Another onsen in the south-west of the country saw the number of female bathers rise from 10% to 80% after it made covering up compulsory. Other hot springs have followed suit, with one proprietor who recently introduced a clothing rule on a trial basis suggesting the change would become permanent since it had clearly deterred bathers with “perverse motives”.
In a survey by regional authorities in north-east Japan – home to many hot springs – 75% of women who responded said they were put off by mixed bathing, but 81% said they no longer felt uncomfortable if all bathers were partially clothed. “I can just sit back and enjoy the onsen.” “I don’t have to worry about being ogled,” one female bather said. That restriction doesn’t seem to be an issue at Sukayu, a huge outdoor hot spring resort in northern Japan, where men wear knee-length shorts and women yuami – loose shorts and a matching sleeveless top – as part of a government initiative to encourage mixed bathing. ‘I don’t have to worry about being ogled’ In places were semi-segregation is impossible, bathers are required to partially cover up – a restriction purists say diminishes the sense of freedom that comes with a long soak in mineral-rich spring water. Some have set up partitions so that, while men may be sharing the same water as their female counterparts, voyeurism is impossible. You tend to get more of this after they have drunk alcohol,” he tells the Guardian. “There are cases in which men try to strike up conversations with women, asking them where they are from and so on. “The problem is men,” says Yasuhiko Kobayashi, a lawyer who has written a guide to the country’s best onsen. Their lurking presence is making more women reluctant to bathe with men – even family members – and is forcing the industry and its government regulators to devise new ways to protect konyoku culture.Īn estimated 500 venues allow men and women to perform their ablutions in each other’s company, down from more than 1,200 in 1993. Photograph: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images
A Japanese hot spring or onsen in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.
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