After graduating from university, I was in a sort of purgatory waiting for my future employer to tell me where I was to be assigned. The company had branches all over the country, and I, being on the heels of a messy breakup, was willing to go to any of them. The call came on a Friday. I was to be in Osaka by Monday. With only two days notice, I packed what I could and abandoned the rest of the stuff with my roommate. (Sorry, buddy!)
Osaka lies in the middle of the Japanese archipelago in a region called Kansai. The name is synonymous with loud people and
good interesting food. It is dirty by Japanese standards, but it is a truly fun and lively place. People are laid back and very friendly, and the city just feels warmer than Tokyo could ever be. It is a truly fascinating place which I would love to visit, though I don't think I would ever want to live there again.
I found Yamato No Yu thanks to a friend's mother who lived in the area. After hearing about my little obsession, she brought me to a neighborhood onsen in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo prefecture. Yamato No Yu is a chain brand of onsen that has branches throughout Kansai and a few in Kanto. It is a big, fancy, family onsen which can get extremely crowded on weekends. It was my first glimpse at what onsen were like outside of the Beppu bubble, and it was a little overwhelming at first. This Super Walmart of an onsen boasts 14 different types of baths, a massage salon, a barber shop, and a cafeteria among many other amenities. You don't go here just to take a bath, you go for a mini-vacation. It was not the little mom n pop onsen I was used to.
In all fairness, this was a very good onsen that did not disappoint. The temperature was a bit on the cool side, so you could soak for a long time without overheating. My favorite were these cute little one person tubs which were shaped like planters for saplings.
They were deep enough to cover your shoulders and wide enough to prop your feet up on the side and recline. At night, you could gaze up at the stars while elevator music played softly from behind a bush. The garden was perfectly manicured and the baths were immaculately clean. Though the 800 yen price tag felt outrageous at first, I understood what I was paying for.
Honestly, life in Kansai isn't for everyone, myself included. I had problems with the food and never could understand what the heck people were saying in their heavy dialect. It never really felt like home in the way Beppu or Tokyo did, but it was a great transition city just as Yamato No Yu was a great transition onsen. I don't miss my life there, but when I recall the memories from that time, I feel glad that I experienced it.
If you happend to be in Nishinomiya, please make it a point to visit this onsen.
Should my travels lead me back there, I will definitely be taking a dip :)
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