Editor’s note: Japan is one of my favorite places, and an onsen experience is one of my favorite parts of visiting Japan. I’ve never had this one, though. For more of Sam’s great writing, click here to visit his index page.

Something to know about my wife Jill is that she loves baths. When we bought our house, the first thing we remodeled was the bathroom to make it the setup of her dreams. Every day, a bath is Jill’s calm, peaceful, and happy place. In my travels, I often try to find amazing and memorable bath experiences for us to soak our muscles after pounding the pavement trying to see every attraction in a country, but also to provide Jill with something that she will really cherish. One of those phenomenal bath experiences came in Japan.

Japan is located on the Ring of Fire of the Pacific Rim, and as a result has a lot of geothermal activity. The geothermal situation of Japan has also led to many natural hot springs throughout the island nation, and soaking in these hot springs has become a part of the culture of the nation. While the same is true for other geothermal hotspots like Iceland, parts of Latin America, etc. Japan has developed an experience called the Onsen. If you are one of my loyal readers, this may sound familiar to you, as I wrote about the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun in the city of Hakone, where you can bathe in green tea, sake, red wine, coffee, and other pools. However, this place is more of a tourist trap amusement park. In Japan, there are over 25,000 authentic onsens that are beautiful and peaceful. In some places in the mountains and forests, you can even find troops of snow monkeys relaxing in onsen spas. We were able to find a great onsen experience when we went to the Yumotakan Hotel at Lake Biwa.

Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture is the largest lake in Japan at 40 miles in length and 14 miles in width. There are twenty lakes in the world that have been dubbed “ancient lakes” as they are over a million years old, and Lake Biwa is one of them, the 13th oldest lake in the world at roughly 4 million years. This beautiful lake is surrounded by mountains and trees and has been written about extensively in Japanese literature and poetry. Another great benefit of Lake Biwa is that it is very accessible, as it is in the suburbs of Kyoto and located only about half an hour train ride away from Kyoto Station.

The Yumotakan Hotel has multiple thermal pools onsite. What they do so well is what many onsens do in combining nature with the onsen and giving an open-air experience. While there are indoor pools, the two best onsens on site are the open-air Togenshoyo and the open-air Gesshin-no-Yu. While you can likely wear a swimsuit in an onsen, most people go in nude or wearing a light cloth. However, be mindful that for many onsens, if you have tattoos, you are required to cover your tattoos or wear a swimsuit that covers them, and in some cases you may even be denied entry completely if you have tattoos. The reason for this anti-tattoo sentiment is that often in Japanese culture, tattoos are historically for those with gang affiliations, and the onsen is supposed to be a peaceful place. Men and women go into separate onsens, and the Togenshoyo pool is open to women one day while the Gesshin-no-Yu pool is open to men, and then the next day they switch to give visitors the experience of both pools. The pools are open from 5am until midnight as well. With the Togenshoyo pool, the water goes past waterfalls and rock gardens and under little rock bridges, making you enclosed within nature. For the Gesshin-no-Yu pool, you are up several stories and given a 180-degree panoramic view of Lake Biwa to enjoy. The joy with this hotel and others like it is that you can also have, in your hotel room, your very own geothermal hot tub and bath, which is done on the porch and in the open air, giving you the experience of being exposed to nature and privacy at the same time.

The Yumotakan Hotel is not an ordinary American hotel; rather it is what is called a ryokan. Ryokans are traditional Japanese inns that often have public bathing areas and that have tatami matted floors in the rooms. Upon check in, a young woman in a kimono insisted on taking our heavy backpacks to our room. While I tried to tip her, she adamantly refused to accept any money. Something fascinating (and a bit refreshing, given what tipping culture has become in America and elsewhere) is that it goes against Japanese culture to tip anywhere. For the Japanese, I was explained that it can even be insulting to offer tips as people feel that they are paid for their service and should not receive beyond that. Food was often set up in our room, where we had the Japanese style floor mattresses that would then be folded up and put away by the staff so we could eat on the tatami mat floors, yet there was also a great restaurant. However, what was surprising was that the food was not at all what we expected. In America, when we think Japanese food, we think sushi, teriyaki, and ramen, yet what was served at the ryokan was what was considered luxurious traditional Japanese cuisine. There were little fish that were fully intact that were only about a centimeter in length, there was omi beef (one of the three types of wagyu, and the rarest form of beef), and other food that frankly to this day I still have no clue what it was that I ate. I will be honest that not everything I ate sat well with my palate, but it was truly a cultural experience. A must-try food at onsens is the onsen tamago, a soft-boiled egg that was boiled in an onsen.

Perhaps the coolest experience at the ryokan though was that no street clothes were allowed in public areas; rather, everybody was to wear Japanese robes and an interesting toe sock. What I especially loved was that while we were at the ryokan, every other guest was Japanese. It was a bit off the beaten path, while still being so close to Kyoto, and it was easily the most luxurious, relaxing, and authentic experience that we had in Japan. When you do go to Japan, to not wear yourself out from the overwhelming amount of attractions in Kyoto and the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, take a night and a couple days and visit a ryokan and onsen, and if you are looking for a good one that is easy to get to, check out the Yumotakan Hotel on Lake Biwa.

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