Healing Ritual in Kinosaki Onsen

Kinosaki Onsen stay teaches me to slow down.

Wearing a yukata teaches me to slow down, too — the way the fabric wraps around me, the way my steps become smaller, softer, more deliberate.

In Kinosaki, slowing down is inevitable.

But at the same time, the onsen town welcomes people with tattoos, quietly rejecting the rigidity that many other bathhouses still hold on to.

We are in the Tokiwa Garden, the prettiest coffee shop in Kinosaki Onsen.

I am pretending to write so Fafa can take my photos. Also slightly high on crab sake.

I’ve decided that I want to visit more onsen towns in Japan. At first, I thought I wanted to visit all of them, but then I Googled it and realised that 1,300 onsen towns seem a bit unrealistic. Still, I can make it a rule to visit one onsen town per trip to Japan. Non-negotiable.

I told Fafa this, and this time he pretended not to hear me.

I believe that going to an onsen is a healing ritual, and how amazing would it be to make it an annual practice?

I need to Google whether Melbourne has one — and I mean a real onsen. But I will settle for a bathhouse. It’s always jarring to get naked in front of a sea of women, even though I have done it many times — three times today alone.

Speaking of which, I can’t help but feel thankful for my best friends who took me to my first onsen and taught me to be comfortable with it. The ones who didn’t flinch at my brown skin. Also, Jen, my Singapore colleague, taught me that cellulite is okay.

I’m thinking of sending postcards to Che, to myself, and to Thu. I wonder if I can buy stamps from Kinosaki itself. I told Fafa, and he told me to stay here a bit longer. “I shall”, I replied, sipping the delicious matcha latta served with the sweet local milk.

Oh, if you plan to visit Kinosaki Onsen, book your train tickets and hotel early. And don’t stay in Shinzan (bad service) — stay closer to the canal, where the rhythm of the town reveals itself fully in the sound of wooden sandals against stone, the gentle movement between baths and the beautiful lights along the canal.

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