“Watch it.” He grinned. “I tickle back.”
“Not now, we have bathing to do.” I laughed. “What exactly is an onsen anyway?”
“I think it’s like a combination of a sauna and a hot tub—but natural.”
“Hm, sounds perfect.”
We made our way to the onsen and were greeted by a woman behind a desk. When she saw us she shook her head.
“No, no.”
“No?” I looked down at my bathing suit. Was she trying to say that I was too big to wear it?
The woman pointed to a sign which had the rules of the onsen printed in both Japanese and English. The first one read, “No towels and no bathing suits.”
I stared at it for a moment, then looked over at her. “Are we supposed to wear a robe of some kind?”
“No.” She waved her hands. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? We’re supposed to be naked?” I looked over at Max. “Did you know about this?”
“No, I’m in my bathing suit too. But let’s just do it. It’ll be fun.”
“No way, I’m not getting naked in a public place.”
“It’s a bath. And I’ll be naked too.”
“That’s tempting. But no. I’m going back to the room.”
“Really? It’s a natural hot spring, full of minerals straight from the earth. What could be better than that?”
“Not being naked in a public place—that’s what. I think I’ve had enough exposure for the day. But you enjoy yourself, Max—and let me know how it is.” I met his eyes. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Not at all, as long as you don’t mind me going for it.”
“Absolutely not. Enjoy yourself. I’m glad that you’re comfortable enough to do it.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in a little while.”
I watched as Max walked away through the blue curtain, then I turned around to walk back to the room.
Chapter 7
The further from the onsen—and Max—I got, the less certain I was that I’d made the right choice. This was the last leg of my book tour, and soon we’d be celebrating the one-year anniversary of our marriage.
Was I really going to be so self-conscious that I’d miss out on an experience like this with Max? It seemed ridiculous to miss out on something so unique to Japan, all because I didn’t want to be naked. If Max was comfortable with it, what did I have to be scared of? We might even be the only ones in the bath.
After a few more steps, I turned around and marched right back to the desk. The woman was no longer there, so I decided to catch up with Max. I ducked through the blue curtain and found a locker room on the other side.
“Max?” I didn’t see him anywhere, but there was a pile of towels available. Wouldn’t Max be surprised when I joined him?
I stripped down as fast as I could and wrapped one of the towels around me. Then I made my way through the locker room to another door. I could feel the heat as soon as I touched it.
When I pushed open the door the warm moisture greeted my mostly exposed skin. I began to relax right away. Before me was a large steaming pool. I spotted Max relaxing at the edge of the circular bath. Only, he wasn’t alone.
There were several other men in the pool with him. That made me even more uncomfortable. But I was already there—naked—and Max looked so relaxed. I wanted to share that experience with him.
After taking a deep breath, I pulled off the towel and walked toward the bath. As soon as one of the men noticed me approaching, he began to shout in Japanese. Soon all the other men in the bath noticed as well and they began to shout and splash too.
I was horrified as their shock—and slight anger—that seemed to be directed at me.
Okay, my body wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t something to get so upset about.
Max jumped up and turned to see me standing before him stark naked. “Oh no, Sammy.” He closed his eyes and shook his head.
“What?” I was too shocked to even pick up my towel.
“No, no! No, no!” The woman from the desk burst into the bath and began to shout at me as she made her way quickly across the room.
Though it was the same word over and over again, the varied inflections got her point across. I scrambled for my towel and wrapped it around myself.
“I’m sorry, Sammy, the baths are separated by gender. I didn’t know either,” said Max.
The woman grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the door, while continuing to berate me with her emphatic repetitive words. “No, no, no!”
I was so embarrassed that I had to blink back tears. Not only had I made a big mistake, I’d flashed a group of men that had no interest in looking at my body. I’d probably traumatized them for life.
By the time the woman escorted me back into the locker room and out into the lobby, I was sure that my best bet was to pack up and leave Japan as fast as possible. Would I be arrested for indecent exposure? Would I be fined? Would I face the ridicule of an entire nation?
The woman sighed and held up her phone. On it played a video in English that described the rules and ritual of the onsen, including the gender separation. By the time the video was over, I felt more educated, but just as embarrassed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’m just going to go back to my room.”
She shook her head and smiled. Without another cross word, she walked me through the red curtain on the opposite side of the lobby and I was soon in the women’s locker room.
Again I hesitated. Did I really want to go through with this after such a terrible mistake? Shouldn’t I be worried about what else I might do wrong?
I thought about how brave Max was and how easily he’d settled into the bath to relax. Maybe this was one of those issues that I needed to face. So what if I’d made a mistake? I probably wasn’t the first one to do it. Having a genuine experience was worth a try.
After I pushed open the door to the bath area, I followed the directions I’d learned from the video and washed myself completely before I entered the water.
There was one other woman in the bath. She rested with her eyes closed, close to a large rock wall. Water cascaded down the wall, creating a peaceful sound.
