The Apple Bath : Girls Night Out At the Onsen

I just took the weirdest bath with three of my girlfriends.

Our region is famous all over Japan for apples. Apples show up in the most interesting places here, paying homage to our agricultural heritage. Tonight’s special at our local onsen was an “apple bath”. One would think that it meant maybe apple scented bath salts were put into the water — but not so. There were just plain apples bobbing in the water. Sitting in the bath was like sitting in a giant bobbing-for-apples bucket, only with steaming hot water instead of cold.

The apples weren’t fresh, either. We closed the place, and, by 11:30pm, the apples had taken a beating from steeping all day. Some had bite marks from where children had bitten into them.

We sat for a while, serenely getting wrinkled, surrounded by apples.

Stealthily, I threw an apple under the water.

Score!

The apple right went right under my one of my friend’s legs, shot up, and hit her behind the knees.

“Oh!” she said, startled…. and then threw one back.

Apples were soon bouncing off bodies and shooting up out of the water.

Much to all the old ladies’ chagrin, we were splashing and laughing so hard.

Crazy night. Only in Japan.

Photo Credit: Bobbing by Bravo Whiskey via Flickr.