A Japanese Onsen

I will give a little background to this story. While in Nagoya I have been hosted by my good friend Ron Taw. I met Taw 4 years ago. He was my math coach when I began teaching at Los Angeles Academy. For the first year of knowing each other Taw and I kept everything very professional. We had no idea that we could actually like each other. The following year our professional demeanors had been dismissed. My theory is that our friendship developed by a slow series of socially inappropriate “slip ups” by both Taw and myself where we began to realize we found each other funny. Taw and I began to hang out after school. About once a month Taw and I would drive to school together in the morning. We then would head down to Long Beach together. We would head down to another fellow teacher’s place (Jimmy P) and go have “book club”. We would read lots of “books”. In fact, we would read so many “books” that we had difficulty thinking straight. Taw and I would then wake up in Long Beach and would head out to breakfast together. We basically would spend a straight 24 hours together. Yet we never wanted to kill one another.

When I got to Nagoya, Taw asked me “do you want to have a true Japanese experience?” I said “yeah”. He said “are you sure?” I said “yeah” then he said “do you want to go to an Onsen?” I knew what he was asking. Without even thinking I quickly said “yes”.

Japanese Onsen are kind of like very large hot tubs… except everyone in them is naked. The males and females are generally separate (though there are occasionally mixed onsens). You start by taking all your clothes off in the dressing room. You then head out to the onsen. All you take with you is a small hand towel. The hand towel is used to visually block your “special area”. This hand towel is used very liberally by most of the men. The first thing you do when you get to the onsen area is take a shower. You sit on a small chair while you clean yourself with soap and water. This is all done publicly with all the other males. Then after you are cleaned you go to the sauna where you let your body soak in the heat. This is once again done while in the nude. Then after being in the sauna for a short period of time you move on to the large bath house. In some cases these are outside, in other cases they are inside. The bathhouses are like very large hot tubs except the water in them has a lot of natural minerals that makes your body feel very smooth.

A few quick comments, First, I have never in my life been around that many naked men. So if a major catastrophe ever strikes the United States where all clothes disintegrates I will be better prepared to cope then many other Americans. Also, never in my life have Taw and I been naked in front of one another. Both Taw and I decided this brings our relationship to a new level. I have now seeing my former math coach naked (does it sound as weird as it feels to write?). The Japanese onsen felt great. It was so relaxing being there. Without a doubt I will be participating in these many more times before I leave Japan. I really want to do Aikido or take a run then go to an onsen and let my muscles just relax in the heat.

Apparently, in Japanese culture Onsens are often used to break the ice between business associates. This means that often ones very first meeting with their Japanese business associates they are naked. To the Japanese this is normal. To me, it isn’t. I was surprised though because after I got naked I felt pretty comfortable. Another interesting thing that I learned is that many Japanese families take family outings to onsens just like we take an outing to a park. They will bring the entire family and just relax. They then will break to go get lunch and come back and relax in the onsen some more. This creates a culture where they are much more comfortable with their nudity.

As could be assumed I was not able to take any pictures. I imagine no one would want to see them anyways (but stranger things have happened). Also, it is against the rules of the onsen to take any pictures (which makes sense). So for those of you that were wishing for a picture I apologize (in this case the wants of the many are going to have to outweigh the wishes of the few).