Travels of a little yellow towel.
Have you ever heard of the famous Japanese hot springs ?

Life in Japan can be tiring, especially when you get caught in the cycle of working long hours. Fortunately, in Japan, many people do appreciate life and find many ways to compensate and overcome the hassle of long work weeks…
In the form of parties for example!
Everyone knows about the Japanese salary man going to bars with some of his colleagues after work and getting home late (and often drunk).
Well these parties can happen in a diversity of places…The last one I went to was in a hot spring complex!

Who could have guessed that there are hot springs in Tokyo. Who could have guessed that there are hot springs on an artificial, man-made island (and what more, an island made of rubbish. Don’t ask me what they mean by an island made of rubbish, I asked several time and never got a clear answer).
Well now you know that on the Odaiba island, in Tokyo Bay, you find this place called Ooedo and it’s all about having a good time.

The complex is divided in 2 main sections, the bar/restaurant/food/shopping court and the main attraction: the baths.

As you walk in the building, after removing and putting your shoes away, you enter a sort of cloakroom where you select the kimono size you need (it will be 185 cm for me, the biggest one!), you select the kimono you like (various patterns) and finally you select your obi (various colors, the obi is the belt you put around your waist and that holds the kimono closed).

After you’ve made your choices, you go to the dressing room and change into your evening party dress!

Then comes the real experience….you walk in the complex you find a main hall with food places dispatched all around, even shops…everything you need to spend a good time. You can choose to spend your evening drinking without even stepping in the baths…That would be a shame!


Bath tips…
1/ don’t get it wrong, men and women don’t share the same baths….and if you think that because you are a foreigner, they will allow to pick in the women’s section, you are wrong….(someone tried !)
2/ as you walk in the bath section, you enter a dressing room (another one). There, you are given the necessary towels (1 big one and 1 small one)
3/ change to your most beautiful outfit (in other words, get naked) and delicately place the little yellow towel around your waist….the towel is so small that barely covers anything but anyway…you should !
4/ walk in the main baths sections and start with the shower…one expects you to be squeaky clean before approaching the baths
5/ allow about 10 minutes of washing, scrubbing, sitting on your very little bench…
6/ once you are done, you can finally proceed to the baths

Many different baths are available inside and outside.
We decide to go for the outside one…10 pm, on the last Friday of October, it isn’t so warm out there … maybe 15ºC, and we are happily walking around with our little yellow towel (that is now wet, after the shower)…so we quickly decide to step inside the hot water, around 40ºC…some kind of a shock but a nice one, once the water covers your entire body, and once, following the Japanese style, you put your little yellow towel on your head, you feel good….very good…just relax, enjoy, the week is over !
You might not want to stay in the water for too long, fell at ease, get out, lie on the floor, rest….don’t worry about the air temperature, you can always go back into the hot spring.

After this, get back inside and visit the very cold bath …. a nice compromise…you’d be surprised at how well you feel!
And if you are not satisfied, you could go for a little sauna session, always nice.

You can spend your evening walking around the baths, going from one to another….but don’t forget that some of your friends may be waiting for you outside with some Japanese culinary delicacies and of course, some drinks!

A great way to celebrate the end of a long and hard week. All this in Tokyo…really, once you step inside the complex, you don’t feel that you are in the bustling city.

Note: for those who want to come and visit Japan, you will find hot springs all around the country…going to hot springs is very popular (imagine yourself resting in there after a day of skiing for example).

-Nico

The word hot springs translates to onsen in Japanse, check out the Odaiba ooedo one:
http://www.ooedoonsen.jp/img/pamph/english1.jpg
http://www.ooedoonsen.jp/img/pamph/english2.jpg