How to Take an Onsen Bath in Japan

[14th in a series of posts about a recent trip to Japan] I’m always a little nervous about creating an international scandal when I travel, and I was most concerned about getting onsen etiquette right. I even worried about whether waxing was expected or frowned upon, but I’ll stop there at the risk of TMI. […]

A Mountain Onsen in Japan

[12th in a series of posts about a recent trip to Japan] We were picked up at the train station in Kakunodate by our next takushii driver for the trip to the Niuto onsen area, near a large volcanic lake. Rising above Lake Tazawa, we wound up through buckwheat fields and birch forests to the […]