had done it wrong. I was tempted to dash back and splash into a bath but I was already running late so I just resigned myself to my fate.
Back in the dressing room I dried off a bit more thoroughly, dried my hair with the hair dryer and then left for the courtyard where Shannon was already waiting and enjoying a beverage.
We had a bit of a debrief about our bathing experiences. Shannon's bath went off without a hitch and we both agreed that it felt very normal to be nude in there especially because everybody else was thinking nothing of it.
All in all, it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it. Four years ago when I was last in Japan I was far too scared to hop into a public bath but this time I just felt so brave and more confident in my body. I'm glad I did it!
- comments