October soaks. Akita(Odate) Aomori(Shimokita) and Hokkaido (Hakodate, Sapporo, Otaru)From dystopian(um maybe I’ll comment), to the mind blowing, to the “Sauna Club” strangeness??(another story worth writing about in comments)
by OnsenExplorer
In Japan Photos
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Honestly had some next level soaks in Tohoku. The hot is hot and the cold is cold. These spots will “send you” to “that place”- the one where you soak so hard you forget you’re a human being…. ship’s nuts, in such a good way. Had the best onsen action of my life. A couple strange ones:
*Apologies for the screenshot! I failed to snap* (By the way, the next day we went to a bath that was labled 44-45 C; this distopian was WAY hotter; it was probably like minimum 47-48) Dystopian: it’s called 寿湯 in むつ市; looks super rundown as hell on the outside. Men’s side had a saying shower was busted and cannot be used, I slid the door open to find this somewhat disheveled man maybe 50 years old watching TV in a dusty, remnant littered changing room. He seem suprised so I thought, oh it’s not open for sure. Dude comes out and is like nah we’re open use the onsen water to shower. He’s like: 450 yen. Every cubby you would put clothes was full of random shampoo that hadn’t been moved in a decade. But I was paid up so I went it. The bath was like, maximally hot; like your skin instantly flairs up and you look like a cooked lobster within seconds. The inside of the place was very neglected, maybe 30 years ago it was a nice place… but the water was piping hot and somehow inviting, despite the floor of the bath being all destroyed in parts. There was a still bath with a random hose in it, and a bath that had some water pumping into it furiously; both attached with a hole in the bottom causing them to flow into one. Ceiling seems to have some black mold or something. Super sketchy. Quite the experience. The guy running the place just seemed… off somehow. And that tempature was like, send you to the spin city in seconds level. Very unique first soak in Aomori lol, looking forward to some more maintained baths to come. It was literally around the corner from our hotel. My wife says it was haunted lol (all dead people’s stuff)
Then 月見湯 in 札幌、they had like, cheer lady ladies come into the bathing area, and fan the dudes in the sauna, and the would all chant- Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!! EEEEEEEEE! and then the ladies would go around after offering to pour cold water on the dudes lol a first lol they cheered like a baseball game