Last Christmas, I went back to Japan for a couple of weeks. Originally, my boyfriend Ryosuke was supposed to come with me. He made a whole bunch of reservations for inns he was going to take me to, but then his boss told him they needed him over the Christmas rush, so he couldn't come. I asked around, and my cousin Namie was free, so I invited her to come along in Ryosuke's place.
Some people say Namie and I look a bit similar. She wears her black hair long, and fluffs it out like a perm. I'm kind of curious, and always keep a close eye on things, but Namie is perhaps less attentive, more off in her own world. She is really good-looking though, almost like an idol, Atsuko Maeda or someone like that. At her wedding, she looked gorgeous--so pure and innocent--in her white wedding dress. After the wedding, I got talking with her about men and sex. I'm no expert, but anyway, I gave her my take on how to get things started with her new hubby, Ryoichi.
The day of our trip the two of us met at Fujisawa station, and took the train west from there. We both looked like skiers. I had on ski pants, a beige toque, a slick red and white coat, futuristic goggles. She was in jeans, but had on a ski jacket and mirror sunglasses.
In the train, I asked her how things were going with Ryoichi, but she just giggled, and blushed, and wouldn't tell me anything. Apparently though, things were going well, and she thanked me for my advice. Anyway, I was glad to see her looking so happy.
Our first stop was Shuuzenji, one of the springs Ryosuke and I had visited our last trip. The spring, Tokkonoyu is right in the center of town, but enclosed in an old fashioned wooden otabisho, cabana(?), sort of like a little temple or something. Mid-day, I wanted to go in, but once we stripped naked, this tour bus came, and we had to cover up, and seek refuge in one of the restaurants nearby. The shop owner, a woman, thought it was so funny that we'd gotten caught. I guess not many woman go in during the day.
We then caught a bus south to Yugashima, and stayed at an inn called Yumotokan where the famous author Yasunari Kawabata wrote his stories. It seemed nice. I messaged Ryosuke thanking him for making all these reservations.
In our room, I changed out of my ski wear into a hoodie. Namie made me wrap a towel around my waist. Namie put on one of the inn's yukatas (cotton robes) with a hakama (coat) over top. We went out the back of the inn, and walked down these stairs to the hot springs in the valley below. The whole area was so beautiful, greens and greys, the rocks, forest, and babbling brook.
The bath itself was quite out in the open. We could see the suspension bridge we'd come in on, up the valley a bit, but no sign of people at first. I stripped naked, and went in. Namie wanted to keep her towel on, but I told her I thought the inn didn't want people bringing towels into the water, something about stuff in the towels making it harder to clean the bath afterwards. I wanted to take some pictures, but I'd left my camera in our room, so I pulled my hoodie and towel back on, and ran up to get it.
In the hallway, I passed a well-dressed man and a woman who said hi to me. Were they married or perhaps lovers here for a secret tryst? I quickly got my camera, but I was worried this couple might head down to the baths too. I rushed back down to the bath, stripped naked, and gave my camera to Namie, so she could take some pictures of me. Unfortunately, she spotted someone up on the suspension bridge watching us. I told her not to worry about them, and got her to take a few pictures of me standing naked in the bath, and even convinced her to let me take her picture too.
Unfortunately, just then, the couple I'd seen earlier came down the stairs. I froze when I heard them, but it took a moment for Namie to realize they were here. They looked pretty shocked to see us both naked. I bit my lip, and peered back at them all nervous now.
"Oh, sorry. We didn't mean to disturb you," the man apologized, his eyes wide. He peered down at my lily-white behind, and then over at Namie's grapefruit-sized breasts. I felt a tingle run up my spine, but Namie slid back down into the water, blushing bright red. We both glanced around for our towels. Mine was over in the changing hut next to where they were standing. Namie's was lying on the edge of the bath, so I picked it up, and threw it to her.
"Oh my!" the women tittered, scandalized by my daring. I reached down, and covered my breasts with my arm, but I was so excited by then. I got up out of the bath, and made straight for my towel, flashing them in the process. My whole body was tingling with excitement.
"Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't mean to chase you off," the man said.
"No, that's all right. We were just leaving."
I pulled my towel out while the two of them stood there gawking at me. Namie got up too, trying to cover her front with her towel. Namie looked at me gravely, but there was little we could do now. They'd caught us red-handed. I glanced over, and the man was staring down lustfully at my bare behind. I pulled on my hoodie, but my towel was all wet by then. I wrapped it around my waist, but it was practically see-through. The man continued to eye me. I walked around to shield Namie, but the tension was incredible. I don't know why I was getting so excited, but I was.
Once Namie was ready, we hurried past them, up the hill. When I glanced back, the man was still watching, and the women was babbling away. Whoever they were, they seemed to get a big kick out of catching us naked.
Once we were safe inside, I broke out laughing. Namie looked at me strange for a second, and then started laughing too.
"Wow! That was something," she giggled. She looked happy though, relieved maybe that we'd gotten away with it. I guess she thought something bad would happen, but nothing did. We saw the couple later that evening. They seemed more self-conscious about it than I did. I just smiled, and bowed as we passed them in the hallway.
