Hey there guys.
Ah
Here with me is Jess, from Jess and Hai's Youtube channel.
And today, I wanted to talk about nudity in Japan.
Um...
Right
It's an interesting topic... big topic!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean...
my first introduction to nudity in Japan was actually
in the onsens, or the public bath houses.
Right.
Because when I first went, I was kind of scared.
I... I mean... when I used to go into the public
umm... swimming pools in Canada,
I'd actually cover myself up so no one would see me naked.
so I was very nervous about being in this room full of naked men.
Um...
Umm... but one thing that surprised me when I did it
was that, there was actually women...
in the mens area.
Right, because at these public bath houses...
have you ever used the massage services there?
No I haven't.
And these are safe massage services by the way.
They're not anything funny.
Like you get these... uhh... like scrubs...
scrub down of your body.
Ahhh, I see, OK.
Oh, actually I have done that once, yes.
Now that I recall. Yep.
Yeah
Yeah, once I have. Uh huh.
And the only way to get into the massage place
is to walk right through the...
the changing room and to the actual bathing areas.
So there will be middle aged women walking by
with all these naked men, so that was very surprising to me.
That's interesting. Ok.
Another place I noticed... uhh... the kind of
male nudity is kind of more accepted than
female nudity is in bathrooms.
Like toilets.
Right. So, I mean, you've been to public parks? Right?
So, have you seen those stalls where
you can actually see a guy pee?
Unn...
So what did you think of that when you first saw it?
Well, I did think it was a little bit strange at first.
I guess I've kind become numb to it.
I'm used to it now so I don't really notice it so much.
But now that you've brought it up, it is something that is quite different, right.
Like the society is a little bit more sensitive towards female body image
than male body image, if that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah, actually, that makes sense.
Umm... I was kind of ahh... I mean a little nervous.
Because I mean you're in a park, and I take my kids there...
and then there's all the mothers there, and so
I'm looking around before I go pee.
Right.
Because, I mean, you're literally, if you...
get the right angle, you may be able to get a glimpse of my junk.
And...
it's not something I'm quite used to.
Yeah, yeah.
But you, you would have noticed this. In the...
female bathrooms... have you seen urinals before?
I have seen them. Yeah and I kind of assumed they were for, like, little kids.
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, yeah.
If a mother brings in their young son or something.
But yeah, I have seen them.
Yeah, yeah. So, they have urinals in the women's
washrooms for, for little boys to go.
Yeah, yeah.
Umm... so... I mean...
I guess you just wouldn't see that in Canada.
I don't know, Australia...
I can't say I've noticed that.
No, I've never seen it.
So I almost made the mistake of going into the female washroom before.
Ooohhh....
Cause I just see the urinal and I'm like "Ok, it must be the men's".
Ah, ok, I hadn't thought about that.
Cause it is usually quite near the entrance.
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
Near the sinks and stuff.
Yeah, you can see it.
Interesting. Ok.
And actually, when were talking about the bathrooms
and you know, the little boys urinals in the female bathrooms...
I realized that...
Umm, in the onsens, the public baths, they
actually... up to a certain age, kids of different genders
are allowed to go in the different baths.
Un.
Right, so...
Ah, one of the onsens I've been to they say 120cm
so there's a line on the wall...
Oh really!
Kind of like a carnival ride.
Interesting.
And if you're passed this height
if you're a little boy you can't go into the girls one or vice versa.
Ah, ok.
So...
My son Shin, he is in grade one now
and he just passed that 120cm mark.
So now he can only go into the male one.
Ok.
But have you seen little boys in the... girls one.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, it happens a lot. Yeah. You see a lot of young kids
in there with their mothers.
And yeah, I don't have any issues with that at all.
Because, you know, the young kids and...
especially, if you know, parents are going to the onsens by themselves
it's difficult to...
you know, cater, if you have a son and a daughter.
what do you do in those cases, so...
but yeah, I've had young kids actually come up to me in the onsen.
Touch me, touch my arms... in the onsen.
Oh, young boys.
Yeah, yeah.
Who would just kind of, like, ahh, foreigner...
How does foreigner skin feel?
Yeah exactly.
How does it feel?
Apparently the same, according to the...
Yeah of course the mother was like horrified that he had done this, right.
But, um, yeah, no, I don't mind like that kind of thing.
Ok.
With young, with young kids. Yeah...
So if you ever see Jess, in the onsen, it's ok to touch her.
It's ok.
Oh God!
I don't think I should have said that.
Yeah, but, you know, I'm surprised, uh, to...
so is that...
the opposite, is, is true for, for, genders
where little girls can go into the mens...
Un.
bathing areas, and...
yeah, I see it all the time. Uh...
you know, girls like 5 years old, 6 years old, 3 years old
they'll come with their fathers and they'll take them to the onsen, so...
very natural, nothing weird about it.
Yeah, yeah.
Something I thought was kind of intersting...
like, usually women are very um...
I guess their privacy is kind of protected, whether it's...
in the, in the, um, the public bathrooms
they got their own, like, place, or they got their own...
own separate bathroom that's not shared with men.
Um... or even the clothing they wear...
right, it's a lot less revealing then say in North America.
Un...
Ah, but on public trains...
it's not necessarily uncommon,
or even at the barber shop I noticed,
to have, like the, magazines, with kind of almost like soft core porn in it, right.
Right.
Right, like naked women, so...
Yep.
Yeah, yeah. It's like complete contrast, right.
You see this, kind of...
you know, the outside world is like this
and then you get inside a place like a train
or you go into, you know, even department stores
and you turn a certain corner and you end up in this
this yeah...
whole department of...
basically, like, porn, right.
And so, um...
it's really interesting how that's kind of..
accepted in Japanese society.
Like, you know, reading
you know these kind of comics or things that are quite sexually explicit
on the train, you know, and you can see that they are reading it, right.
Right.
Yeah, so...
it's quite interesting to see that contrast.
Have you ever asked any, uh, other, uh, Japanese women or men
like how they feel about those magazines, or...
Not really.
I kind of get the feeling that it's something that people
don't really talk about so much.
I don't know, have you had that experience,
like talking to people about it?
No, no, I haven't. I mean, I just... I don't... partake in those magazines, right.
Yeah
Um, the only time that I've ever done any talking is probably with my kids.
And we go to 7-Eleven, and you know there's like,
they call it the oppai section
and oppais are breasts, right. So...
cause they'll have, usually, it's like a bathing suit clad
you know, lady.
You know, uh, and, they'll be on the cover.
And they're like, "ahaha, there's the" you know "the oppai section".
And they'll laugh about it, but...
That's, that's about it.
Yeah, yeah.
Well I guess it's something, that you know, obviously kids
are seeing from a very young age
Right. So it's not..
they don't really think so much of it, right...
it's kind of just become normalized.
Ah, you know, some people read those kinds of magazines on the train.
No one really says anything about it.
Okay, uh, thank you so much Jess, for coming to talk to me about, uh, nudity.
You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
Yep, and if you want to get a good perspective on what life is like in Japan
from someone who's travelled around the world a lot...
uh, Jess, uh, how many countries have you been to?
Do you even know?
Uh, I don't really count them, but...
50... plus?
50 plus countries, so she has a good perspective of different cultures, so...
check out her and her husband's YouTube channel.
And, uh, thank you so much for watching guys.
See ya!
Bye!