experience! mutant menace journal from the deep! - March 29th, 2008

Yesterday Ray and Aki and family took me to "onsen" which is a traditional Japanese hot springs slash bath house.  I remember talking on the phone with Tim and the first thing he told me about was this particular cultural experience.  He gave me a few pointers like proper use of the onsen wash cloth and warned me that everybody in onsen walk around naked and that i shouldn't be surprised to see a woman in the men's change area handing out cloths or something.  Luckily, there wasn't a woman in the change area when we went.

There seemed to be a lot of unwritten rules when going to the bathhouse and i was very nervous that i would make some sort of henious cultural error, being very aware of the people around me and mentally translating anyone and everyone's Japanese dialogue into observations on my lack of knowledge.  I felt like everything i did was an embarrasement to myself and the people around me.  Thankfully, Ray was there to quietly give me tips and guide me through the process.  Though a lot of his tips amounted to "just make it look like you know what you're doing."

I'd heard about the Japanese tradition of cleaning onself before bathing, but i never knew how ritualistic it was.  Unlike in Canada, where most people give themselves a 15 second squirt of water before entering a pool, showering took up about 15 minutes of our time there.  The walls of the bathing area had showering stations complete with showering wands, soap, shampoo, a stool and water basin for your washcloth.  Before sitting down, Ray said to spray off the little stool "to make it look like you know what you're doing."  You then spend a good amount of time making sure every part of your body is thouroughly cleaned and scrubbed with your soapy washcloth.  Then only after you've made sure there is no soapy residue left on your body and your cloth is clean can you enter the hot tub.  But both Ray and Tim warned me not to get the washcloth wet while soaking in the tub but to fold it up and place it on my head.

Since i hadn't had a bath or shower since arriving in Japan, it turned out to be a very relaxing and cleansing experience.  It made me wonder if onsen had it's roots in some sort of spiritual aspect, eg. cleansing one's body and spirit.  They're very respectful of their bodies here and very considerate to others.  They even have toilet sandals that you're supposed to put on as you enter the washroom.

Which brings me to the topic of shoes.

When we entered the onsen building, we walked up to a bunch of lockers lined up along the wall with raised carpet platform about a foot off the ground.  As a person who has a penchant for climbing up on things, i automatically stood up on this platform.  Right away Ray yelled at me, "Marlon!  Get down!" as if someone was shooting at me or something.  He explained to me that anytime there is a raised platform, usually with carpet, it is not for shoes.  Ever.  It is to be kept clean and separate from the outdoors.  He also told me that when entering someone elses house, they will have a pair of guest slippers for you to wear and when you go to the washroom, you need to change from the guest slippers into the toilet slippers and back again.  He said it's quite embarrasing to accidentally leave the toilet ones on after exiting the washroom because they have "toilet" written on them, quite plainly, in English.

Anyways, it's time to go check on the chickens.  Water them, gather eggs, etc.