Yes, you have to get completely naked: What it’s really like to visit a Japanese hot spring

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 room and made my way toward the bathing area. This was no private dip: I was surrounded by other naked people — none of whom seemed to care.

Growing up in the UK, bathing nude with strangers was not something I ever experienced — or even imagined experiencing. But in Japan, it’s a part of everyday life.

Getting used to getting naked

I travelled by bullet train from Tokyo to Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, snowy mountains and small farming towns flashing past outside the window.

A solo traveler on a budget, I booked a room above a café run by a warm woman in her 60s named Michiko. O