00:00:11 John Daub: We're live! Here we are at the Enoshima Island Spa. Shoulder to shoulder. This is Mount Fuji in the background. Your eyes are not deceiving you. We have a beautiful view here sitting at the fourth-floor restaurant, Island Grill. A hawk will fly by any minute. We have birds flying by, fish in the sea, Mount Fuji in the distance, beautiful colors to the Pacific Ocean. If you went straight behind us, you'd get to Hawaii. You have to swim very far though. It's a long, long ride.

00:00:54 John Daub: So over the next month on the Only in Japan main channel and on this channel, we're having a lot of bath episodes. I went to Fukushima and spent seven days doing onsen (hot spring) tours, and I have one video for the Tokyo Center Association. Today we were at the Enoshima Island Spa and got a chance to look at the amazing pools and onsen and wear a bathing suit in it. I thought that was really interesting. It's unique. Why can you wear a bathing suit here and not at other places?

00:01:29 John Daub: Traditionally most places you go will only have the hot spring and if it's only the hot spring you go in with no clothes. Whereas this is a full day spa. We have a whole floor of pools. So the pools obviously where you bathe in the suit, you can go in with all your friends and anybody. It's not gender separated. But the hot spring part is, again, you have to be naked.

00:01:50 John Daub: Yeah, I always wondered why the hot springs, you had to be naked. In general. And why, I mean, I can understand. The pools, yeah, a pool is a pool. We wear the bathing suit. That's what we do in the West. If we went to a bath and there were other people around, we would still wear the bathing suit.

00:02:10 Ruth Jarman: I think it's traditionally in Japan, it's a way to create a community. Like you go into the ofuro (bath) with your family or with your community. So maybe you've shown people some sentos (public baths).

00:02:26 John Daub: Sentos are like places in the community, in the neighborhood where everybody goes to say hi to each other. It has nothing really to do with wearing clothes or not wearing clothes.

00:02:43 Ruth Jarman: A lot of families take a shower with their young children. So that's the culture here. Kids see their parents naked. So I don't think there's any kind of feeling of awkwardness about being naked. You'll be surprised when you go to like one of these hot spring places and you have no clothes on at all. No one really looks at you. Nobody really notices. It's perfectly natural.

00:03:06 John Daub: That's an expression I want to teach you that you've seen on the show before. Hadaka no tsukai ai (naked communication). Meaning we're all equal when we're naked. So when we're inside of a bath, it doesn't matter if you're the CEO of a major company, the prime minister of Japan, or just me or some guy with a transit ape walking the street. When you're in an onsen or you're in a bath in Japan and you're naked, you're the same as everybody.

00:03:35 John Daub: But when you have a bathing suit, maybe things change. You might have a stylish bathing suit or it's sort of suspensory. When you're naked, you have nothing to hide basically.

00:03:43 Ruth Jarman: You know what I like about it is I think that a lot of women have problems with their body image. Probably men do too. But when you go to the hot spring and you see all these women completely naked in front of you, you realize everybody has the same parts and everybody's just a little bit different. And you come to appreciate all the different ways that the body is made. And you actually feel more confident that you might not be the same person in the magazine. But everybody's so different. Nobody fits that perfect shape.

00:04:11 John Daub: When you're naked, hey, you can't hide anything.

00:04:16 John Daub: So we're going to transition. This is my transition on a livestream. Tattoos in Japan. At this Enoshima Island Spa, you can't have tattoos or body art. The reason for this spa is because this was originally like a members-only, very exclusive club. So all the members, there's about 350 members here, have signed a contract that says no tattoos. That's why this spa can't allow people with tattoos that live in regular public. But in general, I think in Japan, you know, it sounds kind of cliche to say it's a traditional thing. It's part of the culture. But truly is. It's just the historical adversity to seeing a tattoo. It has nothing to do with the body art. It's just something that might change going forward. But for now, a lot of Japanese people feel uncomfortable. It's the image.

00:05:13 Ruth Jarman: Do you have any tattoos? No. I don't have any body art yet. But, you know, this could change. I might get something small that, you know, a freckle. Oh, look, that's a tattoo. But it's not.

00:05:28 John Daub: But I think you have to think of it from the business point of view. If the establishment, it has a customer base that is afraid of something. You can't allow that in or else you're just not going to be able to have businesses. So I really feel like that Japan will eventually change because the world is changing. But the way Japan will change is very Japanese style, that the whole country will change at once. It's very hard to be like one place that changes. That's the group mentality in Japan. It'll probably be like the onsen association, the hot spring association says, all right, from tomorrow tattoos are okay. And suddenly everything's fine. You know, the culture is changing. Outside of Tokyo, probably where it starts.

00:06:12 John Daub: What I've realized with the Tokyo sento, the public baths, they're 380 yen to go in, 460 yen I think. But 99.9% of the sento are tattoo friendly now. So they've made an effort really. And this is something that everybody should know. If you go to a public bath in Tokyo, it's about 460 yen and tattoos are okay. Meaning, go ahead, show it off, nobody cares anymore. And that's changing, that's changed here in Tokyo. Mainly because people weren't going to the sento when they want to attract more foreign visitors.

