Onsen scandal: "We have sinned"
 

There's an article in today's Washington Post about the onsen scandal in Japan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Oct17.html

I read about it in July or so when it first came to light. Since then I guess there has been a widespread investigation of 22,000 onsen. If you see a list of the major onsen that were revealed to have been cheating, please post the link here.

I haven't seen a list in Japanese or English, but it's a weekly topic on the news here...These articles are interesting though. Couldn't see the Washington Post article without signing up so I don't know what it said.

http://202.221.217.59/print/news/nn0...20040814a5.htm

http://202.221.217.59/print/news/nn0...20040814a5.htm

This makes me feel a little less conflicted about not going to a "real" onsen on our trip. I feel sorry about this for the Japanese people, since they really do take their bathing seriously.

mrwunrfl: Love those new pictures you posted. Esp. Yokohama Bay, Miyajima, Beppu (lots of steam! what is a "hell?") and the ballparks. Can you really see Fuji from Yokohama Bay on a clear day? And I had no idea they had cheerleaders at baseball games. I don't know if is just my computer but I can't view your page 1, and I am wondering what they look like, now that I've seen the ones of hell!

Here is a Yokohama photo that shows Fuji-san in the distance:
http://yokohama-fuka.cool.ne.jp/a256.html
There are some other nice shots of Yokohama at that site.

The "hells" in Beppu are hot springs that you visit but don't get into. The JNTO website describes them:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/RI/kyu...ppu/beppu.html

I don't know why but the thumbnails of the pics on "page 1" don't appear, but if you click on where they should be you will see the image popup. The shots are of the Great Wall at Mutianyu.

At the ballgame, everybody let go of the balloons at the same time and they went zipping all over. It was hilarious.