I was at my local onsen the other night when another foreigner entered the rotenburo and started reading on his backlit kindle. I briefly thought about saying something then realised I didn’t give a shit.
A couple of months back at another onsen there was an ojisan laying on the floor outside, with his legs in the air trimming his toenails.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen at an onsen?
Edit: some context on why I thought a Kindle was ‘strange’: this is a super popular outside bath on the side of a mountain that overlooks Mt. Fuji. It was a beautiful night and someone reading on a bright tablet could be seen as distracting from the ambience. It genuinely didn’t bother me, but I could appreciate that others who have come a long way to enjoy the bath might not appreciate it!
​
​
31 comments
A big steamy log of human turd next to the rotenburo.
Inebriated heterosexual couple making out. Both were locals.
Actually I found that to be rather cute.
An printed instruction to aim hot water jet at you anus… because medicine?
Guy with dragon tattoo covering all his back. It was a no tattoo allowed onsen, nobody said anything.
Not strange, but annoying: ojisan that tries to speak with you while you are just trying to relax. Happened a couple of times.
Hairiest guy I’ve ever seen (likely a werewolf) with tats sitting cross-legged in the bath, repeating “UOOOOOOOOGHHHHH!” every seven seconds for ten minutes straight. His bellowing could be heard outside of the building. No one reacted at all, maybe out of fear, maybe out of respect..
I don’t go to onsen much. But one time I went to a “super sento” with indoor and outdoor hot baths.
There was this caucasian guy built like a bodybuilder standing in the middle of the indoor area doing nothing. Hands on hips and sporting a stiffy.
My friend said that perhaps he’s an exhibitionist. But I thought that’s just nasty because there were kids in there as well.
I saw a guy with a tattooed pattern around the top of his bicep sit down and then five minutes later a member of staff approached him and told him to leave.
It’s not really strange considering we generally know it’s against the rules but I guess it’s the first time I saw someone try their luck.
This is not even a joke. There was an old dude in my gym who would just spend an hour or two every morning just laying there chatting to the old ladies. Never trained just talked all day and then went for baths. One day we are in the same changing rooms and I’m cleaning up, freshly showered and I spot him. I thought it was a tumor at first between his legs but realized it was his dick. It was legit the size of a babies arm. Maybe bigger. The fattest, longest dick I’ve seen. And that was flaccid. There’s no way on gods green earth that’s fitting in any woman. A wonder for sure but from a practical sense must have caused him all sorts of trouble in the bedroom. Still, goes to show not all stereotypes about japanese are true. Beyond anything I’d seen in porn or in western changing rooms. I was always curious if he ever did porn but considering his age (70ish) he was probably too old to have gotten into it. Another weird thing I’d see is a fellow teacher who was black and he’d always wear swimming trunks in the onsen. Even though everyone else was naked he’d always cover up.
Very aggressive ball washing in the shower area.
There’s a guy at the onsen I frequent who just does a full routine of body weight workout (mainly situps on the ledge of the bath, pushups is all I saw). Idk kinda weird— I just hope he showers before getting into the actual bathtub because sometimes he doesn’t seem to
1. A tv crew came in to do a live remote on the six o’clock news. They gave everyone a few minutes warning and asked those who wished not to appear to move to a certain area. A yakuza dude with incredible tattoos neither responded nor budged, and they didn’t come anywhere near him during the telecast.
2. In Hokkaido, a Japanese guy in his 30s handed me a disposable camera and asked me to take a pic of him while in the huge rotenburo. As I started to snap it, he stood up to show his privates in the photo. I refused to take a dick-pic and told him to ask somebody else, and eventually he agreed to get back in the water. I snapped it and left.
3. Also in Hokkaido in the countryside, in a mixed bathing rotenburo, a middle aged dude went to amazing lengths to cover up the body of his much younger girlfriend as she entered the water, but then a few minutes later they seemed to be humping back in a corner, judging by the motions and the sounds they were making.
Two Italian fellows lying on their backs like starfish in the main bath having an animated discussion with the ceiling while a dude in his 60s did aggressive calisthenics before diving into the sauna. Looking back it makes sense why the mama-san was offering beers.
