Anyway, Roten Buro means Outdoor bath. Why Buro, not Furo ?  Japanese pronunciation often changes in obedience to the combination of words to make us easy to pronounce.  For the Japanese, it’s easy to say Roten Buro rather than Roten Furo, so it’s correct to say Buro here.  You can’t say Buro when you simply want to say Bath, it’s Furo.

Sorry for the long prologue.

Now it’s close to Winter in Japan.  We love Onsen or Hot Springs, and we often enjoy the outdoor onsen, Roten Buro.  As photo, bath is outside and we stay there lookig at the Sun or stars.  Maybe most of us prefer night time Roten Buro to daytime.  Night time Roten Buro is more emotional and tasteful for Japanese spirit.

Often I asm asked if we feel cold there in Winter.  Yes, of course when we walk to the bath, it’s terribly cold.  But in the bath, we feel alright.  people can’t take a bath for a long time, sometimes we get fainted in a long time bath.  But in the Roten Buro, the head is cold enough to be sober all the time althought the body is always hot. That’s why we often stay longer there, and so people feel more comfortable in Roten Buro.

If you ever travel to Japan, it would be a nice experience for you too.  As a note, be careful you need to take the bath without your clothes…Naked.  So the girls need to do the same as the photo.  Please don’t msiunderstand it. Male bath and female bath are separated, so can’t join in the same bath in naked !

However,a  long time ago , we, male and female used to take the same bath.  There certainly are some public bath or onsen places where men and women take the same bath, mybe it’s hard to find but it’s up to your efforts.  Again it’s not promised to experience the mixed bath ( konyoku ) even if you find and go there because recently women don’t like it ( of course !) , also it’s so rare that people don’t choose that type.  

Maybe it’s a dream bath living in our memory only….although some still want it. 

For Hot Springs or Onsen Rryokan ( Onsen Hotel ) seach, next link is usuful.

Hotels and Travels in Japan