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Published: January 20th 2014
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I went to the very famous spa world which just happened to be around the corner from my hostel. Spa world is made up of saunas from all different parts of the world and just so happened to be giving out discounted tickets. It has six floors. On the top floor there is a family swimming area where people must wear swimsuits and on floor 4 there is a Europe spa (for women on odd months of the year) and on another floor there is Asia spa (for men on odd numbered months and women on even numbered months.) It also has lots of spa treatments on the other floors.
Spas are part of the Japanese ritual and all Japanese people take a bath on an evening usually around 7pm. So I went to try spa world. I went from spa to spa. I tried the Finland spa where you lie in a bath tub at about 40 degrees, then the honey and milk spa, the Spanish outdoor spa with a waterfall, the Greek spa herbal bath with statues such as the Erechtheion goddess around a Pantheon-like room, the salt spa, the Rome Jacuzzi-style bath and the blue
grotto. Afterwards I was thinking of going swimming but my skin was so soft that I decided I wouldn’t bother, I would rather keep that feeling. In the spa everybody must walk around naked, and it seems that it is a way for Japanese women to chat to their neighbours. Whereas we go to the pub in England to chat, people go to the spa naked and chat to their friends. I don’t know which was weirder – being segregated from men for a whole 3 hours or parading around naked in front of other women for 3 hours.
In the afternoon I got the Hankai line tram or streetcar to a famous local Shinto shrine. It was modest, tranquil and beautiful. I went back to eat in a local restaurant suggested to me by the hostel, called Okonomiyaki (which means rice pancake I think.) The owner talked to me about fish and chips, and John Lennon and the Beatles coming to Japan in 1964 (I think that was the year.) I began to feel a bit more relaxed and not so far from my country. When Japanese people see a foreigner they get very excited and
sometimes a look spreads across their face as if they have seen some fantasy creature, like a unicorn trying to navigate its way through this complicated island. Then they realise I’m just completely helpless and lost all of the time and cannot speak a word of Japanese so they help me every time.
There are many good things about Japan. Japanese is very similar to Spanish and Italian so its easy to learn. Everybody seems to take pride in their job and are really professional in their appearance and manner, in all the places I’ve visited, many people young and old travel by bicycle and they are obliged by law to ride on the pavement which makes for less pollution, people rarely seem to get angry and seem peace-loving and harmonious, it seems a very safe place with low crime rates. The food, clothes and Japanese manufactured goods seem to be of really high quality and quite cheap. I think they are quite self-sufficient. Technologically they have discovered all sorts of things which make life easier for their citizens. There is almost no disorder, everybody is doing what they should at the right time.
On the other hand, I think having to be perfect and do the right thing all of the time must be incredibly tiring, and would leave me quite stressed, having to follow the exact social etiquette required for each situation must be exasperating – for example depending on the respect you have for the person, you bow either 30, 45 or 90 degrees when greeting them. I would never understand all the age-old rituals but then again I would never be expected to, not being Japanese. Whilst the language is phonetic, the script is completely alien and it would take a lot of patience to learn. I think I could get bored quite quickly in this society with it being so ordered.
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