Kinosaki Onsen,JapanCredit:Nishimuraya
Regular visitors to Japan will know all about onsen. Here in the West we'd call the nearest equivalent bathhouses or Turkish baths,both of which have rather fallen out of favour in recent times. Not so in Japan,where the strict rituals involved in taking the waters in an onsen border on the religious.
It's not for everyone,that's for sure;especially if you don't like getting your kit off willy-nilly in front of strangers.
I don't mind at all,which is why I found myself sitting naked in the open-air hot springs of the Kouno-Yu onsen with a bunch of local gentlemen when,on the wooded hillside above us,a lone deer came ambling along. We sat in silence and watched as the animal sauntered across the landscape and eventually disappeared into the trees.
Kichino-yu Hotspring Bath,Kinosaki Onsen.Credit:Nishimuraya
We were in Kinosaki Onsen,a 1400-year-old spa town about three hours from Osaka by train. There are seven public bath houses there and pretty much most of the major hotels have an onsen on site. It's a pretty,low-key place with a dainty canal running through the middle of it and it's not unusual to see groups of people in traditional yukata kimonos and wooden geta sandals clip-clopping from one onsen to the next even in deep winter with snow on the ground.
It's all very understated and elegant and civilised,and memories of our short sojourn there come flooding back as we stand outside the huge ultra-modern entrance to Spa World,an onsen theme park on the edge of Osaka's Shinsekai (New World) neighbourhood.
Yes,you read that correctly,an onsen theme park. And,really,when that piece of information comes across your dial how can you not go?
The Chinese-style,private onsen spa of Nishimuraya Shogetsutei in Kinosaki Onsen.Credit:Naoto Ishimaru
From the outside,Spa World looks very much like an office block,albeit one from the 1970s. On the ground floor there are automatic ticket machines,a gift shop,a games corner,front desk and banks upon banks of shoe lockers. An entry wristband is used to pay for food,drink and other services within the spa.