Drawn in by the sound, I slipped into the water as well. The heat relaxed my muscles as soon as I sank in. Until that moment I hadn’t realized just how tense I’d been.
Chapter 8
I took a deep breath and sank a little deeper into the water. Soon it didn’t matter to me that there were another woman in there with me, or that I’d made a fool of myself by going to the men’s side of the onsen.
All that mattered was the way the water drifted against my skin and the warmth of the steam that caressed my face. Any anxiety I’d carried into the bath with me quickly disappeared. My life began to unfold before me in my imagination.
Max and I would have a wonderful anniversary dinner. We’d return home, perhaps look for a new house, maybe start on a new book or a side project. The sky was the limit. But I had to admit, that thought was a little scary.
Trying to live without parameters made me crave parameters. Oftentime, since I’d launched my new career, I yearned for someone to sit in a big office with a name placard on the door. His only purpose would be to tell me what to do next. It was the very thing I’d always wanted to escape, and yet my logical mind constantly asked for it.
I thought about what that meant. Was I so brainwashed by tradition that I couldn’t embrace my freedom? Did I gain some kind of peace from not having to question, to wonder, to be fully responsible for my future?
After some time considering this, I realized that I’d been in the bath for quite a long while. I eased myself out of the water and headed for the locker room. Instead of worrying about whether my bottom jiggled, or my thighs flapped, I remained focused on why I felt the need to be told what to do.
Once I was dressed and out of the locker room, I found Max outside seated on a bench.
“I thought you might never come out.” He laughed. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Once I was in the right place—yes.” I smiled. “And you?”
“Very much. It was a bit of a surprise to go nude, but there was something liberating about it.”
“I thought so too. It was very relaxing. I’m shocked that I felt so comfortable with it so fast.”
“I’m glad you did. I was worried that after that woman escorted you away you would go hide in the room.”
“I’ve grown.” I grinned, then looked down at my thighs. “In more than one way.”
“Stop it, you look beautiful.”
“Thanks, Max. So do you.”
“Oh, I know.” He brushed his hair back from his eyes and flexed his arms. “I have to keep my hot bod since I’m with the most amazing woman in the world.”
“Sure.” I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t resist a light pinch of his biceps.
Once we were back at our hotel, a little nervous flutter returned to my stomach. Was I really ready for this book signing? Sure, I’d gotten over a few embarrassments, but that didn’t exactly boost my confidence.
“I called for a taxi. It should be waiting for us.”
“Great. I’m just a little nervous that there will be a big language barrier.”
“You’ve done book signings in a lot of different countries. They’ve all gone great. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“You’re right. Do you think I’m dressed up enough, though? I want to come off as refined and conservative.”
“I think you look very nice. But you will need shoes.” He pointed to my feet.
“Oh, right. Let me see.” I sorted through an assortment of shoes. “Why can’t I find any matches? How is this possible? Ugh. I can only find my heels. I’m going to be even taller.”
“Sammy.” He rubbed my shoulders as I stood back up. “You’re going to look perfect no matter what you wear. I’m sure the rest of the shoes are around here somewhere, but we haven’t had much of a chance to unpack. Can you just wear the heels tonight?”
“Yes, I can.” I slid them on my feet. “Alright, let’s go.” I wrapped my hand around his.
Having Max with me always made me feel more excited about what was coming next. It was easy for me to embrace an audience when I knew that he had my back.
In the taxi on the way to the bookstore, Max shared some updates with me about the website and a few comments I’d received.
“The most frequent ones are about the next book.”
“I guess I’ll have to buckle down when we get home and start working on it. I’ve just been a little wiped out from all the travel.”
“Don’t think about that until we get home. I’m really looking forward to our anniversary.”
“Me too.” I looked over at him in the illumination of the streetlights and was reminded of just how lucky I was. “It’s funny. I thought we’d really have a hard time with this book tour. I mean, if you want to test a marriage, then throw in business and travel, right?”
Max squeezed my hand. “Honestly, I thought it might be a challenge too. But I think it’s brought us closer. Don’t you?”
“Yes. And the memories that we have—some couples never even get to leave the country, but we’ve seen and done so much during this tour. That’s so valuable to me.”
“And we’ll have plenty of pictures to show the little ones.” He glanced over at me.
“Little ones?”
“You know—kids. One day, I mean.”
“Oh.” I smiled at the thought. “Yes, you’re right. We’ll have lots of stories to tell. We won’t need to read bedtime stories, we can just tell the tales of the book tour.”
“Some of them.” He chuckled. “We might have to wait until they’re older for the rest.”
“Good point. Maybe we can rate them somehow.”
“That would take a while.” He laughed. “Good thing we have plenty of time.”
“Yes, good thing. Maybe after the next book is done.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged.
Chapter 9
The taxi pulled to a stop right next to the bookshop. I stepped out and onto what I thought was the curb. It had been a while since I’d worn heels and instead of clearing the curb, I snagged the heel of my right shoe on the edge of it. I heard a crack and knew what had happened right away.
