Japanese bathhouses awash with post-lockdown customers

A man is relaxing in an indoor pool at a Japanese hot spring or onsen in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. With the lifting of a nationwide state of emergency over the virus, Japan's onsen -- large bathhouses where patrons bathe naked in a series of warm pools and tubs -- are gradually reopening. - AFP

YOKOHAMA: Masazumi Kato sighed deeply as he lowered himself into a tub at a public bathhouse in a Tokyo suburb, enjoying a return to a Japanese tradition largely off-limits during the city's Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown.

With the lifting of a nationwide state of emergency over the virus, Japan's onsen -- large bathhouses where patrons bathe naked in a series of warm pools and tubs -- are gradually reopening.