FIRST PERSON
Naked communion O
DAVID MINTON » DIRECTOR » THE LEISURE DATABASE COMPANY
nsen is a term for hot springs in Japanese and for most Japanese people, onsen is not only a regular part of their life but also a respite from it. Perhaps it’s a lit- tle like how many of us think of spas in the west. As
a volcanically active country, Japan has around 3,000 onsen fed by natural hot springs, with another 14,000 individual springs scat- tered all over the mainland and the many islands. For thousands of years onsen have played a major part in Japa-
nese culture and lifestyle; the history and etiquette are closely related to the sento (public bath). Onsen use naturally hot water from the country’s geothermally heated springs while the public baths, in comparison, are fi lled up with heated tap water. T e legal defi nition of an onsen states that its waters must contain at least one of 19 designated chemical elements such as radon and metabolic acid and be 25˚C or warmer. Traditionally, men and
women bathed together at the onsen but single-sex bathing has become the norm since the opening of Japan to the west during the Meiji period between 1868 and 1912.
T e Tombo-no-yu (leſt ) at the Hoshinoya Resort is an open air hot spring with mountain views
Today onsen play a central role in Japanese tourism and many
have become destination resorts focused on peace, quiet and beauty. During my visit to Japan, I tried out four diff erent types of onsen and discovered how they stood out in the marketplace.
ZERO-CARBON ONSEN Lots of resorts serve a special evening meal to complement onsen and I experienced this, alongside tranquility and stunning scenery, at the Hoshinoya resort at Karuizawa which is just 71 minutes west of Tokyo on the Shinkansen bullet train. I exited the train station to a land of rolling hills covered in lush greenery where the tops are hidden in mist, 1,000m (3,280ſt ) high. Since their discovery in 1914, the Hoshino Hot Springs, located at
the foot of the active volcano Mount Asama, have relieved fatigue for many, but now a new showcase for Japanese onsen, culture and lifestyle has opened. Hoshinoya resort won the fi rst Japanese Eco- tourism Award in 2009 and is now working on being one of the fi rst zero-carbon hotels in the world; and the onsen in this unspoilt setting – which uses naturally heated water and materials such as cypress wood, marble and granite – is no exception. T e fi rst thing that helped me to forget about the stresses of the
city life was the electric buggy that took me to a simple yet mod- ern wooden-framed room overlooking a series of lakes and rivers along a valley. Natural waterfalls nearby helped to generate some of the hotel’s green electricity. I found myself fl oating further away from all the trappings of western society as I slipped into my day- time yukata (robe) and headed for the onsen. Japanese people oſt en talk of the virtues of hadaka no tsukiai
(naked communion) for breaking down barriers and getting to know people in the totally relaxing atmosphere of an onsen. It rep-
Japanese hot springs – onsen – are a way to break down barriers and for people to get to know each other in a relaxing atmosphere. David Minton shares his account of the country’s traditional bathing experience
T e Hoshinoya Resort at Karuizawa, 71 minutes from Tokyo, won an Ecotourism Award in 2009 and is working on being zero-carbon 34 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital SPA BUSINESS 3 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010
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