Where to Find Mixed-Gender Hot Springs in Japan

Onsens! We absolutely love them here, and we try to stay in a ryokan with onsen every time we travel. There are many types of unique hot springs in Japan, so of course, we always want to find some interesting ones. At some point, we ended up seeking out mixed onsen because… well, why not?

We thought this would be a good idea since we could finally enjoy onsen together, since a majority of hot springs are separated by gender. My boyfriend always complained that he’s bored in the baths, so having some company with paying extra would be nice. We also were curious about the ones where you would be completely naked (as opposed to wearing a swimsuit), sort of like the old days when they weren’t segregated.

And you know, they are NOT easy to find.

I believe most women in Japan aren’t comfortable with mixed gender onsen due to fear of harassment, therefore it’s probably not so profitable to operate mixed gender onsens when half of your population clearly don’t care for them.

They do exist though. And I’ve been to a few - as I’ve written in a post awhile back about my experience. So today, I want to take you to some mixed onsen I’ve been to in case you’re interested in going to some as well!

Kirishima Hotel (Kirishima Onsen)

Book here

Kirishima Onsen town is located in the mountains in Kagoshima Prefecture, just northeast of the city with the same name. Within it, there’s a older showa-esque Hotel that has a mixed gender bath. And it is quite big!

There is a separate area for women only, so there is an option for women to change and stay in the women’s area only. But the men’s bath is essentially the mixed gender area.

I thought this onsen was okay. The bone-colored water makes for an interesting bath (also easy to “cover up” for modesty if you’re shy), but the water was a bit too hot for me to be in there for a long time. I think the water seems hot because most of the onsen is indoors (inside this greenhouse structure tent), but I feel it would be more comfortable if it was all outdoors.

If you want to try this onsen, I think a doing it a day guest is enough. The hotel itself is nothing to write home about, so I'm sure you can find other places to stay in the area!

Chorakuen (Tamatsukuri Onsen)

(this onsen is strictly for staying guests only, please keep that in mind!)

This hot spring is located in Shimane Prefecture, about a 10 minute drive from Matsue city. As I’ve already mentioned - this mixed onsen is off limits to anyone not staying on property. If you would like to try this mixed onsen after reading this, I recommend making a booking with them! :)

I think this is probably the best mixed onsen for women who are shy and have fears of harassment. All onsen users MUST wear a wrapping (provided by the ryokan at the change rooms) before going into the onsen. For the ladies, it's a pullover that tightens above your chest and basically like a dress. For the men, there are paper boxers/underwear available.

Ladies need to go though a women-only section of the onsen to enter the mixed onsen. So there is added security of the ladies.

Unfortunately for the men, your security of the shower area is a bamboo partition just next to the large mixed onsen bath. Sorry. (Yes, you can accidentally catch a naked butt here and there if you looked...) At least the change room is still quite secure?

I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

The water was not too hot at all. It was warm and comfortable for relaxing for long periods at a time. Since it's only available to staying guests, you will probably see the same people in and around the baths. There are also lots of couples and small groups, so most people are simply enjoying the company of their companion(s) and minding their own business.

I only wished I had more time here since the onsen was also only available during the duration of your checked-in time, unfortunately.

Shinhotaka Onsen Yarimikan

This onsen is available for day guests, and they have some reasonable private outdoor onsens for rental (by the hour). This place was my very first mixed onsen experience, and I have to say it's probably the most... raw, but also not the most exposed experience you will get.

I just want to get two things out of the way first though.

The road into this ryokan onsen is fairly narrow. When I went, the road was unpaved and quite clear that only one car can traverse it at a time. The road lies next to the river with no obstacles, so you can see oncoming traffic easily with ease, but still something you should be careful of!

Second, the ryokan itself is gorgeous! It has that rustic, old Japanese home feel. I honestly would have loved to stay there overnight if I could... but piss poor me wasn't able to afford it (we had to stay in a business hotel in Takayama is a true peasant).

Now, why do I say it's... raw? Well, one - most of the baths are outdoors. And, there are no gendered change rooms.