There’s stellar people watching at the all-nude tattoo-friendly mixed bathing onsen Takaragawa in Minakami. I haven’t been in years but it’s magical and just gets covered in snow. Throwing snowballs at the trees so all the snow dumps on your friends, but also ends up getting all over the Yakuza looking dudes and their very yakuza-looking girls? Excellent fun.
My other favorite thing are the perfect liminal spaces/“back rooms” afforded by well-equipped hotels or enormous old resorts that are basically deserted for whatever reason.
There’s an onsen on the coast of Izu (in a small town called Izu-Atagawa) that passerby’s can fully see into from the road next to it. I went in one time when it was empty and I had two separate groups, one obasans and one a younger group of men and women cat-call me while I was taking a soak lol
It was very pleasant though!
https://preview.redd.it/9f831vwhh9fb1.jpeg?width=3754&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70596c672fb5eb9423a5ce30919ccfcd04b89466
Old Japanese men fully covered in tattoo from top to bottom. Pretty sure they’re retired yakuza.
Not the same kind of “strange” as other here but one time when I was staying at my favorite ryokan, I heard someone get out of the bath, walk across the floor slowly, open the sliding door and leave. The thing is I could have sworn that I was only one in there, the only set of clothes in the dressing area were mine, and I did not hear anyone come in while I was in there. This was a semi-rotenburo in the winter so it was steamy and I couldn’t see far but it’s also a very very quiet place
Went to an onsen close to where I lived in Ehime prefecture, but outside the city, on a Sat or Sun morning after drinking. The onsen had a jungle theme and there were probably at least a dozen other people there when I entered.
I moved from bath to bath for a good 20 minutes or so when I heard some loud raucous behavior…. Looked around… and saw nobody else in the onsen except from some young men acting very loud and boisterous coming down the stairs to the onsen area.
They saw me at the same time as I saw them and they stopped in their tracks…. Then shouted that there is a foreigner here… and then a group of older men started coming out of the changing Area and down the stairs. Every last one of them were tatted up….
Yep, time for me to leave. I got up and headed towards the stairs to go up and out, but one do the older guys stopped me and asked where I was from… “the US” was my response and his face lit up as he asked “do you like baseball?” In Japanese. I tried to say that I really didn’t, but my Japanese wasn’t the best back then and I don’t know if I said the wrong thing or he ignored what I said, because he told me to come with him so we could talk baseball.
I ended up sitting asked talking to this older tattooed guy about a sport I don’t like for a good 20-30 min before I could excuse myself.
To this day I still don’t know how everyone else knew to leave before they arrived or if people intentionally didn’t tell me to get out
I think the strangest thing was these two Chinese little kids diving. Like jumping high from their dad’s shoulder on and on… and doing lap competitions… in 40 degrees water!!!
Some Japanese customers were so visibly annoyed kuso here kuso there.
Was in Oita, Chinese dude was brushing his teeth in the onsen. His mouth was full of gobs of toothpaste and spit it out right into the onsen. It was disgusting, made me exit right away, followed by reporting it to management.
Oh! I forgot another one. Has anyone ever been to the mixed bathing baths in Yakushima, along the coast? Very picturesque and wild.
Went once and was enjoying a soak with my then girlfriend and some kind old ladies with sore feet when these creepy guys came in and ruined the atmosphere by posing suggestively on the rock pool like a bunch of unimpressive peacocks. My partner felt uncomfortable and they proceeded to leer at us as we walked back to the car. Classic.
Saw a 90 year old guy take a walking piss from the shower to the bath and slip in like nothing happened.
A guy that felt the need to dry *himself* with not one, but two hairdryers.
Just one in each hand like it was the Wild West.
In Kyoto theres an onsen with a sauna. One guy was reading Manga in there, sweat dripping repeatedly onto the pages. Every 10-15 seconds he furiously wiped his sweaty face because the sweat got into his eyes and so it wouldn’t drip anymore. The wet sounds combinded with him puffing and groaning while wiping his face were quite irritating.
jesus, I worked at a sento for a year and I’ve never seen any weird shit like the things mentioned in here
I feel like I’m missing out. All of the onsens I’ve ever been to in almost 10 years have just been old men doing old men things
I was with my host mum visiting arima and doing a few different onsens. We got to the second one and a woman was sobbing in the changing rooms. She was older and in a towel, and she was literally wracking herself with her wailing.
