Welcome to Kinosakionsen, home of the onsen! For those that have not heard of onsens, they are the natural hot springs dotted all over Japan and feature frequently in the higher end hotels as well as publicly. Kinosaki is THE place to go if you're a keen onsen-er and after spending a magical 24 hours there, I can tell you it's the best kept secret from the Aussie cavalcade. I heard just one fellow Aussie couple and inside the onsens was pretty much the only western among them Japanese bathers. I found the place through a Google search on onsens but had no idea what awaiting me.
It's a well-oiled bathing machine, this tiny town. You check in at 3pm (not a minute earlier), put on your complimentary kimono outfit, take your complimentary onsen pass and shuffle down the canal streets in your wooden sandals to experience searing hot to cold pools, hot and cold steam rooms, outdoor baths and communal showering stations. Everyone excitedly gets their onsen map stamped at each onsen to get a "present" after visiting 5 or more - I got chopsticks - as part of the "Stamp Rally". It's amazing, come 3pm and the entire place transforms into a kimono cult and all you can hear are the echoes of wooden footwear on the bitumen. As wonderful as it was to see, I knew as I was dressed by a female hotel worker that the kimono would be hard to keep up appearances in from onsen to onsen. One time I knew I'd only be walking a few metres to the next bath so I haphazardly threw my kimono on. The LOOK on the onsen worker's face when I walked out - I'd clearly had a kimono blowout and she hurriedly took me to the side to fix me up. Bless.
Inside the onsens, it's men and women separate, and as of very recently, completely fine for people such as me to enter with exposed tattoos. I bought tape just in case but was told I didn't need to put it on. I think it used to be a sign of gang activity. Regardless, I still felt fairly out of place with my "look"... I'm thankful the Japanese are a respectful bunch but I could still feel their eyes on my body modifications. I pushed my septum ring into my nose at one point to soften the blow (no pun intended). They were well kept and clean, and anyone who knows my hair phobia knows that's a big thing - I was forever searching for black strands everywhere but there were thankfully few. In total, I went to 6 onsens between the dinner provided by the hotel which was another kaiseki degustation including crab sashimi and steam boiled egg.
The baths stay open until 11pm so it's not much of a party town. In fact, because most people seem to stay at full board ryokans (traditional style Japanese hotels) and spend their evenings going to the onsens, I'm not sure how the bars and restaurants make money in that town. Maybe that's why the shops were so expensive, an infrequent buyer tax! With its quaint charm and boutique shopping, it reminded me of little towns in France or even the blue mountains. The side canal was lined with cherry blossoms which were lit up by pink lanterns at night and mountains provided a mystical backdrop against a river front that opened out to the ocean down the road. The train ride from kyoto was also full of this side of scenery. A new side of Japan I'd been hoping to experience and am so happy I did!
Besides the amazingness of the area, I just can't stress how untouched it is by western tourism. There are limited places that speak or have English translations, not even my hotel sign was in English and I had to go in and give my voucher to the front desk to check I was in the right place. Directions to attractions are also in Japanese so you just delightfully wander around in hope of happening upon what you want, thankfully it's a small town so you can't go too wrong. Not even hotel staff could speak much English, which is just such a cool experience you don't find very often.
By 11pm, the onsens were closed and I was a walking pile of hazy mush. I don't think I've ever had that many showers in one night. My hotel room welcomed me with the floor bed made while I was out (this hotel was brilliant, so organised and discreet) and I nestled in to sleep my first and only night in a ryokan. For those not familiar, a ryokan room is just one big space with tatami matting and low chair/tables, and for sleeping a mattress and bedding is pulled out from the cupboard and set up in the middle of the room. I streamed a game of derby and fell asleep amongst a dream cloud of star passes and bridging. Side note on clouds: on English translated maps, Japanese refer to a crowded place as a "People Cloud". Kawa'ii!
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