00:06:50 John Daub: I mean, let me put it to you this way. If David Beckham, LeBron James, Angelina Jolie came to Japan, they would be like, oh, I'm going to go to Tokyo. If they came to Japan and they couldn't go to the bath, what an international incident that would be. Would you say no to David Beckham?

00:07:08 Ruth Jarman: I wouldn't.

00:07:11 John Daub: Hey, man, come on in the bath. I don't care about your tattoo. But the great thing about Japan is that, you know, policies are strictly enforced until somebody decides that it all changes and then immediately it'll all change. We used to be able to smoke in the train. Do you remember that?

00:07:25 Ruth Jarman: Yeah. They used to have, they still have smoking cars, right? But on the regular JR train. People would stand in the train just smoking away at night. How long have you been here?

00:07:36 John Daub: I've been here 30 years. But then it was like a week later, they changed the rule and now nobody can do it and no one complained and it's like, oh, well, the rule changed. People in Japan, they follow the rules. When the rule changes and that's the rule. So right now the rule is for most of the private onsens and many, some of the public ones that they just don't want to have tattoos because it's bad for business. The perception is changing though. And I'm seeing it, especially with this generation. The younger generation, which is sort of changing things like saying, you know what? We don't care about tattoos. In fact, we're going to get them. And how do you say no to a generation of people that are getting tattoos? And a lot more Japanese are doing that. And the reason people get tattoos is more like self-expression, body art. It used to be a message, a different kind of message. Whereas now people are understanding the concept of it's a way of self-expression. It's body art, you know? So I do think things are going to change, but might take a little while longer.

00:08:42 John Daub: The rules are always changing in Japan. What you see in a guidebook now that was printed 10 years ago probably is not going to be the same in 2020 when the Olympics come. My prediction is by 2020, it's going to be tattoo friendly. At least almost all the places. Public places can make their own rules, but almost all of the onsen will be tattoo friendly.

00:09:10 Ruth Jarman: I have a friend of mine who has anime tattoos. They're not scary at all. In fact, they're really cute and I like looking at them when I'm in the bath. And I would like to see more of them, but can't because they're not allowed. Yeah. Sorry, Simon and Martina. Shout out to them. They got tattoos.

00:09:25 John Daub: So transition one more time. Mount Fuji. So tell me a little bit about Enoshima Island Spa.

00:09:30 Ruth Jarman: The hot spring water is from 1500 meters below the ocean. Deep.

00:09:41 John Daub: You want to hear something really cool, which I did not know. That most of the hot spring places in Japan, the volcanic water that is coming up is so hot, they have to add water to cool it down so people can go in. Whereas this water that comes from under the ocean, you can imagine, it's not boiling hot. So they basically don't have to cool it down by putting in regular water. So it's not diluted. So when they say natural hot spring, it really is natural hot spring. And it tastes a little salty.

00:10:12 Ruth Jarman: I tasted that.

00:10:14 John Daub: Because Ruth, you told me that you have to taste it. So I was like, can I taste this? Like people's naked bodies have been buried. Salty. But is it from the sea or from something else? But yeah, it was, there's a slight saltiness. So I know it is, it is coming from the sea. It's coming from the sea everybody. But I really liked this location because it's, I mean, Hakone is people's image of coming to Japan and sitting in a bath and looking at Mount Fuji is Hakone. And this is not Hakone. So I would say that probably this is the only place where you can be on an island looking at the ocean, Mount Fuji, in a natural hot spring in Japan. And this is, from an island to see Mount Fuji doesn't happen very often. This is an actual power spot island.

00:11:06 Ruth Jarman: We're here every day so. You work here every day. She works here every day.

00:11:20 John Daub: Tell me a little bit about the history of the Enoshima Island Spa. Has this been here for a long time or is it new?

00:11:26 Ruth Jarman: It's been 13 years.

00:11:31 John Daub: And so the reason they wanted to do it here is because this is a power spot. And so they have like, it's supposed to heal you. The view is supposed to heal you. The hot spring is supposed to heal you. The food is all locally sourced food. The food is supposed to heal you. You're supposed to be able to do a little exercise here. That's supposed to heal you. So this is supposed to be like many ways to get healed at this place. I'm feeling healed right now looking at this view. This is a beautiful view. And this looks like some of the ukiyo-e (woodblock print) art. I know the famous one with the wave crashing down with Mount Fuji in the background. I think it was taken from here it seems like.

00:12:08 Ruth Jarman: Well, this is actually, I'm not sure if this is one of the spots, but you know they have the 53 Stations of the Tokaido. There's one in Hodogaya. And when you look at the ukiyo-e prints, you'll see a lot of prints that have Fuji-san in the back and look like Enoshima is somehow involved.

