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An onsen is a
Japanese
hot spring. The onsen plays an important role in Japanese culture,
providing (socially) institutionalised relief from the pressures of the
contemporary Japanese twelve-hour
work ethic and a chance for Japanese
to break down the hierarchal nature of society through the mutual nakedness
of
skinship.
Ideally, they should be outdoors, use water directly
extracted from a natural volcanic spring, and they are often embellished
with (or, in the cheaper varieties, replaced by) a wide variety of
extravagant
spa baths, artificial waterfalls and
saunas. The essential difference between an onsen and a
sento (communal bath house) is that the water in an onsen must be
volcanic spring in origin, even if reheated, whereas a sento may use
ordinary heated water. Onsen water is often thought to have healing powers
according to its mineral properties and onsens often have several different
baths, each augmented by the addition of different minerals or the
composition of the tub.
A key feature of the onsen is that as well as mere
bathing facilities, there should be accommodation, extravagant cooking and
all manner of relaxing pastimes - massages, aromatherapy, relaxation rooms
and comfortable surrounds. Essentially, the onsen should be the diametric
opposite of everything in normal, hectic day-to-day Japanese life.
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