Onsen

An onsen is a Japanese hot spring. The onsen plays an important role in Japanese culture, providing (socially) instiutuionalised relief from the pressures of the contemporary Japanese twelve-hour work ethic[?].

Ideally, they should be volcanic and outdoors, and they are often embellished with (or, in the cheaper varieties, replaced by) a wide variety of extravagant spa baths[?], artificial waterfalls and saunas.

A key feature of the onsen is that as well as mere bathing facilities, there should be accomodation, extravagant cooking and all manner of relaxing passtimes - massages, aromatherapy, relaxation rooms and comfortable surrounds. Essentially, the onsen should be the diametric opposite of everything in normal, hectic day-to-day Japanese life.