Onsen Culture
If anyone finds themselves in Japan, I strongly urge you to visit the Onsens.
An Onsen is a public bath house, often fed by natural springs! Now don't cringe with disgust, this is nothing like going to a public swimming pool. The Japanese take this experience very seriously and they're a very hygienic culture. Long before anyone has dipped a toe into one of the baths, they've spent a good hour scrubbing themselves down.
Living in a hectic high pressure culture, they have refined the art of relaxation, ensuring you get as much out of it as possible. The men and women are separated, but there's usually a common area attached, where there's food and drinks available. In the city they're huge building housing games, entertainment and a wide selection of food vendors, some of them follow the Vegas style of presentation. Outside of the city it's smaller, a more personalized feeling, far more rustic.
There are both indoor and outdoor baths. In the countryside you get the mountain mist, the flowers naturally spilling into the pool of water, petals floating by your head.
Each individual bath is a different temperature. People start at the cooler ones and move into hotter and hotter baths as their bodies adjust. When you sit down, the water goes right up to your chin.
When you go into the country sides, there are specialty Onsens. That means the natural spring naturally carries some kind of property, each believed to have theraputic properties. The water might have sulphur (awesome for your skin) Sodium Chloride, Hydrogen Carbonate, Iron. I saw one that was an Uranium Onsen, forbidden to preagnant women, and apparently awesome for skin disorders.
If you have tattoos you might have a problem getting into some Onsen's. This is actually a way to keep out organized crimminals. I've seen them turn a blind eye to foreigners with tattoos but this isn't always the case.
Oh and they're all nude. In the common arrias you wear a Yakata, which is like a casual Kimono. However, once segrigated, everyone's naked!
It's civilized and luxurious!
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