This is my neighborhood SENTO in tokyo

A public bathhouse

You can tell from the big chimney

and this symbol meaning hot bath

There's another way to find a SENTO

That HIRAGANA "YU" which also means bath

At the end of a long day

I like to take a break here.

Take off your shoes at the entrance

and put them in the locker.

Pay when you enter

in Tokyo its 480 yen

The changing room has lockers too

Women are on the other side

Usually you have to bring all of your own bathing supplies with you

but you can buy towel here for 120 yen

This is the washing area

Hot and cold water. No showers here

So grab a stool and a yellow bucket. Get ready to relax and refresh

First, wash your body well. Rinse all the soap away

Next, a big bath tub is waiting for you

Don't put your towel in the water. Many people put it on their head

One thing that really confusing when I came to Japan is when I went to the ONSEN is that Japanese are quite shy

when you're talking with strangers but yet here they can come to ONSEN or SENTO

and be totally free not shy at all with nudity

(I) didn't quite understand why so I asked the only people who I thought knew

My neighbors

Hello

Meet mister Seiichi my 94 year old neighbor

whenever I have a question about Japan no one knows more than him

He's seen it all

What he says, just makes sense

In japan there is an expression called

"HADAKA NO TSUKIAI",

"HADAKA NO TSUKIAI" pretty much means..

We're all equal when naked

Have an open relatiaonship

Here in Japan it's normal to share a bath

It's a form of communication

So if a stranger talks to you in the bath

Don't freak out

To many, there's no better place to be open

Be your true self

It's just part of Japanese culture

When you leave the bath house and go outside

I guess that's when things change & people return to their rank and file

In work and life

Now that you've seen a local "SENTO"

Let's go a little bit out of Tokyo to the countryside

Where we take a look at Japanese ONSEN

A place you get a very traditional experience

This is a normal room in a Japanese ONSEN

A traditional inn at a hot spring resort

It's got TATAMI

Sliding paper doors

beams of wood and bamboo

and an amazing view

What I see from my window was all built around a hot riverbed

Where naturally heated water springs up from the deep within the earth

This river you hear below

would normally be frozen but not here

In winter you get a very special view

The snow has piled up high

It's nice to be inside

Looking out, enjoying a morning coffee and listening to the river flow

just a few meters below

ONSEN is a place where you can relax and refresh

ONSEN also offers traditional Japanese cuisine

Char grilled fish and the grill is right in front of you

Assorted delicacies

SUKIYAKI is loaded with local vegetables and meat

TEMPURA

and CHAWAN MUSHI

with UNI (sea urchin ) and the onsen specialty

Bears stew

yes

That's a real bear meat

While I eat, the fantastic service continues in the room

The staff moves quickly to prep the room for the FUTON

There are no beds here

When you stay in a TATAMI room

sleeping on the floor in a comfy FUTON is part of the traditional Japanese experience

Fantastic service but I'm not ready for bed

It's time to hit the outdoor baths

In the winter

Mountain resorts have a lot of snow

This sets up the perfect bath time experience

One of the great thing with staying in an ONSEN is that you have access to the bath

aftor hours at night!

and with all the beautiful snow around

Most of the people sleeping. The perfect opportunity to relax

In the cold

It's usually very quiet after 10 p.m.

There are changing huts here to leave your robes and boots

Oh

This is great

You have the steam coming up making this place look so mysterious at night

What's great about it is you have the cool crisp air out here

and the warmth in the water

Just penetrating the body's straight to the soul

It can even seem a little spooky out here and there's no telling what lurks

underneath you in the water below

It's minus 10 degrees Celsius in the morning and there's just enough time for

a dip before checkout

is there any other place I'd rather be?

Yes

In the hot bath!

It's cold!

The water here's geothermal heated

A gift from nature

The snow just adds to it all

Visually stunning

Beautiful

In Tokyo life moves pretty fast

Out here ,everything slows down

It's just comfortable

Even in a snowstorm

All I can think about is, "Wow this is the real Japan"

naked in a hot bath in a snowstorm

This is the definition of winter in japan

It's snowing

It's snowing!

I could stay here forever

But it's time to check out

So that was the Japanese ONSEN(hot spring) experience

It may be a little intimidating at first to go to a public SENTO or japanese ONSEN

But if you don't, you're missing really fantastic traditional Japanese experience

Here we're all equals and give you a chance to experience something that's

Only in Japan

That's Mt.Fuji

sort of...