Experiences

Hello again,

So its been just over a week since I arrived in Japan and my friend goes home Thursday. However I'd like to take a minute to blog about my first time in an Edo style izakaya and my first time in a traditional onsen, or hot spring as it's normally translated to. 

So my brother organised dinner with a few of his Japanese friends and invited us to join him. This restaurant was styled to mimic the traditional Edo period, fit with a wooden bridge and little booths where you had to remove your shoes before entering. his friends were both well traveled, well cultured and either fluent or highly advanced in English. Each was immaculately dressed to fit with the Japanese fashion and they we all friendly and enjoyable company. They spoke about their own travels, which included studying in Australia or, for one woman, living in Spain and recently returning from a trip to Tanzania. They spoke to us in English so we could understand, but I spoke Japanese occasionally to practise. Oh, and they loved to drink. So they ordered a round of sake for us to try. Now, let me describe sake for you: it was a clear, colourless liquid resembling water. This particular type tasted like dilute vodka, and vodka is great - except you don't drink it straight and savour it like you would whiskey. So we sat there sipping what tasted like watered down vodka out of little cups. Interesting, fun and something that I assume people would get very, very drunk off. We ate some traditional Japanese foods such as okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake), soba (Japanese noodles) and nabe (Japanese hotpot). The soba was especially good as  it's handmade in the restaurant. For those of you don't know, soba is dry and it comes with a little bowl of soup that you dip the dry soba in. That was the first time I've ever tried soba and it was delightful to eat it the traditional way. It was such an enjoyable night and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking to Japanese people and getting to know my brother's life in a little more detail. 

The next night I went to a traditional onsen with my friend. Onsen typically translates to 'hot spring' in Japanese but I find 'public bath house' a better description. Here's the funny thing: everyone goes in naked. SO let's talk about this experience, and I'd like to open with it was extremely enjoyable. Men and women are separated into different areas and you put your shoes in one locker and your clothes/bag in another. My friend and I made the mistake of thinking you put your bags in the tiny shoe locker and had quite perplexed reactions. It's actually quite confusing because there are so many assumed rules. You put your towel in a little rack before you go to the baths so when you go in you dry yourself off before stepping into the changeroom, that way it stays dry. You can bring your own toiletries to have a shower after. Also, the shower heads don't continuously run so you have to hold the tap down. All very, very odd things for a first timer. 

So you take off your clothes in the change room and all the baths are heated with a cold water pool as well. At the onsen we went to, there was also a mist sauna, a normal sauna, a massage area and places to shower and scrub. So it's very similar to a hot spring in many ways. Personally, I found the mist sauna quite strange and the moisture in the air made it difficult to breathe. Saunas are also not my thing, I just don't think I'm built for the hot. However I did enjoy the warm spa baths that had jets of water in seats that basically massaged your back. 

Now to the whole naked thing, I guess it was, in a weird way, very liberating. No one there cares what you look like, if you're fat or skinny, old or young, it's just a place to relax and calm yourself. It isn't a place you go with your girlfriends to have a gossip session so a lot of people go alone. As a result, there isn't any chatter so you can enjoy the warm water in blissful silence. People of any age is welcome to go so there are many different kinds of people present. After a while, you grow accustomed to being bare and it's actually a lot more relaxing. You're not awkwardly pulling at the wedgie or double checking your bathers are still sitting the right way, and the constant pressure to look good in a bikini instantly disappears. You don't feel self concious about your appearance, you got what you got and no one is there to stare at you. I guess that's the main thing, no obligation to conform to that standard of society that makes you feel uncomfortable because you don't have a 'bikini body'. If you don't wear a bikini, you're just you and completely stripped of everything. You show up exactly the way you are with absolutely nothing to hide, and if that isn't somewhat liberating I don't know what is. 

Photos: Hamamatsuchō