photo credit: skyseeker

Beware of one of the most western shocking experiences you can ever have in Japan, it is also one of the most delightful, relaxing, healthy and also fun. Going to a traditional Japanese Onsen, in western terms it means, go to a public bath house in the hot springs.

It has happened ages ago with the first foreigners and it will happen to you when you visit the Land of Mt. Fuji; the cultural shock of going into a pool of thermal water naked and surrounded by other people, and yet as the first foreigners did you’ll end up loving it.

So let’s first define, not for use the foreigners but for a Japanese, what actually means to go to an Onsen: trusting your friends, be clean and healthy,  and of course, have a great time relaxing in their way-to-fast lives. What do you do in your normal life after a long exhausting day? Or what about a stressful morning followed by a more chaotic afternoon? A hot and long bath it´s a guarantee for personal pleasure.

The thing must of us foreigners become shocked about, is the fact that you must be 100% naked around unknown people. Maybe in your country you have nude beaches, or resorts, but for the gross of the western world, it is not precisely the case. And many people, may actually feel embarrassed about their body.  Let’s see what is an Onsen.

The place is usually so beautiful by itself, that no body will actually put attention on you. Also the Japanese are worldwide known about their respect for others and their incredible hospitality, so they won’t make any comment at all about you. They will hardly talk to you anyway since those places are used for relaxation, not for chatting.

Onsens have different types of pools, wooded, rock, mosaic; also they have different types of water in different temperatures and components, some are sulfurous or have another minerals, others have fruit or grain essences, and some even have sake! Most of this kind of pools are actually medicinal so it’s a plus!.

The usual procedure for going into an Onsen (works also on a Sentou which is the artificial pools variations, Onsen are real hot springs), is first gathering some friends who can show you the place or help you choose the right fees, since some Onsens charge per hour, or have sets like bath and sauna or even they have some beds to spend the night there.

Then you’ll be separated in boys and girls and proceed to the changing room, at this point, you must have your locker key and a small towel, shampoo and conditioner, and any personal thing you must use while taking a regular bath or shower.

So, once you find your locker, leave all your belongings inside… this means all of them, if you are shy you can still use the ultra small towel that is actually used as sponge. But hey, take it easy and enjoy the ride at your own speed. Then go to the showers, since you mustn’t go into the pools dirty. The showers are usually small and you must sit on a really low bank, you’ll be surrounded by friends, so no worries, just wash yourself clean.

Once ready, the best part comes, choose your pool. Try them all, discover the one which is the hotter or the mild, then after some minutes, go into the coldest one! It’s really healthy to do that, you won’t catch a cold I tell you. Change pools with out getting your mini towel wet, many Japanese put them on their heads as a turban or simply folded over the hair.

Many onsens have relaxation areas, where you can go after the bath. Get into robes and go there, have a fresh and comforting dish, drink some cold milk and since this area it’s meant for socialize, you can talk and share some experiences with other people around. What about a quick nap? Or a massage? This may represent an extra in the bill, but it will do magic on you.

Then repeat the process of going into the pools, wash and rinse, then go into your favorite pool for another 10 or 20 min. Remember that it ain’t that healthy to stay too much time in hot water, you may begin to lose track of time and become dizzy. Oh by the way, did you noticed nobody cared about you being naked? Congratulations! You let yourself go and enjoyed one of the must traditional Japanese customs.

Just remember the bill, and it’s also important to put your clothes back on before going to the lobby.

I’ll be completely honest, year’s ago I could not make (or care try to make) a simple rhyme; not a structure, not a single piece of poetry could ever come to my head – let alone do it in Japanese. One day, while evading homework and surfing the net, I came across a name that actually changed my perception of Japanese culture: Matsuo Basho.

Again, with a terrifying honesty I dare to confess that I thought “great.. another never-able-to-remember Japanese name” but there was something written underneath, 17 syllables of text:

古池や

蛙飛び込む

水の音

furu ike ya

kawazu tobikomu

mizu no oto

(an ancient pond, a frog jumps in, the splash of water)

I couldn’t help but imagine the precise moment that fat, ugly and slimy frog hit the water and the splashing sound it made. I couldn’t help but chuckle. But then, I noticed the kanji were not that difficult and copied them (as I’m still learning japanese, I need a LOT of help learning the kanji, you know, a love/hate relationship with the little evasive rascals) anyway, that day, I started to look at Haiku with a different perspective.

You start surfing the Internet with just one site, then the links get you to another, and another and yet another completely different site; in this way I stumbled on more and more of the history of Haiku itself. The samurai, before they knew they were going to die would write some sort of “epitaph”. Buddhists monks accustomed to another much more complicated Japanese poetry style called “Tanka” also adopted the Haiku as a farewell to this mortal life.

However, I was still wondering.. “What is a haiku?”, our friend the Internet defined it as: “an epigrammatic Japanese verse form of three short lines” but I didn’t get anything by that definition. So I suggest this definition to you: Haiku, is the pure heart and soul of Japanese culture.

It took me like several minutes to figure that out, it was amazingly simple yet involved so many things. Matsuo Basho’s haiku about the frog wasn’t about a frog at all, it was about an instant in eternity, when the ancient, silent, still and tranquil pond became disrupted by the impulse of the frog to leap in … then everything returned to how it was before, since there’s no follow up to the haiku (as far as I know).

For me, haiku takes you to the instant the author is describing. It is a shard of reality embedded in print, eternity in a millisecond, Japanese culture at is peak.

Then, my life continued and I had to prepare a 3,000 word essay for the next day, and yet I understood that I had an eternity to do it. My life changed and I still read and write haiku; describing a single moment that will now last forever.

I recommend that if you really want to get to know what Japan really is at its heart you should get into Haiku.

http://www.ivoox.com/podcast-sol-azteca-naciente-san_sq_f1603_1.html