Onsen 温泉

 My error in trying to keep up with this blog has been that I want to write really big posts, but then they feel daunting and I never want to just sit and sort everything out. So a potential remedy is smaller posts. Easier for you to read and me to do.

        Japan is a very tectonically active area. A couple hundred miles out into the Pacific Ocean is a big plate Faultline. Thus the frequent earthquakes. We actually had a 4.3 this morning about 10 miles away. Another side effect of this is that underground water sometimes gets close to magma and heats up then as hot things tend to do, it rises. Japanese people have been using the hot natural water to make bath houses for a pretty good while. I remember watching a short video of some foreigners using an outdoor one. They were in a small outdoor courtyard, maybe 15 meters/yards square. Some nice trees and great view of the countryside with a little privacy fence, and a 3 meter/yard square stone lined pool/bath in the center. It looked amazing. As such I've wanted to visit one myself, and had hoped friends would join me but Covid made it hard to travel this year. 

        Anyhoo. Work set us up at an Onsen hotel for a 2 day work function and I entered this one but it seemed just like bathwater.

(This was my first time to actually be in one, there was no one around at 6 am so I broke a rule and took a picture. I needed to go to breakfast and didn't intend to even get in the bath so only spent like 2 minutes in it. Seemed like bathwater far as I could tell.)

A Japanese English teacher I work with had asked about plans and learned I was seeking a hotspring that was more natural with like murky water. Several weeks later he had been asking around and seeking as well apparently, said he found one exactly as I wanted, and offered take me. This is the SECOND time in 12 months I've done a social activity with another person.  So we made a plan to visit the next week. Unfortunately the murky water one closes 1 DAY a month to clean, and it was that day. So we visited a different one.

        Etiquette at an Onsen is a little difficult for foreigners. The first rule is usually 'no swimsuit'. At the entrance you leave your shoes, pay the 5 TO 7 DOLLARS TO ENTER, then enter your sex's changing room. Then there are little lockers with keys and wrist bracelets. As the first rule says, disrobe and cram all your stuff into a locker, wear the key on your wrist or arm or whatever you like. Bring in your little towel and you're all set to head into the bath. At the entrance is usually a little tub to take water and rinse yourself. The baths purpose isn't to clean yourself and leave all the dirt for the next people, its to relax, so rinse off or even take a shower BEFORE getting into the bath. Typical setup is a very hot big bath, a medium temp, a small cold bath and sauna next to one another sometimes, and a shower area with complimentary body soap and shampoo. Other rules are don't put your towel into the water, don't wash yourself in the bathwater, and don't put your hair in the water. 

        The first Onsen I went to was more bath water. There was a smaller bath of very hot water, then a bigger one with what smelled like a little of some kind of mint scenting the water. We hung out and chatted and switched from one bath to the other and showered at our leisure. Before leaving a random man started talking to me in English and we chatted for a few minutes. He said he was in construction work, and had been all over the world. Like South America, bunch of countries in Europe, and the Islands to the south of Japan. I did note he had indented skin in the shape of Japanese characters, which I assumed was the effect of tattoo removal. You can interpret all that information as you will. Overall the trip was pleasant. We got some sushi afterward, but planned to visit the intended Murky water one in several days.

(This would be like the exact thing I'm looking for, hopefully I will find something like it when I visit the northern island in a few weeks.)

        You guys.... murky water one was amazing. The water looked like it had a bunch of rust in it. I a brownish red color, and I couldn't see my pinky finger when I held my hand vertically in the water. I was told there was nothing added to the water either, it was just straight from the ground with a very subtle earthy scent. EXACTLY what I was looking for! But wait there's more! I wanted to go to one outdoors to feel the contrast of hot and cold. This one had big glass panels with wood frame and they could open. So we sat in the murky bath while cool winter air came in and over the top. This murky water Onsen even had their cold pool filled with murky water. There was a little courtyard outside with bamboo and it looked so nice. When I got way too hot I transitioned and sat in the little cold one. I could feel my heart slow down as my body cooled. Almost seemed like I could feel the temperature difference around my heart and neck where where the cold water was cooling my blood but other parts were still warm from the hot bath. Made me feel weird, good weird, but quite unusual. Well I enjoyed the time and chatting a lot. On the drive back my skin felt a little different, like comfy and unusual, I don't know... different. My Japanese English teacher friend said he had noted the same thing from his first use of this specific hotspring.

(The smaller one in the foreground is the cold tub. This place is called the "twins" onsen because the two sides look like one another for the most part. I got to try both sides! I also went in the evening when it was dark just because it was how my schedule worked out.)

(Both sides have a section like this where those big panels can slide and let the outdoor air in. It is glorious.)

(On the right is where you enter from the changing room. Then the stone lined thing holds water for you to rinse before you enter any of the baths.)

        I needed to go to the city a 2 hour drive to the South last week, and on my way back that evening I stopped at murky water place again. Alone I could enjoy it however I wished. So I cleaned and then would soak in the hot murky water bath, then the cold tub, then back. This time they had switched the Male/female sides so there was a small outdoor kinda deck with a bench. It's really early spring so outdoors is cool, but I went out to sit on the bench several times as well. You know when you're chilly and you warm up quickly either by getting into a bath or a warm car, and the feeling of warming up is just soooooooooo nice? I found one of my favorite things to do in cooling myself drastically either by sitting outside or entering the small cold tub, then return to the hot murky water tub. My goodness does that feel good. There's light soft music playing, the air is all misty from the humidity and temperature. I'm super disappointed that this kind of thing doesn't exist in the US. I'm trying to set up a trip to the northern island of Japan before leaving and hopefully I can hit up some Onsen up there. Different Onsen advertise themselves as having specific nutrients and so forth in their waters. As a foreigner it was unusual for me to be naked near strangers but since everyone else is accustomed to it I didn't care after about 10 minutes or so, it's different, but also nice to just be naked and in a warm place with a comfy bath ya know? The Onsen is immensely relaxing and wonderful, highly recommend. For 6 bucks is extraordinarily worth the price.