Basically, an onsen is a large public bath. There are procedures to be followed: first, strip down completely and place all your personal items in the locker. In your exposed state, walk past all the other naked dudes and find an open stool at the scrubbing station. Then give yourself a nice scrubdown using their body soap, shampoo, and hot water. Once you are nice and clean, go find an empty bath or hop in the steamroom.
I'll admit, I was slightly uncomfortable at first. However, the whole activity was pretty normalized and all the older men seemed not to care.. so why should I? I could tell though, this was definitely an activity for men in their 40's-60's. I saw nobody my age in the bathing areas, and I spotted some hair oil for older men to use.
There's a lot more to do besides bathe, if you have the money. Massages, pedicures, and facials can cost from 2000-7000 yen, depending on how long and which type of treatment you want. There's also a restaurant or vending machines if you'd like a snack afterword. Next time, I'd definitely bring some more money for at least a beer, if not a massage.
There's also a lounging area filled with reclinable chairs and shelves upon shelves of manga to read. I took a copy of Naruto and tried to read it... mainly looked at the pictures haha. I believe the second floor also had karaoke and Nintendo Wii's to play...
I also bought my first sushi dinner! The group of us ate a ton, I had 10 whole plates and drank a bottle of saki to boot! The bill wasn't bad either, only 1300 yen for me.
[Update: Last night I went to an all-you-can-eat style restaurant. For 2,000 yen you have access to unlimited sushi, ice cream (soft serve and scoop), crapes, cotton candy, soup, and an assortment of cold meats (including yakitori and cow tounge) sea food, and more. Some of the food is cooked by you, on a small grill that is installed right in center of the table. The atmosphere of this restaurant was made complete by the silly "selection music" that played the whole time... it sounded like electronic elevator music]
Again, jealous! I was too embarassed to do the whole bath house thing with my gmom, aunts, and my mom. So I missed out. I should've just did it anyway, it was probably worth being emotionally scared with their nude images imprinted in my head for the rest of my life!
ReplyDeleteThat all you can eat place sounds amazing! There is something like that here around the area, called Minado. Have you been there? I'm sure it doesn't compare to Japan, but it's the next best thing available here!