This marks my 300th Massage Monday video. Thank you very much for watching my videos and leaving comments.
One of my favorite activities is going to an onsen or hot springs. During my last visit to Japan I was able to go to four onsens in a week and I was super happy. This week I’m going to take you to one of the onsens in Hakone which is known for natural hot springs. It’s less than 2 hours by car from Tokyo towards Mt. Fuji. By the way in case you didn’t know this emoji is a symbol for hot springs in Japan. If you see it on a Japanese map now you know what it is.
I’m going to start with Ashiyu. Ashi means foot and yu means hot water. It’s a foot bath. With nice view of the mountains.
And the inside. Here’s the locker room with keyed locker and rows of baskets to leave your clothes in. No bathing suit allowed at these public baths places. When you enter the bath area there are stalls of shower with body soap, shampoo and conditioner. You wash your body here before you dip in the hot springs bath that you share with others.
There’s also a stand with hot water. This is to pour the hot water on yourself to get used to the temperature and the type of the hot springs before you enter the bath. Here is a dry sauna.
This is their inside bath. And here’s the outside bath. This place had two different kinds. One was lukewarm temperature and the other was hot temperature. It’s outside so you just hope there’s no one watching in the bushes but I’m sure it’s well protected.
They also had a beautiful individual tub to enjoy by yourself.
This is just one of many many onsens that you can enjoy in Hakone. There are onsens in Tokyo too. In fact I went to a local one in Tokyo area the evening I arrived in Japan and it helped me get rid of jetlag. If you ever go to Japan I highly highly recommend the onsen experience.