Over the weekend I had some free time, so I decided to get in the car and head off in a random direction. I ended up in a village called Komochi, whose main claim to fame is that it was totally destroyed when nearby Mt. Asama (the most active volcano on Japan’s main island of Honshu, even today) erupted in 1783, killing thousands and making it the “Pompeii of Japan.” The upside to the whole volcano thing is lots of onsen hot springs, and happily there were several in the area to choose from. Since I am a furo-bito (the name for someone who loves taking hot springs baths), I keep a full bath kit in my car, including toothbrush, razor and shaving cream. While you may have heard that men and women bathe together in Japan (called kon’yoku), but sadly this has become quite a rarity. I’ve only been able to find mixed bathing once in my many years of onsen-bathing in Japan, and believe me, I’ve been avidly searching.
Actual onsen bathing is not quite as awesome as this.