You change in the area just next to each bath, separated only by some bamboo walls. If you partake in the mixed gender onsen - yes, you undress whether you're man or woman in the same area and then you just hop in. It's super minimalistic. I think it matches the atmosphere though, since their onsens are outdoors and sitting next to a river. All very nature-esque! It's honestly quite beautiful and relaxing if you can get over the fact that you're bathing in a mixed gender area.

At the time I was there, it was only us and one other person (a local, he didn't stay too long). Not very crowded at all. As such, I didn't feel awkward at all. It was overall a good experience.

If you didn't want the mixed bath experience, there is a women-only bath just down the walkway. It's quite small and not very scenic, but still enjoyable!

Tsurunoyu (Nyuto Onsen)

Nyuto Onsen is up in Akita Prefecture, and probably the most well-known out of this list. This onsen town is extremely popular amongst Japanese tourists when traveling in the Tohoku region, and possibly one of the first onsens to appear in any travel guide Tohoku and non-Tohoku related. Tsuru no Yu itself is an onsen with a ton of history and perhaps famed for its bone-white waters (just like in Kirishima).

Much like Yarimikan above, it's rustic and charming. And the onsens are very minimal and raw but since it's a more well-known onsen... there wasn't A LOT of people, but it's probably impossible to get the public baths without at least one or two other people. The baths themselves aren't all that big, so it can feel quite crowded even with just one or two other people.

I also felt like it was more of a tourist attraction more than anything.

A lot of people didn't really seem interested to get into the baths, despite paying for it. It's almost like they just wanted to check it off a list of things to see due to its historic value & fame. Not really because people were genuinely interested to try a mixed gender onsen, if you know what I mean. Many people just peeked into the baths, saw that there were people and walked off. Either they were uncomfortable with the mixed gender aspect, or the lack of a proper enclosed areas for disrobing. I'm not sure. But for that reason, it made the atmosphere feel less comfortable.

This is one of my later mixed gender onsen experiences, so while I do feel the ryokan and the onsen was very nice and atmospheric, the amount of people at the onsen made it feel less enjoyable for me. I think if this was my first experiences, I might find it more charming and interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that was the case.

Perhaps the experience may be different altogether if I went for an overnight stay. Who knows.

A few older women I shared the women's only bath with at Tsurunoyu told me that they were staying at Ganiba Onsen (also a mixed gender onsen), and were doing nothing but onsen hopping in the area for a few days. I suppose that's one way to enjoy the onsens too!

Kawara no Yu (Misasa Onsen)

Book here for Misasa Onsen Discounts

My last one is for the truly brave souls out there.

In Tottori Prefecture, there is another local favourite onsen called Misasa Onsen. It's quite close to Kurayoshi City, so accessibility (to a station) is probably why it's more popular. Here, you can bath right next to a road (the bridge above) in the view of locals & tourists alike.

And you know what? It's completely free! You can jump in as many times as you like (unless it's before 12PM on an odd number day, they drain the water out like the picture I have above)!!

Many locals do use this bath. We saw quite a lot of people (mostly men) partake in the bathing here.

In terms of mixed gender onsens go, this is probably where I drew the line. Being naked next to a rather busy road just didn't seem relaxing to me. So I didn't go in. We also saw quite a lot of bugs at night. I being a fan favourite of the mosquitoes, I feel like they are probably more excited than I am of this bath.

Anyway, that's it for today. See you next blog!!

Honest Reviews of LCCs - Peach Airlines

I've travelled to plenty of places in Japan now (and god knows when I get to write about all of them), and if I had to purchase flight tickets from only JAL or ANA, I'd probably be plenty broke right now. While they are definitely top of the line airlines, not everyone has the money or option to collect miles (points) to trade in for a flight. This often means you really need to shop for some cheaper options if you want to have a few days of escape from work.

I'll be talking about all these airlines eventually:

1) Peach Airlines

2) Skymark Airlines

3) Solaseed Airlines

4) Starflyer Airlines

This post will be on Peach, so stay tuned for the rest of them :)

These are just some of the bigger LCCs in Japan that I've been on, and they either fly out of (and into) Kobe Airport or Kansai International Airport. Of course there are other smaller ones like Spring Japan, Fuji Dream Airline (FDA), etc. But I've personally never been on these ones and therefore I don't think I can comment on them.

