Foreigner in a Japanese Onsen – Life as a Turd in a Punch Bowl

Japan has many things of which a foreigner can grow passionately fond: one of them is the public hot spring, or onsen. An institutionalized form of relief through the act of immersing oneself in a hot pool of natural volcanic spring water, soaking in an onsen can often grow to be a foreigner’s favorite pastime within this country. The therapeutic affects are amazing indeed after a hard nights drinking in true traditional Japanese fashion. But, oh! You ought to see the look on some of the guy’s faces when all the sudden a strange white boy walks naked into their little communal haven. Things can get awful quite.

But mild uneasiness at your presence is not enough to deter the onsen lover from the sanctity of its hot pools, so you venture on unheeded, follow proper Japanese etiquette of pre-washing before entering the water with a small white courtesy towel covering up the privates, and begin to take in the bath’s healing essence. Then, all the Japanese men soaking in the same pool just sort of leave. “Hmmm? Was that my doing, or were they just planning on going anyway? Hmmm? I seem to suddenly have the entire place to myself. That’s strange.”