Don't Fear the Onsen

Don't Fear the Onsen photo

The lake in Yufuin, Oita - an Onsen town in Kyushu. Onsen steam is visible beyond the lake.

It's extremely common for me to hear that people are super nervous about trying onsen in Japan. After all, naked bath houses aren't common all over the world and this falls into potentially embarrassing territory.

On the contrary, as a part of the culture here, there is no focus on the fact that everyone is naked. It would be a lot more strange to enter a bath house wearing a swimsuit. This was clear to me on my first visit to Japan.

We definitely wanted to try an onsen bath the first time I visited Japan, so my friend and I headed out to an onsen the day after we arrived.

We also made an amateur mistake right away.

When you enter a sento or onsen building, there is a reception desk and maybe a lounge area in the front. There is also a space for shoes at the entrance.

For people from western countries, taking off your shoes all the time isn't a natural thing. Here it is a form of respect or sign of entering a holy space to remove our shoes. We should have realized there was a step and a change in the flooring - these are sure signs that it's time to take off the shoes. We didn't notice the shoe lockers either.

We walked up to the reception desk to pay and that's where we were asked, by sort of politely embarrassed staff, to remove our shoes and leave them in a locker by the entrance.

Once that stage was clear (or failed?), there were other new experiences, but nothing so uncouth as wearing shoes into a no shoe zone.

For example, the entrance fee was paid using a vending machine if I remember correctly. There are simple options like gender and child or adult. The ticket is then handed to staff at the entrance to the changing room.

There most of the lockers for personal items will require coins to lock, and then usually return the coin when you open it later. Knowing the type of coin you'll need or just having random change is helpful, but as we had just arrived in the country, we had little change. It was so long ago that I only vaguely remember we had to find a change machine or get change from staff.

Following along isn't so hard, "Do as the Romans Do," as they say, and it was a nice experience, despite the initial error. I'm not saying it won't be awkward at times, but the onsen experience is well worth that strange feeling of doing something for the first time.

Every space has the same sort of routine, so once you have been to a bath house in Japan, you will recognize the signs and signals, if you pay attention.

Going alone isn't bad either, and you might strike up conversations with others or end up with someone washing your back for you.

This has been one of my favorite topics in Japan, so I have written about bathing often. Some Kyushu Onsen links are below!