A relaxing soak: Bathing in Japan

One of the most frightening and horizon widening adventures for any American in Japan has to be the onsen or sento.  Our country was pretty much founded by people who thought England wasn't uptight enough, so it is no surprise that public bathing is a huge hurdle for many of those traveling and living in the Land of the Rising Sun.  The subject of American prudishness could fill volumes, so suffice it to say I, like many foreigners, took a little while to build up the courage to disrobe in public.

My first experience with a bathtub in Japan was in the privacy of my hotel room the first week I was here.  

If this looks tiny, that's because it is.  So tiny!

As a fan of a good, long soak, I filled the tub with hot water and prepared to unwind.  But the tub was terribly uncomfortable.  I am used to having to choose between stretching my legs out straight and keeping my torso underwater.  Even tubs in America aren't long enough for that.  But in this case, stretching out wasn't even an option.  I would have to spend the bath with my knees pulled up close to my chin.  That would have been okay, if it weren't for some other Japanese design features that made use of the tiny, tiny space that was the hotel bathroom.  Rather than the gentle sloping back of my tub at home, my hotel tub was straight up and down.  It was also very narrow (to the point my wide hips almost didn't fit).  So I spent an uncomfortable five minutes with my knees pulled up to my chest and my arms crossed over the top of my knees before I finally gave up. 

Surprised I could last even that long.  Hotel bathrooms are like coffins here.

My second bath would not be for a few weeks.  While my share house has a shower, it is an older style house so there is no bath, just neighborhood sentos.  I had to wait till my first trip to a Japanese family home, outside the city, to try again.  I was at Otose's family home.  This second attempt at bathing had its own set of obstacles.  

Roomier, but still problematic.

The tub was huge and the water nice and hot, but, in true Japanese fashion, it was not fresh water just for me.  I was the second one to use the water in the tub that night.  Now Japanese bathing requires the bather to first wash outside the tub, so the water remains mostly clean from one bather to the next (unlike medieval European traditions that gave rise to that amusing idiom about babies and bath water).  Still, I was a little unsettled to be soaking in the same water as strangers.  The fact that I was not the last one to bathe also weighed heavy on my mind and I was only able to manage fifteen minutes before giving up.  So I returned to Osaka and my shower only house still longing for a long, relaxing soak.

It took a while, but finally I could not take life without a tub any longer.  I convinced Otose to take me to the local sento, playfully called New York, and show me the ropes.  I am not going to lie, I was very nervous.  My experience with public nudity over the age of five or six was limited to a handful of times, usually when I had been drinking and there was a body of water nearby.  I had visited a Roman style bath in Albuquerque, but always with a friend and swimsuit bottoms.

But I made it through the door.  I managed to get undressed.  I stepped into the bathroom and sheepishly made my way to one of the faucets.  No one looked.  No one acknowledged me.  No one cared.  The three older Japanese women who were there just went about their bathing.  It was still a little uncomfortable to be naked around strangers, but it was not as bad as I was expecting (honestly, I expected a lot of staring, since many Western women had told me this would happen, but I was the one staring as I tried to figure out what to do).  But the onnanohitotachi kept to themselves.  One offered me a larger stool, which was much appreciated, and showed me how to use the shower head, but the woman's side of the bath house was quiet overall.  From the opposite side, the men's side, we could hear splashing and children playing.  I had seen a man enter with his two young children at the same time as me.

This is nicer than my local sento, but I thought it might help to have a visual.

All in all, my first sento experience was my most successful bathing experience yet.  There were four large tubs at this sento.  Three were very hot and I could only stay in them for a few minutes.  But I found the fourth to be just right.  I enjoyed my soak for about ten minutes before boredom set in.  Combined, I spent about twenty five enjoyable minutes soaking.  However, it would have been better with friends to talk to.

My final judgment on Japanese bathing - it is fun, but I still like my big, white tub at home the best.  Not because of the privacy or anything like that, but because I can enjoy a glass of wine and book as I soak away a long day.  Not to mention all the bubble bath and Lush bath bombs.  That is the kind of bath I like.