Naked in Japan

The latest missive from daughter, Kaitlin
Her current mood: Rejuvenated




In her words:
So I spent all of Tuesday naked. It was exciting. First we got lost in Yokohama and walked for about five miles before we finally found Landmark Tower. Then we found the big Ferris Wheel and the World Bazaar. Then we found it. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. A tall hotel called Jumbo. Not fancy or run down. Fairly normal. Until you get in the elevator. The hotel had nine floors. Yet the elevator only went to floors 1,2,3, and 7. So we took the elevator to the 7th floor.

When the doors opened it looked like nothing more than a gift shop. We walked up the counter and handed them our credit cards as we had been instructed to do before arriving. They gave us a key and a ticket. We took off our shoes at the entrance and put them in bags. Then we went to another counter and gave them our tickets. They gave each of us a Kimono. We entered through the pink drapes. Found our lockers and removed and placed our clothes in the lockers. Then through the second set of curtains we saw it. An entire room full of wonderful smells and showers that you sit down at so we sat down at our showers. We each washed with the best soaps and shampoos and conditioners.

Then we entered the first room. The salt sauna. You cover your body in salt and then sit and sweat it off. It gets rid of all the dead skin and cleans your pores. After a rinse we entered the Herbal Sauna. This is where you sit in a very hot room and breathe in green tea and you clean out your airway and your pores. Then we entered the hot springs. Pools of hot water that soften and heal your skin. After a few hours we went down and enjoyed a massive array of foods at the dinning area. Then more saunas and springs including the outdoor foot springs located on the roof. That we enjoyed at night with the city all alight. To end our evening we all enjoyed full body massages with rosemary and mint massage oils.

Everywhere we went we were naked except in the dinning area where we wore our Kimono. At the end of the night we each bought a Kimono to wear later and to take pictures in since we were not allowed any pictures in the bath house. My hair has never been this soft or my skin so nice. It was truly a memorable experience.

I even bought a little bag of the salt to bring home. The one thing that did make me giggle was all of the hot springs baths had signs on them both in English and Japanese that stated "this water is not portable."
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Here are some interesting links and photos online:

* Nice slide show of Yokohama

* Landmark tower cam

* Learn more about Japanese public baths

* Enjoyment in Yokohama

* Check out this blog for some fab pictures of the area
in Yokohama where Kait spent the day naked.