“Oh no, I broke my heel.”
Max grabbed my arm to help steady me.
“Now I’m going to be lopsided.”
“Try not to worry about it. I’m sure you’ll be behind a podium. Maybe Yuki will have an extra pair laying around.”
“Max, Yuki has to have very tiny feet! I haven’t seen feet my size the entire time we’ve been here!”
“Just relax.” He escorted me to the door and opened it for me. “It’s too late to do anything about it now.”
“That’s true.” I hobbled through the door.
Distracted by my broken heel as I tried to push it back into place, I walked inside without paying much attention to what was in front of me. When I bumped into something, I drew back and apologized automatically.
“So sorry, excuse me.” I stared into wide eyes and a wide-open mouth. As I took another step back I realized that I hadn’t bumped into a person. I’d bumped into a cardboard cutout that closely resembled me—only it was an animated version with a voluptuous body type in very little clothing. “What is this?”
“Do you like it?” Yuki grinned as she walked over to me. “A fan made it for you. I thought it would really give a fresh vibe to the book signing.”
“Oh, I like it.” Max sidled up next to it. “Take a picture, Sammy. I want this to be a poster on my wall. Or better yet…” He glanced over at Yuki. “Do we get to keep it?”
“Sure you can.” She patted its cardboard shoulder. “She’ll be all yours when the book signing is over.”
“But—uh—well.” I stared into the eyes of the animated me. “Don’t you think this might frighten off some of the audience?”
“Not a chance. Should we get a picture with you beside it?” She held up her camera and waited for me to move into position. “Ready?”
I stood awkwardly beside the cutout and nodded.
“Sammy, you look so stiff. That’s not going to fly on the blog. Relax a little.” Max smiled at me.
“Okay.” I draped my arm around cardboard me and did my best to smile into the camera.
As Yuki took the picture, a few other people that had arrived for the book signing snapped pictures as well.
I waited until everyone seemed satisfied, then walked away from the cutout. “I hope I’m not supposed to wear that outfit for the book signing.”
“Oh no.” She laughed. “You don’t have to worry about that. You look very nice.”
“Maybe we could have it made, though.” Max tugged at my hand as I walked further into the bookshop. “We could get one in every color.”
“Stop!” I rolled my eyes at him but grinned.
“Samantha, I want you to meet my mother. I’ll translate for you.” Yuki led me to a small table near the back of the shop. Behind it sat a woman who looked almost identical to Yuki but for a few stray gray hairs.
“Hello.” She smiled at me as I sat down at the table with her.
“Hi. Thank you so much for having me.”
Yuki sat down with us and translated her mother’s reply.
“We’re so glad that you could be here. Your visit has sent the shop revenue through the roof. We’re all very excited.”
“I’m excited too. Is there anything special about the book signing that you’d like me to follow or do?”
“Just be yourself. Be honest. Speak from your heart.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” I offered her my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You as well.” She gave my hand a firm shake then stood up from the table.
She was soon occupied greeting customers.
The shop itself was taller than it was wide, with shelves that reached so high that there w
ere ladders attached to get to the books. I noticed that there were also several computers set up along one wall. Just about every place in Tokyo seemed to be plugged into technology. It was both refreshing and a little daunting.
Would anything about my bathroom incident end up on the web?
Chapter 10
“Samantha, here is where you’ll give your talk.” Yuki led me to a sunken section of the bookstore.
I had some difficulty navigating the three steps down into it, but once I was there I noticed all of the fountains that surrounded the area. The way the water cascaded reminded me of the onsen.
“Have you ever done an onsen, Yuki?”
“Oh sure. Have you?”
“I did today.”
“Did you like it?”
“It was a little surprising. I wasn’t aware before I went in of quite a few of the rules.”
“Oops.” She grinned. “I know in America you go skinny-dipping all the time, don’t you?”
“All the time? No.” I stifled a laugh, thinking about number six on my bucket list. “Well, I have now and then—mostly not intentionally, though.”
“Really? I thought everyone would go for a swim in the lake with nothing on—like it’s a tradition or something.”
“No, not that I know of, but I suppose it does happen in a lot of movies.”
“The best ones! Do you know any Hollywood studs?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve never rubbed elbows with celebrities.”
“Ugh, if I was in American, I’d spend all my time in Hollywood just to get pictures.”
“Hollywood isn’t what it used to be, though a lot of people still enjoy it.”
“Please, at least tell me there are still cowboys in America.”
“Sort of. There are a lot of men that still work on ranches and they certainly look good. I’m not so sure if there are any more of the traditional western-style cowboys though.”
“Ugh, you’re breaking my heart. Oh well, I can still dream, I suppose. So are you ready for the book signing?”
“I am—well, except my heel broke.”
“Here.” She pulled a wad of gum from her mouth and held it out. “It’ll keep it steady as long as you don’t try to do jumping jacks or something.”
Sammy in Japan (Single Wide Female Travels #8) Page 3
