I can't get naked.

I'm not joking. I'm dead serious, and it's killing my vacations! I want to go to an onsen so bad, but I can't do it. An onsen is a hot springs bath. It's about the most popular thing to do on a relaxing vacation in Japan. Most of them are public which means you get naked in front of a lot of people. We went to Dogo Onsen (pictured above and below and many more times in this post) in Matsuyama City on the island of Shikoku which is south of here back in September (this is where we were taking the ferry you saw in the previous posts).

Dogo onsen is one of the most famous in Japan. It is said to be on the oldest, maybe even the first. The building itself looks pretty sweet even if you don't go in. It's three stories and has a big crane on the top. I booked a hotel right next to it thinking that surely I would get in if I had to be that close to it. I would have time to think about it....maybe too much time would be the case.

So we walk around the building, taking pictures of pretty cranes everywhere.



I get my picture taken with some statue because well, everyone else was doing it! I don't even know who this guy is, but I figured he must be pretty freakin important if everyone wanted their photo taken with him!

So then I tried to go in and I stood before the entrance and realized I couldn't read any of that stuff. I knew the Japanese words for the bath I wanted. I wanted to have a bath in the nicer one and then relax in the tatami room with some green tea and a tri-colored dango (a rice doughy dessert from the area....excellent by the way). The fear of having to strip down in front of people was overwhelming. Then all the possible things that could go wrong started running though my head. "What if I get overheated and pass out while naked (this is because the water is SUPER hot)?" or "What if everyone stares at me because I stick out like a sore thumb because I'm the only white girl?" Markian was tired of me contemplating for so long (almost an hour) in front of the entrance. He didn't particularly want to go (he hates hot water), but although he wasn't like, "Yeah, naked!" I didn't bother him like it did me. So finally, he pushed me towards the entrance. Then the unthinkable happened. I totally lost it. My legs wouldn't work, I felt like I couldn't breathe and I panicked and freaked out and started crying. I can't even really describe it. I just knew at that moment, my fear was far greater than I realized, and there was no way in hell I could force myself to go in there, no matter how bad I wanted to. So yeah, I couldn't see inside this really cool old building and I was super pissed at myself. In a later post I will tell how I tried again to get over this fear with partial success.

Above: You can hire a guy to pull you around in a rickshaw for a nice sum of cash. There are many, many onsens in the area.

Below: These people CAN get naked (well probably...I wouldn't know for sure). They are wearing their yukatas hopping from bath to bath.

So yeah, there you have it. I went to an onsen, but didn't really go to an onsen. More on a later experience.