Re: URL: Hope might not spring eternal, godliness might.
Louise Bremner
> FYI (onsen, for fun)...
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40566-2004Oct17.html
>
> From the Washington Post.
If it's important, someone might quote it--I'm not registering.
________________________________________________________________________
Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!
Paul Blay
> mirror <mai...@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>> FYI (onsen, for fun)...
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40566-2004Oct17.html
>>
>> From the Washington Post.
>
> If it's important, someone might quote it--I'm not registering.
Now all we need is someone to point out that dontbugme website (or
whatever it was called) followed by somebody else stating that
they read off-line and don't follow links anyway.
Louise Bremner
Nah.... If it requires extra steps, I can't be bothered to go through
them just on the off-chance it might be worth it.
Travers Naran
> mirror <mai...@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>
>>FYI (onsen, for fun)...
>>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40566-2004Oct17.html
>>
>>From the Washington Post.
>
> If it's important, someone might quote it--I'm not registering.
Exposed, Japan's Hot Springs Come Clean
Tainted Spas Spoil a Beloved Bathing Ritual
By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 18, 2004; Page A01
SHIRAHONE, Japan -- The milk-hued hot springs of Shirahone have for a
thousand years lured legions of stressed-out Japanese, who traversed
mountain passes and paid small fortunes to wash away their troubles in the
steaming thermal baths.
But in a scandal that has precipitated a nationwide crisis of confidence in
Japan's beloved onsen, or hot spring resorts, a national magazine this
summer reported that spa owners were secretly conning their customers.
Shirahone village leaders came clean in July -- admitting they added
artificial white dyes to baths after several springs had mysteriously begun
losing their coveted natural cream color during the 1990s.
The deception created an uproar in Japan, where few things are more
cherished in life than stripping down to your birthday suit for a group dip
in scorching thermal baths. Government authorities, media outlets and
citizen groups scoured the nation's treasured 22,000 hot springs for
evidence of other cheats. Three months of investigations and at least one
police raid later, officials have uncovered fraud at scores of onsen
nationwide.
The deception seems bottomless: Some proprietors even clandestinely boiled
tap water and passed it off as coming from Japan's natural springs. The
tainted hot springs in at least 20 resort towns include several whose
waters had been celebrated for centuries in epic poems, fables and
woodblock prints.
Worse, the disclosures have stained one of the most precious and highly
developed rituals of Japanese culture -- group bathing. The affronts have
generated scathing newspaper editorials and dominated television news.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Shirahone has been forced to resign in dishonor.
More than reputations are at stake. Some fear that the resulting loss of
tourism revenue may cripple the rural economies of dozens of towns just as
Japan is emerging from a 13-year economic slump.
Already, fuming Japanese are staying away from several of the resort
villages involved, tourism officials and business owners reported.
"We have sinned," said Toru Tsuzuki, son of the former mayor of Shirahone
and general manager of an onsen that took part in the ploy. "Perhaps it is
not something a foreigner can fully understand, but we know how much the
Japanese love hot springs and how much they feel betrayed by us."
For centuries, onsen have ranked among the most bemusing aspects of
Japanese life for foreigners, whom the Japanese accuse of being unable to
take the heat. Dave Barry, the famed humor columnist of the Miami Herald,
once wrote after a skinny dip with a group of naked strangers in Japan that
the water temperature preferred by the locals appeared somewhere in the
neighborhood of "17,000 degrees Fahrenheit."
But in a hygiene-obsessed nation, where taxi drivers wear white gloves and
teenage girls sometimes carry disinfectant to spray handrails in subway
cars, such bathing is actually seen as the ultimate expression of
cleanliness. Through the portals of onsen, friends and strangers join one
another for escape from the pressures of daily life in one of the world's
most competitive societies.
In Shirahone, for instance, men and women separate, shed their clothes,
scrub their bodies raw with soap and rinse vigorously before immersing
themselves in sulfured waters. Nationwide, innovative proprietors have
created both outdoor and indoor bath themes, ranging from Hawaiian
fantasies to the bullet trains.
Bathing is frequently viewed as an act of group bonding. Even at home,
young families -- including at least one parent and small children -- bathe
together, relaxing and sharing the news of the day while submerged in a
steaming tub.
Onsen remain the highest expression of that bath culture, and such springs
are said to be curative. Nihon Shoki -- or Chronicle of Japan, the nation's
oldest official historical text -- describes a wounded snowy heron that
miraculously recovers after bathing in spring water. Today, the Japanese
insist that their springs, naturally heated by one of the most volcanically
active geographies on Earth, can ease the pain of everything from arthritis
to skin disease, as well as an especially bad day at the office.
