Onsen

Kozue and I rode a bullet train and bus to the hot springs town of Kusatsu. Arriving in town, the smell of sulfur was everywhere -- this is a hot spring!

Our first Onsen -- whose name I never discovered -- was small and stylish. We were greeted by a very polished woman who served us coffee and pastry while Kozue filled out registration papers. And the coffee was delicious.

Our room was very simple and elegant with a separate sitting area separated by a paper screen. In this Onsen, there were no showers in the room -- only a toilet -- the assumption being that all your bathing would take place in the in-house "bath."

The bath was comprised of two tubs -- one had highly sulfuric water and the other was less so. Both were hot enough to boil lobsters. It took concentration and fortitude to submerge yourself in these waters. We found that by place a wet washcloth on our heads and keeping our hands out of the water, we were able to tolerate the heat better.

Kozue explained (via google translate) one of the benefit of the waters: heat shock protein (HSP). In looking through a few internet articles, it seems that the cells have proteins that are shocked when exposed to heat -- not hot enough to kill. This creates a preserving cell adaptation.