Japan onsen gay

Onsens are found across Japan, often surrounded by natural beauty, and can be either traditional outdoor baths or modern, indoor facilities. Here’s a look at the history and what to expect, particularly for gay travelers. These amateur clubs have become a popular addition to Japan's gay scene spectrum. Facing out from the front of the Asakusa Prince Hotel, locate the Asakusa Hanayashiki Amusement Park rides in the neighborhood opposite, near the Senso-ji Temple.

Highlights include a street food tour, samurai experience, a night in an authentic onsen, and an evening in Tokyo's gay district, Shinjuku Ni-chōme. How to get to Kyoto?

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There are many ways to reach Kyoto. But it is most likely that you'll be flying into Osaka (Kansai International Airport) and make your way to Kyoto from there. Osaka, Japan gay saunas, hot springs, bathhouses and hattenba for men in the Kansai region, Kinki region by Utopia Asia. Tokyo, unsurprisingly, rules the roost with its wide array of must-see attractions on offer for LGBTQ+ tourists.

One of them is the hub of Japanese queer nightlife, the area of Shinjuku called Ni-Chome. However, the bathhouse can be daunting for non-binary and trans folks. Hot and cold baths, natural mineral water, a garden or river view — the classic hot-spring experience is one that unites both locals and tourists alike as a quintessential joy of Japan. For most of history these onsen were co-ed, as mainstream Japanese culture did not associate nudity while bathing with eroticism or sexuality.

Around the late s, in an effort to stem sex work that had begun developing on the sidelines of public baths as well as due to imported Western codes of morality, many of the co-ed onsen disappeared to be replaced by the segregated male and female baths seen today. This unfortunately has placed many transgender, non-binary, and other diversely bodied people in a difficult position when it comes to public bathing.

After all, there are many queer people both in the local Japanese community and among visitors for whom public bathing and especially natural onsen are a cherished experience. There are some who use male or female baths in alignment with their gender identity thanks to having the privilege of mainstream passability, or the tenacity to challenge social norms.

There are also many transgender people who, unfortunately, do not feel safe using these baths, or simply do not want to worry about the possibility that a staff member might out them. Additionally, many non-binary people like myself do not feel comfortable using either male or female baths much of the time. For most, a private bathing option is the ideal way of relaxing and feeling truly safe, while also enjoying the facilities of a hot spring or public bathhouse.

The biggest downside to private baths is the extra cost of booking them. These spaces can usually be reserved over the phone or via a touch screen monitor at the more high-tech onsen. There are precious few explicitly transgender friendly sento and onsen which make it clear, in their policy guidelines, that all are welcome. Kirishimaya Ryokan in Gunma is an inn especially favored by the queer Japanese community for being amenable to transfolk.

While the list of bathhouses which openly promote pro-queer policies is short, there have been sporadic conversations about how to make these spaces more accessible to diverse genders, sexualities, and bodies, particularly within the onsen capital itself, Beppu City , Oita Prefecture. The aim of this project was to develop relationships between LGBTQ individuals and potential allies in the straight community, as well as to discuss new ways of making baths inclusive.

More recently, in response to the Act on Promoting Public Understanding of Diversity in Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Beppu City again brought up the conversation and invited transgender people to talk about their needs and experiences with public baths. As these dialogues continue, it is likely that the number of explicitly transgender- and non-binary inclusive public bathhouses will increase.

More about Beppu onsen later. A waterpark and resort which many people find implicitly inclusive is the Spa Resort Hawaiians. Though tropicalistic in its use of Hawaiian esthetic including questionable aloha shirts and muumuus for its guests to wear , Spa Resort Hawaiians comes recommended for its impressive water slides said to be the largest in Japan and for providing pools, hot springs, and saunas for its guests.

Visitors concerned about gender-segregated locker rooms can rent a private hotel room attached to the Hawaiians facility and arrive at the pool already dressed in their swimsuit. Hawaiians also has a rare co-ed sauna, as well as a co-ed hot spring people enter in their swimwear. Despite the name, the park is open all year round. Note: Many water parks, onsen and sento bar customers with tattoos from entering, regardless of their gender identity.

And, of course, people with tattoos, diverse bodies, and diverse genders can use these onsen without fearing any explicit rule or policy that might exclude them. For all these reasons, I recommend co-ed onsen as a niche bathing experience. Co-ed hot springs are not necessarily trans-friendly safe spaces or mythical utopian onsen: most of these baths still have gendered changing rooms albeit very small huts with curtains , which can still pose potential dangers to transgender visitors and others who have bodies that do not easily pass along the binary.

They also tend to be quite tranquil, with few visitors. These include Tsurunoyu and Hebinyu — Hebinyu in particular is very quiet, with sparse visitors. Other notable co-ed onsen include the massive Senninburo at Sukayu Onsen in Aomori Prefecture and the Kanaya Ryokan Onsen in Shizuoka, both of which have mixed bathing facilities, with pool garments offered to female guests for modesty.

In Nagano prefecture, Kanaguya Ryokan offers a large number of different baths for guests who have rented rooms — these baths can be used alternately by guests, and essentially function as private baths without extra fees. See more mixed-gender onsen near Tokyo.