Gallery
Women bathing at hot spring resort. Mixed nude bathing has become a curio in Japan.
In Japan, nude mixed bathing was the norm at public baths until the when sex segregation was strictly enforced at -type baths.
But a few days later I was visiting Naoshima, an island-wide open air art gallery in the Seto Inland Sea. I noticed that one of the exhibitions was a working, public bathhouse for visitors to ‘experience the art’. The island had a mix of people from all over the world and was fully equipped for ignorant foreigners. This, surely, was my shot at entry-level communal bathing.
This would be the perfect place for shy individuals who are uncomfortable bathing nude in a public bathhouse.
While most hot springs in Japan require bathers to be nude, Yunessun allows, and actually requires, bathing suits for this unique experience, which is also a mixed-gender affair (mirroring the setup of its maple syrup bath from a while back). The chocolate bath will be open until March 17, meaning guests can celebrate with a soak to celebrate not only Valentine’s Day, but as well.
