A complete guide to Japanese onsen — the hot spring baths that 130 million Japanese people consider one of the best parts of being alive. Why Japan has 27,000 of them, how the etiquette actually works, which onsen towns are worth your trip, and what locals mean by 'the real onsen experience.'
Iceland is famous for hot springs. Japan has thirty-three times more — over 27,000, discharging 2.6 million liters of heated water every minute. The reason: four tectonic plates colliding beneath the archipelago, and 3,000 years of culture built around the result.
Japanese onsen etiquette explained for first-timers: the towel rule, the tattoo question, what to do at the wash station — every rule, with the reason behind each one.