If I ever get a chance to ride them though, I will edit this list as necessary.

Notice that Jetstar Airways is not on the list, even though they have a lot of Japanese domestic routes. I'll be honest with you - I have never taken Jetstar. In fact, I almost subconsciously avoid it? No one I know has a good review about it, and for an LCC, they're still quite expensive. So I guess that's my candid review of Jetstar lol. I also suppose they are Australian and not Japanese, so it doesn't really matters.

Now that's out of the way, let's begin!

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Peach Airlines

Admittedly, I've used Peach the most out of this list of LCC. Not because they're GOOD by any means, in fact if I have to be honest, I've had the most horror stories with them by far. But let's talk about that later...

The Good:

They usually have some REALLY good deals and highly depending on your situation, the cheapest option.

Peach often has flights as low as 2990 yen for certain routes. If you are an early-planner, and 100% sure you will be travelling the days you've decided on, then those deals can absolutely work in your favour. If you're also a no-fuss, minimalist type of traveller that can fit a week of your life in 7KG carry-on luggage (totalling 2 bags only), then Peach is great for you.

I also had to deal with customer support once. In my own experience, they were also very no-fuss. Though I had a very specific situation that I'd rather not talk about here, and it was pretty easy for them to grant me what I needed without any fuss.

I’ve also never had issues with safety and all the staff are as professional as they can be. No complaints there.

That's about where all the good ends...

The Bad (very bad):

Oh god, let's talk about those seats. They are the most uncomfortable pieces of crap your butt will ever get acquainted with. You'll definitely see how thin the seat depth is, and god forbid you have someone behind you kicking your seat - you will feel every bit of it.

The leg space is also very much non-existent. I'm an average built Asian and if I sat upright, there's probably only a few centimeters between my knee and the seat in front of me.

Comfort is not their motto here.

Now, let's put that 7KG into some perspective here. I have a hard case carry-on luggage I always use and a backpack (or tote bag). I am quite minimalist when packing, in my opinion. If I went travelling for a week in the summer with only 4 sets of clothes, toiletries, chargers, ipad, and a few misc items - I am already at 8KG. This is without my backpack.

One way to combat that is to use a soft luggage bag. The best way is to travel with a second minimalist (lol) so you have a combined 14KG and 4 bags to play around with, but not everyone has a travel partner. Which means this 7KG is pretty ridiculous and it forces you to basically pay for checked in baggage.

Cheap it definitely is, but that's literally just their base cost. Everything else basically has a price. Yep, if you can't make that 7KG carry-on limit, you're most definitely going to have to pay to get it checked in. If you're sure in advance that you won't make it, you can pay the price when you're buying your tickets to get a better deal. But it's still extra cost which makes your 2990 yen ticket no longer a 2990 yen ticket.

And of course, if you want to choose your seat, be prepared to pay for that too.

Want a cancellation option for your ticket? Cha-ching. 💰

Oh yeah, let's talk more about those seats! If you opted out of paying for seat selection, and you are travelling with someone, you can very potentially end up sitting on completely opposite ends of the plane. Good luck if you are travelling with a a young child, you aren't switching seats with anyone. Seat switching is absolutely forbidden, even if there is an completely empty row somewhere. If you've gotten away with it before on Peach, then congratulations - but you're going to have a very hard time if you're expecting that chance.

Lastly, a caution for those taking evening flights from Peach. There have been several instances where I completely missed the last train out into the city from KIX because the flight was delayed for an hour. I’ve had delays with Peach quite often in the past, but sometimes you do get lucky and it’s smooth sailing.

But yeah, if you are flying into KIX, keep in mind that if your flight lands anywhere around 11:30pm, you will most probably miss your last train into Osaka. Peach flights are land in terminal 2, which means you will need an extra 10-15 minutes to shuttle bus back to the main terminal for trains.

Yeah, the shuttle bus is quite a hassle sometimes unfortunately.

All in all, it is a VERY budget airline and there is a reason why it’s dirt cheap sometimes.

But as I begin to write reviews for the other airlines, you may see that LCCs don’t have to be this way. I recommend Peach if you don’t have much luggage and you are simply just satisfied to get from point A to B. There’s a high chance you can book cheap with them, so they do serve their purpose one way or another!

