Where have all the onsens gone?

Big Frank is back in the land of the swinging doors, but already misses the Japanese onsen. This is one of the best things about Japan. Their hot springs or onsen, as they call them, are a delight to the skin and even more so to the soul. There are over 20,000 onsen in Japan. During the four years that Big Frank lived in Japan he usually went to an onsen at least once a week. In his recent trip to Japan he visited three. An onsen is minimally a pool of hot mineral water that you can soak in. The typial routine is to wash before - usually sitting on a stool with a small bucket and a shower spray. Then the soaking begins. This is done without clothes (the onsen usually have separate facilities for men and women, but some rural areas have joint onsen, which are usually only visited by families or couples). Usually, the soaking pools are very beautifully situated so as to sooth the soaker, as much by the atmosphere as by the hot water. They have a contemplative, meditative feel to them; one does not find recreational equipment in them - no slides, or diving boards, and people do not shout and run around there. The onsen can be situated indoors, or outdoors, and often has a variety of hot pools of various temperatures from the scalding to the luke warm, and also a cold soaking pool: these are visited in whatever sequence the soaker likes. A typical visit can take from 15 minutes to over an hour. It often has a sauna in the area and sometimes a steamroom also. It can also include some kind of optional massage, followed by a dark quiet room for relaxing in after the soaking. Big Frank hasn't found anything in the U.S. close to what he has experienced in Japan, but he is now determined to find the best spas available in the U.S. and start visiting them pronto. If any of you readers know of any to please write in your comments where they are. More will follow of Big Frank's research into this. Above is a photo of one of the more scenic ones in Japan - the outdoor ones are definitely the best.

Here's a link to a basic description with pictures of what an onsen is and what is done there. Here is a link to a list of over 100 onsen with descriptions and photos.