Onsen

As in any volcanic area, Japan boasts numerous natural hot springs. Their temperatures range from 30 to nearly 70 degrees Celsius, but in areas open to the public, they most often hover around 40 degrees Celsius.

Whether it's natural springs or the hot water of an ofuro, it's always about soaking in hot water. I certainly don't recommend it to people with heart problems or blood circulation problems, but if you don't have any such contraindications, a hot bath is especially useful in winter and the first days of spring, when the penetrating cold and humidity can be almost physically overwhelming.

While traveling in Japan, I had the opportunity to enjoy several types of hot baths:

• in the hotel bathroom, where after taking a shower you step into a short bathtub filled with hot water (more on this in the Bathroom post)

• in a hotel public bath, where the room has only a sink and a toilet, and you go to the bathhouse like to go to an onsen, only the hot water pool is often filled with water heated on site.

• in the onsen, i.e. in a pool filled with a natural geothermal spring, also on the hotel premises.

I haven't yet had the opportunity to visit an onsen located in a natural setting, such as a naturally formed rock pool or a public onsen, such as Hoshi Onsen Chōjukan in Gunma Prefecture (link to location here). I'm also still waiting to visit a public bathhouse (sentō) , the kind many anime fans know from the movie Spirited Away, but I saw a building of such an old bathhouse at the Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Museum (link to location here).

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

As any other place serving a specific purpose, onsens and bathhouses have certain rules. Here are the basic ones. Below, I'll provide more details and situations where the answer to the question of whether this is always the case is "it depends."

1. We enter the water after washing thoroughly and without any clothes.

2. The pools are separate for men and women.

3. Pools are not for swimming, but for basking in hot water, usually in a sitting position.

4. Conversations are welcome, but they are more of a chat where everyone can participate than a private story about someone's love life or shopping spree (I've heard tourists who thought I didn't understand their language).

5. Most often, people with tattoos cannot enter an onsen (more on this below).

Of course, if you are alone in a bathhouse or onsen, talk about whatever you want and you can even try swimming (the pools are usually small and shallow, so it's just a try), but when there are more people, you should behave in a way that makes everyone feel comfortable.

Occasionally, some hotels offer private bath rentals for 45 minutes or an hour. These are usually small pools, perfect for several people, used by families or couples. In these cases, there is no gender separation.

In Japanese culture, tattoos are traditionally associated with membership in the yakuza criminal organization, and therefore, individuals with tattoos were not allowed in onsens or bathhouses. However, more and more people, primarily foreign tourists, are now getting tattoos, large or small, and hotels have various solutions for them. Sometimes, a tattoo isn't a barrier to using the hot tubs at all; you might also be advised to cover small tattoos with plaster, or—if they're not officially tolerated at all—rent a private pool for an hour.

Finally, let's talk about what a visit to a bathhouse or onsen is like, because the first time you go there, you might feel a bit disoriented. No photos, as it's a place with special privacy requirements.

We leave our rooms in a light cotton kimono (yukata), which is usually provided in the room. Note: If you have yukatas in your hotel room, they are for hotel use only – we do not take them home. We bring a large (bath size) and a small towel.

In the bathhouse/onsen we first go to the cloackroom, where we take off our flip-flops (they stay on the shelves at the entrance), our yukata (it stays in a basket on the shelf in the cloackroom, along with a large towel) and we go with a small towel to the next room.

If it's an enclosed pool, there will be washing stations. Each station has a tap and hand shower, a stool, and a bowl for pouring water over yourself. Most also have a mirror, soap, shampoo, and hair conditioner. Why a bowl for pouring water? Because in the past, there was a tap and a bowl, and now there are also options with a shower. But pouring water from a bowl also has its charm. Here, we wash ourselves thoroughly, trying not to splash on the adjacent stations, and then we enter the pool .

In the case of natural hot springs, it can be outdoors. Remember to bring a small towel to cover your private parts while you're walk from one space to another, as there's nowhere to put it. In the pool, a towel folded several times ends up on your hair, as there's nowhere to put it. If, like me, you have trouble with it not staying on your shaggy head, try tying it in your hair, although this isn't official practice.

We sit quietly in the water, submerging as much as the temperature and our endurance allow (knee-deep, waist-deep, shoulder-deep, or neck-deep), usually for a few minutes. Then we can shower and either re-enter or return to the locker room.

Back in the cloackroom, we dry off, put on our yukata, and then use the mirror stations, which (depending on the hotel) usually have hairdryers, lotions, and hygiene products like cotton buds and cotton balls. The gentlemen never told me if they had the same thing.

The large towel is usually left where it is, in the basket for wet towels, and then it's just a matter of putting on flip-flops and going back to the room .

If something seems unclear to you - ask me :)