Thanks for reading, see you next time!

On Massages, and a Massage for Cat Lovers!

Japan’s got cat cafes, cat train masters, cat capsule hotels, cat feudal lords… cat everything. So of course there’s are going to be shops & restaurants - especially if they are individually owned - that may have a pet cat, or a “cat manager” so to speak.

I love massages and I’ve been basically all over hotpepper beauty (a booking website for esthe-related things) looking for good massages. I’ve been to Raffine several times and their sister parlor which is more upscale. Their massages weren’t terrible, but depending on who you get, most of your massages are going to be very scripted. I had a few that would really try to focus on parts of your body that are sore or in pain, maybe add in a few stretches here and there - but most masseuse will just go through the motions & call it a day.

Also since Japan is quite infamous for the “happy ending” massages, if you walk around just going to a random shop, you’ll never know if you’ll just walk yourself right into one of those kinds of massages. If you know what I mean.

Of course, pretty sure if it’s on hotpepper beauty, it’s probably legitimate. So it’s just me being extra silly about I guess.

When I used to frequent Raffine, a masseuse told me that a lot of Japanese customers don’t really like having “strong” massages. She guesses that most customers only want some time to be feel pampered, relaxed, to sleep/nap - not actually doing the massage for any relief with muscle tension. Point is though, the reason I can’t settle for a massage place is because a lot of masseuse don’t apply enough strength into the massages - probably because they are used to their normal clienteles not asking for strong massages.

Fortunately, I finally found a completely private studio (great to have a massage without other customers in the same room!) where the masseuse really applies strength. Like the massages in Vietnam that I had leaving your knots untied and refreshed - this one does the same!!

This place is call Nyangri-La! And yes, there is a cat!

The masseuse happens to love cats, and supports adoption - do the small massage business she owns also has a cat called "Koume".

Here's a ton of cat taxes for you!!

oop, my finger is there lol

she apparently likes the tuna flavour more haha

Koume-chan is the sweetest girl. Very vocal cat too. Her owner keeps her at home with her after "work", so she doesn't get lonely and too hot/cold.

But it looks like Koume-chan doesn't get along with the owner's other cats, so they are kept separate from each other when they're all at home.

She likes getting pets and if you get a thai massage at floor level with our cute shop manager, you can play with her and give her some attention.

Speaking of massages. You can get a Thai Massage or an Oil Massage here.

There are add-on options for you such as foot massage (not reflexology), hot stone massage, steam hot sauna (early reservation required) and even cupping. The reason I came across this listing was actually because of the cupping. Many Chinese acupuncture places obviously do this, but I don't want to be roped into acupuncture ever again (my parents used to force me to do it to get rid of acne... it sucked), but I like cupping. So an oil massage with cupping is sort of a good marriage of the two, in my opinion!!

So if you are looking for cupping in Osaka with a massage, definitely book & check this place out!

I've also done foot massage there, which is not bad. It's not painful at all even here with added pressure (a good thing!), since it's not reflexology where they really try to press into every pressure point to make it painful. No pain no gain, I guess.

I've done both thai and oil here. I prefer the oil massage since I don't mind being unclothed and touched with oil and being pressed on. The masseuse also works in a few stretches, so it's nice! Thai massage is mostly just stretches with some pressing - think of it as lazy yoga, if you will. I quite enjoyed it as well but it's mostly just personal preferences, and what you're comfortable with.

As this is a one-man business, you'll have the space all to yourself. You don't have to worry about other customers and things like that. You have plenty of space to play with the cat, change into the outfit provide for you for the massage (your clothes can stay untouched!).

As you can see from my pictures, it's a small cozy one-room shop.

The only bad thing is that the shop is right by a busy intersection, so you can still hear the traffic from outside. I suppose if you lived in Japan long enough (thin walls and all) or even any big city for a time, you're probably used to this sort of set up. I personally am not so bothered by the noise, but if this is something that bothers you, then perhaps this isn't a good place for a massage.

If you're interested in this massage place, I highly recommend booking off HotPepper Beauty to collect points and get first-timer discounts. The other way is to book via LINE message if your Japanese is good enough.