Wednesday, October 22, 2008

STL DPB On The Road: Naruko Onsen

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Onsen are a Japanese national tradition, and a damn good one. Entire towns are devoted to them, like Naruko Onsen where we spent a night. They are hot mineral spring baths, fed by geothermal energy from the many volcanoes. There are big public ones, with the bathers separated by sex. Everyone is nude and there is no prudishness about it whatever. Some locations have private onsen, where you can go soak alone or with that certain special someone. The water is very hot but not scalding. Ease yourself in and unwind for a half hour. You will leave your muscles utterly relaxed and your skin as smooth as silk. Aahhh. Not recommended, though, right after dinner or drinking alcohol. You can’t imagine how good these feel until you have tried it. The town has its own scenic gorge nearby, where you can see autumn in Japan in all its glory.

2 comments:

Virginia said...

Oh yeah, there's a whole lot of bitchin going on in the blogosphere over the size thing. I don't care cause I can't get it right to save my soul anyway. Last night Blogger politely didn't post mine! Who knows. Get back in the hotspring hot tub thing and let it go. I would say I wish I could be there and do that but somehow that might not sound right!HA

PJ said...

I made my 100th post today and ended up having to download the photo the old-fashioned way and then ask people to enlarge. I knew something was different but couldn't figure out what it was.

I used the baths from hot mineral springs up on Hokkaido, the northern-most island. I think ofuros are one of the greatest cultural practices ever.