When I got there the place was deserted, so I doffed the gear and went through the regulation pre-immersion cleansing procedures, probably to an extent that might be labelled as obsessional to a casual Japanese onlooker, and spent a good ten minutes soaking luxuriously in a large open tub looking out towards the island we were headed to in the morning.
So far, so good.
Clambering out of the bath I moved back into the antechamber, where I dried off, and dressed. Then one of those interesting issues of etiquette hit me. You arrive with two pieces of fabric, a towel and a wash cloth that's a key part of the cleansing procedure. There was a container containing a couple of used examples of each near the door. What to do? Leave my two there? Or carry them back to the room?
When in doubt, call, and there was a handy phone, so I did, established that it was OK to carry them back and was almost out of the door when the first of the evening's bath enthusiasts entered.
Madam had ascertained there was free WiFi access in the lobby, so that was where I was bound shortly afterwards, looking to catch up on the email while she took her first extended turn in the onsen. From my seat in the lobby I could see a steady stream of gentlemen headed for the male baths, though there didn't seem to be any irate customers arriving at Reception with complaints about polluted bath water...
We were booked in for a full Japanese banquet from seven o'clock, and, much to my relief it was going to be served in the room rather than in some more formal setting, so we were back upstairs around half an hour beforehand, where I discovered the Free WiFi wasn't limited to the Lobby. That meant I had something to keep me busy in the interim.
