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Etiquette in Japan


Etiquette in Japan

The layout of a typical sento
The layout of a typical sento
Japanese are understanding of the funny ways of foreigners, but there's one rule where no exceptions are made: you have to wash yourself and rinse off all foam before entering the bath. The water in the tub will be reused by the next person, and the Japanese consider it disgusting to soak in someone else's dirt! Basically, wash up as well as you hope the guy next to you has done. Be it a fancy onsen or a barebones sento, the choreography of an entire visit goes roughly as follows: Shared bathing areas are usually sex-segregated, so look for the characters "man" (男) and "woman" (女) to pick the correct entrance. Men's baths also typically have blue curtains, while women's are red. Enter the changing room, leaving shoes or slippers at the doorway; at public baths there may be keyed lockers. At public baths (sento), there will either be an attendant you pay (often through the changing room entrance, and it's almost always a woman), or a vending machine in the entrance where you buy tickets for entry and extra items such as towels or soap. If there's a vending machine, look near the top for the Japanese words for "adult" (大人 otona) and "child" (子供 kodomo). Inside the changing room, there will be rows of clothes lockers or baskets. Pick a basket and undress completely, placing all your garments in the basket. Be sure to place your valuables in lockers, if there are any, and take the key with you into the bath. You'll be given a teeny-weeny washcloth for free, or sometimes a token fee. It's not particularly good for covering your privates (it's too small) and it's not much use for drying off, either (you'll have to wring out the water repeatedly). Larger towels are available, but you may have to pay extra; men should leave these in the changing room and take only their washcloth, but women can use these to wrap up with. If you'd like one, ask the attendant for a taoru. After removing your clothes and entering the bathing area, take a little stool and a bucket, sit down at a faucet, and clean yourself really, really well. Shampoo your hair, soap your entire body, repeat. Rinse all foam off once clean. Try not to leave the water running, or get water on other people. Only now can you enter the bath tub. Do so slowly, as the water can often be very hot indeed; if it's unbearable, try another tub. If you do manage to get in, don't let your washcloth touch the water, as it's considered mildly bad form; you may wish to fold it atop your head, or just lay it aside. When sufficiently cooked, you may wash yourself once again if you're so inclined and repeat the process in reverse; it's fine to save washing your hair for after the bath, too, if you prefer. (At natural hot springs, though, you shouldn't rinse off the bath water, which is full of minerals that the Japanese consider healthy folk medicine.) Note that the bath is for soaking and light conversation; don't roughhouse, submerge your head, or make a lot of noise. Japanese people may be a bit wary of foreigners in the bath, mostly because they're afraid you'll try to talk to them in English and they'll be embarrassed that they can't communicate with you. Just give them a token nod/bow, say ohayo gozaimasu, konnichiwa, or konbanwa depending on the time of day, and wait to see if they're interested in talking to you. After your bath is finished, you can nearly always find a relaxation lounge (休憩室 kyūkeishitsu), inevitably equipped with a beer vending machine nearby. Feel free to sprawl out in your yukata, sip beer, talk with friends, take a nap.

The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Japan


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Japan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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