Title: Nudity and Sexuality in Japan (June, 2019)
A short reflection piece written in my 7 weeks stay in Japan!
Typically, a quick impression
of Japanese people that comes to my mind is their humble, modest and
conservative nature. Never boisterous, never proud. Always conscious of how
they present themselves in the public setting. However, this image I had was
slightly distorted in my first ever experience to the Onsen.
The journey to being stark
naked in the Onsen was a long one. On our field trip to Nikko, we were informed
that the hotel was known for its onsen bathhouses for its guests. Many,
although slightly weary, were generally excited to try it. I was however
mortified at the very prospect of parading around in my birthday suit. I made
up my mind long ago that if I ever were to go to an onsen, I absolutely needed
to be alone. Not even being around family would waver my stance.
It was not the hours of
convincing and mild coercive threats received from my peers that changed my
mind. Instead, what finally made me give in was the onsen appetizer I
experienced at this Ashiya (public foot baths) near the Kinugawaonsen station.
Our casual venture beyond the hotel premises led us to this foot bath not too
far off. Shocked to find that it was free and open to the public, we
immediately helped ourselves to a seat and dipped out feet into the lukewarm
water. A loud sigh of relief accompanies it, as if all the troubles in the
world melted away. I knew in that moment that I wanted – no, needed –
the full-body experience. I made eye-contact with a friend who was previously
equally resistant on trying the onsen. We shared a wistful look that conveyed
the same thought; “Guess we have no other choice”.
After much procrastination of
doing every other possible thing we could do in the hotel, it was finally time
to face my fear. I had heard that we could bring a towel into the hot bath.
However, I was told that it was so small it essentially covered nothing.
Perhaps because it was never meant to be a tool for modesty, but to wrap around
your head to keep your hair dry.
That didn’t stop us gaijins
from trying though. In the changing room preluding to the actual onsen, we took
the bigger towel not meant to be brought into the onsen. However, we were
stopped by one of the staff who redirected us to the smaller towel. Abashedly,
we obliged and were forced to reveal naked bodies to one another, with the
small towel being of no help whatsoever.
The dash from the changing
room to the onsen was humiliating. The more we tried to hide, the more pathetic
it felt, especially when many other unfazed locals around us were leisurely
strolling past us, stark naked and unashamedly showcasing their assets.
Eventually, I got tired of keeping up the covering act and forced myself to
maintain normal conversations with my friends. By the end of our baths, we too
found ourselves casually strolling back to the changing room – as did the
locals – not in any desperation to reunite with our clothes. Something about
being stripped to absolutely nothing made for very intimate conversations.
Moreover, the onsen environment really helped to facilitate deeper
conversations, despite only having recently befriended the girls with me.
On hindsight, I am glad that
the towel warden had stopped us from covering ourselves up with the big towels.
If we had insisted on our own gaijin ways, we would never have had the
true Japanese Onsen experience – in which expression of nudity was part of the
package.
By putting ourselves outside
of our comfort zones, we maximized our experience here in Japan. The towel
warden in that moment became the cultural enforcer, that taught us the value of
“when in Rome, do as Romans do”. Participating in the process – entirely as it
was meant to be – rather than bringing in our own cultural assumptions, beliefs
of right and wrongs, is the first step to understanding any kind of society and
group. Perhaps this is the very value of ethnography.
Another aspect I have heavily
encountered in Japanese society is the excessive exposure to sexuality. Walking
past a middle-aged man browsing a wide-opened A4-sized hentai manga big enough for
the blind to see in the middle of the bustling Shibuya train platform was
something I didn't see every day. Or, ever. Also, my hunt for generic otaku
merchandise at Akihabara led me similar buildings with floors 5-7 reserved
exclusively for mature audiences. Of course, in the name of science, I had to explore
every nook and cranny on every floor. It was fascinating how overt pornographic
materials were displayed. I even witnessed a museum-like room, where drawn
naked girls were very professionally framed up.
This made me very curious as
to the way sexuality and nudity operate in Japan. Most of the world had
experienced western colonization for a sustained period of time - and with it,
had received western-influenced religious values – enough for them to take some
root in the fabric of moral society. Western religions often discourage
sexuality. However, these western values never had enough traction to make a
significant impact on moral society in Japan, that was and still is largely
organized by Shinto and Buddhist principles. Shinto religion, on the other
hand, is more open-minded to concepts of sexuality that focuses more on the
importance of the divine power of deities (kami) rather than the moral
actions of the individual. Even as Buddhism and Shintoism blend into Japanese
beliefs, they often do not condemn most forms of sexuality.
The Japanese, therefore, abide
by a different set of moral codes; where sexuality and nudity are not seen as
inherently shameful. Of course, that does not mean that all Japanese people
fully embrace it. Instead, I conceive that nudity and sexuality are viewed in
the pragmatic lens as socially disruptive, less so viewed in the moral lens as
inherently wrong.
