See Japan

Well... I went to an onsen finally. It took me 4 trips to Japan to get around to it. For those of you unfamiliar, an Onsen is a natural hot spring. The water must be from a volcanic spring and they often are famous for having various minerals that can heal a number of illnesses. Traditionally they are outside, and most still are but there are indoor onsens which is what I went to. Here's an example of one outdoors and here is a not so great shot of the one I went to one station away from my apartment.

And, they're not just for humans. Seriously...

For Japanese people the Onsen is not just about relaxing. The onsen also provides opportunity to forget about the social hierarchy that does exist here. How do they do this you ask? In their birthday suits of course.

I went with my new friend Mika who is a manager at one of the offices I work at for NOVA. She's 24 I think and I would have been SOOO lost had it not been for her. It didn't help so much that this was the first thing I saw once I entered the building: Hahaha. I knew that many places don't allow people with tattoos but I thought I would take my chances. But, I managed by throwing my little wash cloth over my shoulder whenever I got out of one "bath" and went to the next, or when I was just walking around. Its funny... I was very nervous with clothes on, feeling judged, like everyone was staring at me.. but its amazing that once you are naked like everyone else you feel like no one can judge you anymore. I thought it would be the opposite feeling but it wasn't. And, I also thought it to be a bit ironic how I thought beforehand that I would feel more comfortable around strangers than friends or people I knew... strange huh?

So, you walk in. Take of your shoes, put them in a locker, buy your ticket and head upstairs. Then, you put the rest of your stuff in another locker, derobe and hit the showers. Its actually very luxurious. Showering is not done quickly and people take forever to make sure they are very very clean. After that you just get in the water and relax. The one we went to had a bath that just smelt good, one for moisture, one with some kind of herbs to cure illness, a really hot one with tea leaves and another one that I can't remember. We spent about 2 hours hopping around from one to the other, cooled off and then we headed down to the 3rd floor for some dinner. Again, the food is just awesome in Japan. The flavors are so rich and there is so much variety to choose from. We were then going to get a massage but thought we would save that for another day since we were already feeling so relaxed.