She was going about getting ready while doing it though. So it was really awkward. Everyone just got ready themselves etc so we did too but it was very strange. Afterwards, me and my host mum speculated it might have been brought on by being relaxed/having time for herself and letting her emotions out as part of that?
Old Japanese dude just waltzed right in towards the bath without washing himself first, and had a big old wad of toilet paper stuck between his cheeks. I left immediately.
was in an onsen last week and a kid pooped on the floor. mom just picked it up and splashed a little water on the floor. not fun
In Beppu, a few teenage guys all trying to practice their English with some early 30s gaijin (I’m also a gaijin, I’m kind of used to this). Turns out they aren’t practicing English, but gaijin is teaching them all sorts of German phrases. “I wanna sleep with you. You’re hot. Your body is beautiful.” Those kind of phrases.
Now The oddness is that I happen to be German, and one of the things he struggled with I translated into German. The kids loved it. The German gaijin went white, realizing that there is someone who understood everything he was saying. He gets up without saying a word. No goodbye or anything, to me or the guys. Gets dressed and leaves/ flees without ever looking back.
You know those TV shows? I know you know. They show off some part of Japan. Celebrities in circles in the corner. Our ever beloved HUEEEEEEERHH reactions.
There was one on when I was in the rotenbo with my rotenbros. And the show presented us with an academic inquiry. “Which prefecture uses the most mayo?”
Well, shit, I can safely say I have never thought about it. I’d guess Tokyo, though. However, they meant per capita, not raw consumption. Several celebrities tried in vain: Osaka, Okinawa and Hokkaido were all valiant guesses in my mind, but they fell flat.
It was Tottori. Tottori????
Yes.
It turns out Kewpie had pushed huge books of recipies on the Tottorities of ancient Showaian times and it became a staple.
The supermarkets? Huge mayo selection.
When they visited the “standard family” and saw the kitchen, it had two huge bottles of mayo. The family then pulled out one of the kitchen stock units (the kind that you pull out sideways) to reveal more in stock “just in case we ran out before the next trip.”
Finally, they visited the humble hardworking 整備士, with the onesie jumpsuit and everything, inquiring him about his lunch. Yes, dammit, he had mayo on his lunch every day. Yes, dammit, the boss aggressively stocks mayo in the company fridge.
But he can’t take the risk. Not when it comes to mayo.
That’s when he busted it out. The pocket mayo.
From his pocket. Of course. It’s pocket-sized, you clearly keep it next to your balls.
He pulled out a pocket-sized bottle and said he keeps one on him just in case. I understand as I have an earthquake kit at home with the exact same logic.
And the show ended with Tottori’s equivalent of Dale Gribble hosing his rice down with pocket mayo as a bunch of celebrities scrambled to give a shit when it was their turn to express interest on the subject.
Strangest thing IN the ol’ ofuro? No, that was probably the dude sunning his poop hole while aiming it at everyone. But Tottori and mayo have overtaken very valuable long term memory real estate in my mind and I cannot help but associate them with every sento or onsen I visit.
Back around 2005, dad was visiting. We took him to an onsen. It was weird enough getting in a bath with my dad, but once we were in it was all good, just relaxing and chatting.
This skinny old guy with an instamatic camera comes wading through the water, stands in the middle, and takes a selfie. This onsen had those pointed kasa hats hanging up so you could wear them if it was raining. Old guy takes one, puts it on, stand right in front of my and my dad (mind you what’s at eye level when you’re sitting in an onsen), and says “THIS..IS…HAT!!!” Takes another selfie, then shuffles his skinny ass out of the water.
Welcome to Japan, dad.
A little old lady politely asked that I dry her hair. I was the only one around and, yeah, I’ve had old ladies in my life, so I put it on low and dried her hair. She seemed nice and relaxed, so good deed?
Then a friend came in and said she could do her own hair, she just liked when other people gave her attention. Uhhhh…
Then I like blasted my hair to semi dry and got dressed and went out to see a guy shove not one but three onsen eggs in his mouth and then chug milk. Just pop pop pop, one chew, guzzle.
Idk if it was the horror or the extra labor but I slept especially well that night. My brain just said “click.”