温泉: The Japanese Bath

The last few times, I have flown home, I have always left from Tokyo's Narita Airport. One absolutely fabulous thing I have found there is a rental shower place. Completely spick-and-span, it offers 30 minute use of a private shower. There is nothing like feeling squeaky clean before the long flight home!! Unfortunately, this new-found desire obsession recently lead me to an interesting encounter.
So, when I left for the States this August, I booked my flight out of Nagoya instead of Tokyo. Whereas Tokyo is designed for international travelers of all countries, Nagoya appeals mostly to Japanese flying to other Asian countries. Their bath situation, for one, models the Japanese system...
Now, before I proceed with my story, I need to give you a little background information regarding Japanese baths. Designed with the community (and not individual) in mind they are an ancient Japanese tradition. Separated by gender, the baths include two important elements -- a washing station and the actual bath. One enters the bathhouse (yes, I know what you are asking and the answer is yes, completely naked), sits on a little stool, suds completely down (you want to show the other patrons that you are really, really clean and won't contaminate the water with your germs), and then rinses off. Once all bubbles (and skin cells) have been removed, it is now safe to enter the bath to soak and relax. Some baths are jacuzzi-styled, others have jets or electrical currents to relax the muscles. There are thermal baths, cold baths, seltzer baths... you get the point (I even saw a picture once for a wine bath)
Anyways, before I came to Japan, I figured I would never be brave enough to enter a Japanese bath. However, during our first week of training two years ago, our teachers tricked us into entering one. (It wasn't until after having us all run around getting sweaty in the unairconditioned gym doing team-building exercises that they told us that they only baths available were Japanese style). After that experience, I realized that Japanese baths were definitely not as bad as Turkish baths! (Yes, I have tried those too, and no, I am not going to describe the process online... If you are interested, I can give you my cousin's email and you can ask him, right Dieter?? :-) In fact, they are actually quite relaxing (the Japanese, not Turkish) and since then I have enjoyed the onsen several times (including with a teacher -- female of course -- from my school and my LOLs).
Back to Nagoya Airport.... Unlike, Tokyo's private showers, Nagoya only has an onsen. During my entire bus ride to the airport I debated if I had the guts to enter one alone -- every other time I had somebody else around. However, the 90 something degree weather and a two-hour flight delay finally ruled out and I decided that I would bravely bathe solo (Okay, now that sounds a bit odd!) Entering the bathhouse, I was faced with a problem in the form of a vending machine. For some bizarre reason, one had to buy tickets at the machine to bathe, only to give the tickets to an attendant. Unfortunately, the attendant wasn't particularly quick in picking up that when I said that I couldn't read Japanese, I really meant it... A ticket into the male bath later, I finally was ushered into the right place. This of course also meant putting on the designated "toilet slippers" when entering the toilet room (and forgetting to remove the aforementioned footwear, when leaving!) Proudly (and obliviously) stomping around in slippers marked "TOILET" on the toe was the least of my worries! I soon found myself in front of locker with only an itty-bitty towel (think washcloth) to cover my entire torso. I felt a bit like Adam and Eve as I headed to the bathing area. This feeling soon changed as soon as I opened the door. No longer was I the only human on the planet. I was now the "unclean" person. Within minutes, the entire bath cleared out. Not a soul stayed. I soon found myself, enjoying all of the amenities by myself. Had the water been deep enough, I could have even swam laps! It was the most relaxing experience watching airplanes fly by, while soaking in the tub. Soon, though I heard a noise. An unsuspecting patron opened the door. I slowly turned my soaked head around.... When she caught sight of my eye-shape her jaw dropped, and I was once again left alone to enjoy Japan's community bath!