Onsen Town, Kinosaki

There is a quaint little town on the Northern Hyogo coastline in Japan, called Kinosaki. It is both strange and lovely at the same time. People go there for one reason and one reason only, they go there to soak in expensive public hot baths. In Japan, public hot baths are called 'onsens'.

During winter (and in other seasons as well), many Japanese people prefer to bathe in public bath houses instead of using their private bathrooms. In these public bath houses, there are usually a few Jacuzzi type baths where naked people of the same sex sit in very hot water (40 degrees celsius or more) in absolute silence. Before sitting in the tub though, each person has to stand in the open and take a shower in front of everyone in the room. At the Onsen, there is absolutely no privacy.

Upon first learning of this cultural practice, one might wonder 'who would forsake their private bath tub at home to go shower naked in front of others then share a bath with absolute strangers?' I still don't really know the answer to this question, but since children are brought to Onsens from a very young age and are taught to love it, they grow up and go to places like Kinosaki :).

So, back to Kinosaki.

The town is filled with onsens. That is the only form of entertainment in the town. It is possible to eat eggs boiled in onsen water and stand around this special rock that brings forth water and steam from the underground.

The bath houses are a mixture of ancient and modern forms.  Checking into one bath house allows you a free pass to all the other bath houses.

 The Old

 The modern

The city is also famous for crabs. Imagine that, 'crab town' :). It reminds me of Sponge Bob and Mr. Crabs, in some way. I can't get over the fact that people eat crab guts here though. Where I'm from that is the heights of disgusting, since it is believed that the gut is filled with faeces. So imagine my culture shock when I learnt that people in this culture, as well as other cultures think of the gut as the best part of eating crab. Needless to say, I ate crab in Kinosaki, but I wasn't brave enough to eat the guts. I guess I didn't have enough guts to eat guts :).

There is also a ropeway / cable car up the mountains in order to see the mountains and visit an onsen in the mountain. I'm not fascinated with onsens, so I didn't try out a lot of Onsens on my visit. However, I am fascinated with people and how we experience life differently.

Have you ever seen such a sign as the one above? Don't throw stones from the observation deck :). I guess to some people the urge must be uncontrollable. However, we know that telling people not to do things usually makes them want to do it even more, because I never thought of throwing a stone off the observation deck until I saw the sign.

Going to several onsens a day is apparently the utmost fun for some people, but it did nothing for me. Maybe it will do something for you though, if you really like public hot baths with other naked people.

For more information on Kinosaki, you may visit
Japan Guide
tripadvisor
visit kinosaki