For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. Which of the world's many nationalities are the most casual about going nude? Could it be the Koreans or Japanese with their traditions of public bathhouses? Or the Finns with their famous saunas? These are strong contenders.
1. You’ll Be Naked
1. No Clothes Allowed
A mural fills a wall at Mikoku-yu onsen, or hot spring bath, in Sumida ward, Tokyo. Sento are bathhouses that use regular water while onsen use natural hot spring water. Japan is proud of its bathing traditions. These are washing stations in the Mitake-yu sento, or public bath, in Minami Urawa, Saitama prefecture, Japan. This is a changing room in Unsuisen sento, or public bath, in Tokyo, Japan. For many Westerners, though, the fact that these traditions involve being naked with strangers is awkward at best, even though men and women bathe separately. I suggested a different town that had an attraction I wanted to see, and thought I was off the hook.
2. They May Not Let You in With Tattoos
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. Regular visitors to Japan will know all about onsen. Here in the West we'd call the nearest equivalent bathhouses or Turkish baths, both of which have rather fallen out of favour in recent times. Not so in Japan, where the strict rituals involved in taking the waters in an onsen border on the religious. It's not for everyone, that's for sure; especially if you don't like getting your kit off willy-nilly in front of strangers. I don't mind at all, which is why I found myself sitting naked in the open-air hot springs of the Kouno-Yu onsen with a bunch of local gentlemen when, on the wooded hillside above us, a lone deer came ambling along. We sat in silence and watched as the animal sauntered across the landscape and eventually disappeared into the trees.
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness at a time when most people did not have access to private bathing facilities. The term "public" is not completely accurate, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, the need for public baths has reduced: dwellings now have their own private bathroom.