00:12:25 John Daub: Very cool. I'm glad that I came out here. I actually needed a break. I needed to stop to just relax and this has been perfect. If you want, take a look at the last livestream that I did. I actually went into the baths and walked through a waterfall with the camera. Very dangerous. Don't do that at home. And you know what? I'm impressed with this. This is the first time I've ever been, I've been in Japan almost 20 years, 20 years this year, and I've never been to Enoshima. And this has been my introduction to this amazing island. So thank you very much for bringing me around. What else do you have here? I know this is a pretty cool restaurant. Oh yeah, okay. So this is the Island Grill restaurant. This is probably the most swag restaurant on the island. It's like super swag. Lots of seafood, like you can get raw seafood and stuff here. Really good. I like it raw. And then the orange juice. And we have awesome Japanese beer here too. Extra cold. I wanted to drink one in the bath.

00:13:28 Ruth Jarman: Can I just show you quickly the treatment room? Because it's really special. It's called Benten treatment. Benten is the goddess. Remember I told you about her? On the bridge. We did a livestream walking across the windy bridge. She's the goddess of anything that flows. So water intelligence is supposed to flow.

00:13:47 John Daub: This whole spa was actually created around the Benten clinic. Not the clinic, the Benten spa. So this is where you get treatments. Wow, it looks really like regal in here. It's very, very beautiful. Hello. So this is where you need to make an appointment. You can actually make an appointment when you arrive, if they have space available. So this is where you come in. The therapist will ask you about like how you're feeling today. Hello therapist. And what kind of oil you'd like to use. So you smell the different—it's aromatherapy, right? Oil massage. And you get to wait in this little room here. Look at those plush sofa chairs. It's like a bar.

00:14:47 Ruth Jarman: And I got to show you a room. Which one shall we see? This theme is lily. And this, I think this one is done in the Bali theme. So this is where you take your treatment. So if you want to, you can end up taking a shower. You can bathe yourself. It's very private. This is the really special one. We have a lot of pregnant women that come to get a massage therapy, and this room is built especially for them. They have a special pregnancy therapy thing, and I'm pretty sure if I'm not mistaken, there's a hole in this tatami mat. So someone could like... You can put your baby to be inside. There is a hole. Or maybe they might do it from the side, but it's just a beautiful room. And so sometimes somebody like in the US for their girlfriend in Japan will give them a free gift certificate for a treatment. That's one of the good things about this spot too, these special rooms where you can get a treatment. It's not expensive. Like a 90-minute treatment, I think it's 15,000 yen.

00:16:55 John Daub: So that's like 150 bucks for 90 minutes. That's not bad at all. That's pretty good. I would love to just go all out and spend an entire week here. That's really cool that they have special rooms for pregnant women, special rooms for lily. There's like five or six rooms here. And then this is good, because this would be like the aromatherapy oil massage, where you're just wearing little underwear during it. But then they have another floor where you have the dry massage, where you actually can wear your little pajama clothes. So for men, a lot of men like that one better. Dry doesn't sound good to me. Aroma therapy is really good.

00:17:48 Ruth Jarman: And then after you're done with your treatment you come over here and you have a little fruit and some nice tea. And this is the other side of the building so you actually see back into... Look at that you can see the marina from here. Oh that's the bridge we walked across. The bridge of wind. And it doesn't look so tough from up here. And you can see the marinas down here some boats coming by. If your feet are tired from walking around Enoshima they have the ashi yu (foot bath) down there the hot spring foot bath outside and you can sit there and anybody can sit there. You do have to pay something and you get like a coffee. But you don't have to pay to go to the restaurant. So if you wanted to go to that beautiful restaurant we were in you just walk in it's you don't have to pay the 3,200 yen.

00:20:20 John Daub: You know live streaming is fun and all that. I love you guys out there, but I don't want to have camera on. Oh here you can go down into the pool. Look at that. Oh yeah, that's the dome from the top of the pool from before on the other live stream you can see down in there. Yes, that's where they had the laser show. Oh and the people down there aren't naked they're wearing bathing suits. Don't strain your neck people. The place is pretty well hidden, it's inside. Yeah, sometimes it's not a good thing to see people naked. Oh here's the, we'll show you what the, what Mochi did. Pretty right? See I can zoom in here, yeah. Right there. Boom. Happy New Year. Ah 2018. Can you believe it? And then we come right in and then you enter the restaurant and boom you have a view like that. It's just really amazing place. And they've been here for 13 years. Yeah and it's a power spot.

00:21:24 Ruth Jarman: Thank you John. This is Ruth Jarman.

00:21:28 John Daub: Alright, well thank you very much Ruth. And thank you guys for coming with us to visit the spa cause we're all waiting to see you. Especially if you're not in Japan right now, please come to Japan. I've been saying that all day, I've been telling you this for years. Why aren't you here in Japan right? Japan is ready for you, we want to welcome you, it's a safe, it's a beautiful, it's a delicious place to be. Ruth is an ambassador to Japan, ambassador for tourism here. Show off how beautiful Japan is. Thank you everybody for watching this question and answer livestream. I hope we answered some of your questions about you don't need to be naked here, you can have a bathing suit. I like that about this place, it gives you options for families I think that are really good. It is fun to cross that bridge of wind. And yeah you know chillax at the restaurant, we're gonna have an orange juice. So I wanna say thank you everybody for watching these three livestreams from Enoshima Island Spa. Have a great day wherever you are in the world, great night. Return this camera around, get more Mount Fuji. That's what you want right? Enjoy, this is your time. You watched it, you enjoy it.