Last weekend I was casting around for something to do, so I decided to hit an onsen (pronounced “own-sen”), the volcanically heated baths that are so popular in Japan. I’d chosen one of the “faux” hot springs you see in Japanese cities, with traditional style baths that are actually heated with normal boilers rather than from natural volcanic springs in the ground, though there are one or two located on the premises to avoid claims of false advertising. In addition to about a dozen baths and three saunas, the site offered Korean-style akasuri, which is where a swimsuit-clad woman will wash your body completely then rub off dead skin cells with rough gloves. (Don’t worry, it’s not naughty at all.) I decided to give this a try and poked my head in to ask the lady if there were any available time slots, but something funny happened: she had trouble understanding me, and had to ask several times what I wanted. It was natural, I guess, since the lady was Korean and was not used to Americans speaking Japanese with gaijin accents. I had a better time understanding her, since I’m a card-carrying aficianado of Korean singers and actresses who appear on TV here and speak with those cute sing-song Korean/Japanese accents.
Any excuse to visit an onsen is good enough for me
