Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X TOKYO >> Japan is proud of its bathing traditions. For many Westerners, though, the fact that ...

Bathing is an art in Japan. Bathing has style. Bathing has etiquette. The only bath etiquette I was taught was to wipe off the ring after using the tub. By Japanese bathing standards, I’m a barbarian.

On a recent concert tour in Japan, I had the chance to visit several thermal baths and to chat with people about the tradition of bathing. I was fascinated by their differences with American spas.

It was a cold February day in northern Japan, snow piled high outside the onsen locker room windows as I slipped out of my clothes. Nervously, I stepped into the plumes of steam wafting from the next ...

KANONJI, Kagawa Prefecture—Through several twists and turns, a company that supplied bricks for what is now the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima is now a hot spring facility with the most different ...

This undated photo provided by Stéphanie Crohin shows traditional baths and murals in Kasuga onsen, or hot spring bath, in Matsuzaka, Mie prefecture, Japan. Japan is proud of its bathing traditions.