In western Tokyo, Lake Okutama is a natural escape that offers scenic beauty, outdoor activities, and relaxing hot springs. Photograph courtesy of Okutama Tourism Association Taking the train through ...

Participants gather at the Teppuzu Inari Shrine in Tokyo to bathe in ice-cold water to purify their souls and pray for good ...

I was living in Tokyo in the 1980s when the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery came up with a new concept: shinrin-yoku, translated as “forest bathing.” The idea was to get people ...

I like to bathe in public. this inclination has so far failed to attract much attention because I live in Japan, where hot-spring hopping is a national obsession and the remarkable benefits of bathing ...