Only in Japan
This is my neighborhood SENTO in tokyo
A public bathhouse
You can tell from the big chimney
and this symbol meaning hot bath
There's another way to find a SENTO
That HIRAGANA "YU" which also means bath
At the end of a long day
I like to take a break here.
Take off your shoes at the entrance
and put them in the locker.
Pay when you enter
in Tokyo its 480 yen
The changing room has lockers too
Women are on the other side
Usually you have to bring all of your own bathing supplies with you
but you can buy towel here for 120 yen
This is the washing area
Hot and cold water. No showers here
So grab a stool and a yellow bucket. Get ready to relax and refresh
First, wash your body well. Rinse all the soap away
Next, a big bath tub is waiting for you
Don't put your towel in the water. Many people put it on their head
One thing that really confusing when I came to Japan is when I went to the ONSEN is that Japanese are quite shy
when you're talking with strangers but yet here they can come to ONSEN or SENTO
and be totally free not shy at all with nudity
(I) didn't quite understand why so I asked the only people who I thought knew
My neighbors
Hello
Meet mister Seiichi my 94 year old neighbor
whenever I have a question about Japan no one knows more than him
He's seen it all
What he says, just makes sense
In japan there is an expression called
"HADAKA NO TSUKIAI",
"HADAKA NO TSUKIAI" pretty much means..
We're all equal when naked
Have an open relatiaonship
Here in Japan it's normal to share a bath
It's a form of communication
So if a stranger talks to you in the bath
Don't freak out
To many, there's no better place to be open
Be your true self
It's just part of Japanese culture
When you leave the bath house and go outside
I guess that's when things change & people return to their rank and file
In work and life
Now that you've seen a little bit of "SENTO"
Let's go out of tokyo to the country side
Where we take a look at Japanese ONSEN
A place you get a very traditional experience
This is a normal room in a Japanese ONSEN
A traditional in at a hot spring resort
It's got TATAMI
Sliding paper doors
beams of wood and bamboo
and an amazing view
What I see from my window was all built around a hot riverbed
Where naturally heated water springs up from the deep within the earth
This river you hear below
would normally be frozen but not here
In winter you get a very special view
The snow has piled up high
It's nice to be inside
Looking out, enjoying a morning coffee and listening to the river flow
just a few meters below
ONSEN is a place where you can relax and refresh
ONSEN also offers traditional Japanese cuisine
Char grilled fish and the grill is right in front of you
Assorted delicacies
SUKIYAKI is loaded with local vegetables and meat
TEMPURA
and CHAWAN MUSHI
with UNI (sea urchin ) and the onsen specialty
Bears stew
yes
That's a real bear meat
While I eat, the fantastic service continues in the room
The staff moves quickly to prep the room for the FUTON
There are no beds here
When you stay in a TATAMI room
sleeping on the floor in a comfy FUTON is part of the traditional Japanese experience
Fantastic service but I'm not ready for bed
It's time to hit the outdoor baths
In the winter
Mountain resorts have a lot of snow
This sets up the perfect bath time experience
One of the great thing with staying in an ONSEN is that you have access to the bath
aftor hours at night!
and with all the beautiful snow around
Most of the people sleeping. The perfect opportunity to relax
In the cold
It's usually very quiet after 10 p.m.
There are changing huts here to leave your robes and boots
Oh
This is great
You have the steam coming up making this place look so mysterious at night
What's great about is you have the cool crips air out here
and the warmth in the water
Just penetrating the body's straight to the soul
It can even seem a little spooky out here and there's no telling what lurks
underneath you in the water below
It's minus 10 degrees Celsius in the morning and there's just enough time for
a dip before checkout
is there any other place I'd rather be?
Yes
In the hot bath!
It's cold!
The water here's geothermal heated
A gift from nature
The snow just adds to it all
Visually stunning
Beautiful
In Tokyo life moves pretty fast
Out here ,everything slows down
It's just comfortable
Even in a snowstorm
All I can think about is, "Wow this is the real Japan"
naked in a hot bath in a snowstorm
This is the definition of winter in japan
It's snowing
It's snowing!
I could stay here forever
But it's time to check out
So that was the Japanese ONSEN(hot spring) experience
It may be a little intimidating at first to go to a public SENTO or japanese ONSEN
But if you don't, you're missing really fantastic traditional Japanese experience
Here we're all equals and give you a chance to experience something that's
Only in Japan
That's Mt.Fuji
sort of...