"The Japanese people love to be clean, and our historic connection to
thermal baths dates back more than 1,000 years," said Yoshiaki Yasuda, head
of the Japan Hot Spring Society, an association of scholars who research
hot springs. "The Japanese are also a high-stress people, and we find few
things more relaxing than a hot bath. So there is almost nothing we love
more than onsen -- which is why this deception has deeply hurt us."
Hot spring resorts escaped Japan's economic downturn, which began in 1991.
The number of onsen increased 20 percent in a decade, evolving into the
single biggest slice of Japan's huge domestic tourism industry, according
to government statistics. Today, more Japanese towns rely on onsen-based
tourism than on car factories for their financial livelihoods. Top
government officials recently labeled onsen expansion as vital to boosting
domestic consumption -- still a big concern as Japan's economy emerges from
its slump.
Activist groups have set out to tighten Japan's hot springs laws and force
thermal spas to post their ingredients, both natural and artificial. "This
fraud has undermined the public trust, and the economic and emotional
damage to the nation will take some time to overcome," said Tomino Hirano,
head of an onsen watchdog group and a noted travel writer.
Nowhere is that more clear than in Shirahone, an ancient resort village
about 120 miles northwest of Tokyo nestled dramatically amid the jutting
cedar forests of the Japanese Alps.
The Shirahone public bath, which once lured 19,000 people a month, is now
shuttered, awaiting further reviews by authorities after the Weekly Post
magazine published photos of a city employee adding dyes to the water under
the headline: "Shirahone spa was colored! Don't be fooled by the onsen boom!"
The milky color was a byproduct of natural minerals that had been in
Shirahone's hot springs since time immemorial. No one is quite sure,
however, why some of the springs began to lose their ancient color -- no
scientific tests were conducted on the water to determine this. Some of the
water sources did remain milky, while others went clear.
The shame of the scandal has cast a pall on all the townspeople, most of
whom lowered their heads and spoke softly when asked about the situation.
Privately, several business owners admitted that most of Shirahone knew
about the secret white dyes, which began to become obvious almost a decade
ago when several of the local water sources began spitting up clear water
instead of the normal milky brew.
After their plot was exposed, embarrassed town officials withdrew
advertising nationwide and destroyed thousands of pamphlets and posters
promoting the doctored baths. At Ebisu-ya soba noodle shop, the owner,
Toshio Saito, said he had furloughed one full-time waitress and a couple of
part-time staffers because business was down. Inns, which typically charge
$160 or more a night, are reporting cancellations and occupancy rates that
have dropped by as much as 50 percent. They have also received letters and
e-mails from furious clients, including many demanding refunds. "People had
became so fond of that milky water -- it just cried out, 'I'm healthy! Come
here and bathe!' " said Kazuyoshi Sato, a taxi driver. "It's such a shame
it had to come to this."
The inns are trying to recover with an "honesty campaign," posting the
ingredients of their baths and tapping mainly those remaining hot springs
still producing the natural milky white water.
Tsuzuki, the son of the former mayor, hasn't given up yet.
"We know it will take some time, but we hope people will give us another
chance," he said.
Louise Bremner
> > If it's important, someone might quote it--I'm not registering.
>
>
> Exposed, Japan's Hot Springs Come Clean
> Tainted Spas Spoil a Beloved Bathing Ritual
Uh... I said "quote it", not re-post the entire article. (Copyright, you
know. Small selections are fair usage.)
But thanks, you confirmed my original feeling.
Travers Naran
> Travers Naran <tna...@no-more-virii-please.direct.ca> wrote:
>
>
>>>If it's important, someone might quote it--I'm not registering.
>>
>>
>>Exposed, Japan's Hot Springs Come Clean
>>Tainted Spas Spoil a Beloved Bathing Ritual
>
>
> Uh... I said "quote it", not re-post the entire article. (Copyright, you
> know. Small selections are fair usage.)
Quote it, repost it. It's all the same (if plagirism lawsuits are any
indication). Fine, I'll add a huge honking footnote. :-)
Also, I was too lazy to quote it. It was easier to post the whole thing.
Sean Holland
Thank you. It was very interesting.
Bart Mathias
> [...]
> Exposed, Japan's Hot Springs Come Clean
> Tainted Spas Spoil a Beloved Bathing Ritual
>
> in Japan's beloved onsen, or hot spring resorts, a national magazine
> this summer reported that spa owners were secretly conning their
私の言葉！ After all the work Abarembo Shogun et al. did to get rid of
them, there are still bad guys in Japan!