Hot Springs
Japan’s natural hot springs, or onsen, are an experience not to be missed. A volcanic archipelago with a high rainfall, Japan is a land of abundant natural hot water. Nothing is as intensely soothing as a soak in geothermic onsen pools, and many of the minerals in the water are thought to have healing properties.
Men and women usually enter separate pools, leaving their clothes in wicker baskets in the changing area. The bathing experience is almost a ritual: bathers scrub themselves from head to toe and rinse before stepping gently into the piping hot pool.
Bathing naked with strangers with only a small towel for cover can be a daunting experience, but once in the steaming water, concerns about modesty melt away. Calming, cleansing, relaxing and nearly meditative, it’s a liberating experience that’s well worth the initial trepidation. For those who remain unconvinced, some hotels offer smaller, private hot spring pools. Foot baths, or ashiyu, are also available in many hot springs towns for the foot sore traveller.
Dotted over nearly every part of the islands, onsen towns have long been popular as resort destinations. Hakone, Beppu, Nikko, Matsumoto and Takayama are all famous hot spring towns with histories dating back as early as the eighth century. Into Japan invites you to soak up Japanese culture at a ryokan, or Japanese inn, in one of these onsen towns, and experience bathing at its best.