The next morning, Namie and I took a bus south to Dogashima on the coast, where we had reservations at the Dogashima Komatsu View Hotel. It was a nice place, one of the fanciest hotels I've stayed in. The inside was brightly lit, and everything looked so new. In the elevator, there was a sign telling where all the baths are.
"It looks like none of them are co-ed," Namie noted. That was a bit weird because Ryosuke always picks out inns with co-ed baths, so we can go in together. Why did he choose this place? The sign said that for women, there was an indoor bath on the main floor, and two outdoor baths out behind the hotel, one right on the shore of the inlet. We went up to our room, and changed into these brown yukatas they had laid out for us. We brought a couple of towels too, and set out.
To get to the outdoor baths, you had to go past the reception desk, out the front entrance, and then walk around the building to the back. The first bath was sort of half way down the cliff. Just at the exit to the change rooms, there was a winding stairway leading down to the other bath. There was a beautiful view of the ocean stretching out in front of us and a little tree covered island not far off shore.
"Wow!" Namie exclaimed. It was so beautiful. Off to the left and right, you could see the roads heading north and south along the coast, and behind us, just above, there were trees blocking the view from our hotel. Namie looked at me kind of nervously. She gestured toward this multi-story hotel just off to the left.
"Do you suppose they can see us?"
"No," I said, trying to reassure her. It was fairly close though.
We followed the stairs down further, and soon found the other bath. As I suspected, there was no one there. It was kind of shaded under this overhang with a wooden fence on the far side, but it was right on the ocean. There were a couple of fishing boats anchored out in the inlet. Namie scrunched up her face. I looked out straining to see.
"There's no one on the boats," I pronounced. "Fishermen must use them in the summer."
Namie squinted out at them, and she couldn't see anyone either. It was a beautiful day out really--not a cloud in the sky.
The change rooms were up by the other bath, so we walked back up. I looked around again at the roads and the other hotel, a little bit worried that someone might be watching. Namie looked worried too, but I mused that it should be OK. Actually, I wasn't so sure, but anyway, I wanted to try. I went into the change room, and got undressed. Namie soon caught up, and started changing too. I smiled at her, happy to try another bath.
I felt a bit nervous when I walked out naked to the entrance. We ended up crouching down, so that the people on the highway or in the other hotel wouldn't notice us. There were handheld shower heads on the deck, so we quickly showered off, and rushed to get in the bath. It was deliciously warm. After we'd soaked there for a while, I said,
"Let's go down to the other bath."
I got out, and headed over to the stairs naked, but Namie balked.
"Where do you think you're going?"
OK, maybe it was a bit crazy to wander around naked. There were all these cars going by on the highway, and standing out here in the open they could probably see me. I was too excited to worry about that though. I was here to have fun!
"Come on! Let's go," I said, motioning for her to follow. I took the rubber band off my wrist, and tied my long black hair back in a ponytail. I looked over at the hotel wondering if they could see me. I felt so charged up. This was great!
Namie finally got out of the bath, and wrapped her towel around her.
"Aren't you going to bring your towel?" she asked anxiously. I glanced at it, but I didn't really want to cover up. This was too much fun.
"That's OK. Just leave it," I giggled.
Namie gave me a dirty look, but anyway, she followed me down the stairs. I was actually kind of proud of myself for being so daring. There were hundreds of people driving by, and who knows how many more in the hotel. Even so, I felt nervous. There were high bamboo fences, so no one could see us most of the way down, but we couldn't really see where we were going till we got to the bottom. When I first stepped out, I felt this sudden rush of embarrassment. The fishing boats were still there, and we could hear men's voices. I suddenly realized that the fence along the left side was all that was separating us from the men's bath. Even worse, the posts of the fence were spaced a bit apart from each other, so you could see through.
Namie took off her towel, and slid into the water. I knew I should probably hide too, but I was wondering who all was in the men's bath. Namie kept gesturing for me to get down, but I waded into the pool, and padded over towards the fence. There were men there, three that I could see, maybe in their thirties. They were sitting deep in the water, so all I could see was their heads, but they looked pretty handsome. Suddenly, they stopped talking, and looked over this way. I hid in the water wondering if they'd seen me. Namie glared at me, upset.
"Hello," one's voice rang out. "Is there anybody over there?" They had seen us. I felt a shiver run up my spine as our eyes met. Namie was gesturing for me to keep quiet, but I couldn't hold back my curiosity.
"Hello," I called back. "How's the water over there?"
"Nice and warm," one called back. "Would you like to come over, and join us?"
Namie shook her head no. I thought the whole situation was kind of funny though--all five us sitting here naked. I decided to tease them a bit.
"I don't know. The woman's bath is nice enough. Is that one any better?"
"Why don't you come over, and find out?"
Who knows if they were serious, but anyway, Namie was freaking out, so I let it go.
"Maybe next time," I said.
"Or we could come over there?" The one who talked the most stood up, and waded over to get his towel. I could see his rear end, quite muscular. Namie was starting to freak out, so I moved back from the fence, and got ready to get out too.
"No, no. Don't bother." I got up out of the bath, motioning to Namie that we should go. The three of them were peeking through the slats trying to get a look at me. I was getting all excited, but anyway, once Namie got her towel on, we made a dash for it back up the stairs. I don't think they were really planning on coming over, but it was probably better not to risk it. Once Namie caught up, she yelled at me for teasing them,
