Outdoor Rotenburo without shower

We plan to do the rotenburo at Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan Ice Festival mid February. I have concern that we might catch cold since it seems there's no public shower facility offered in the area for before or after the rotenburo. After the festival, we'd catch train pretty far to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. Do you guys think it's fine not having any shower after rotenburo?

IMHO no need to ever shower after an onsen. The idea is to leave the onsen water on your skin and let it do its magic. The problem is more if there isn�ft a hairdryer or if there isn�ft a shower before entering into the rotenburo. In that case you need to strip naked and pour warm water from the onsen on you, while still outside of the onsen to wash you.

But catching a cold isn�ft trall a concern I ever had in connection with an onsen experience. It�fs kind of the best antidote.

Enjoy your rotenburo!

"Rotenburo" means "outdoor bath tub". I suppose you're talking about the •X�ã˜I“V•—˜C (roten-buro on ice) attraction at Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan, which is not an authentically traditional style onsen, but looks kinda fun.
https://kotan.jp/activity.html#spa

According to Japanese blogs, it seems that the trick is to go in an out of the tub repeatedly until you're fully warm enough to get dressed in the dressing room. Otherwise, the dressing room itself would be cold enough.
https://gurutabi.gnavi.co.jp/a/a_550/

The above blog warns you that you should avoid having your hair wet, because it's going to turn in to ice (and "make your hair stand like a rock musician," the blogger says). You are allowed to either bath naked or in your swimming suit, and the bath is basically mixed-gender although there are hours for women only and men only. An alternative is to keep your winter clothes on and dip your feet into the •X�ã‘«“’ which is the feet-only version of the baths.

So I wouldn't worry much about the lack of showers. By the way, the Japanese don't consider showers as a means of warming your body. What warms your body is the tub. People even think that showering without dipping in a tub can make you catch cold. The shower is to wash the dirt off before bathing, and wash any bacteria off after bathing. (Traditionally, you were not to rinse off the onsen substances, but nowadays the onsen association suggests you take a quick shower afterwards as well.)

On a related note, however, I once bathed in a roten buro at Shikotsu and it made me a bit sick because of the tremendous temperature difference between my head and body.

I hope you have fun, regardless!

Hi Uco,

thanks for the info. plan to bring my beanie along and wear it in the tub. hopefully i won't look funny enough. i saw people in Scandinavia having their outdoor hotspring wearing beanies but never seen anyone in Japan doing that :D

by the way, i read the blog that the writer needs 1 hour to make an ice glass. plan to do the ice carving class, wonder if we could produce something within 1hour #gasp

Hi again,

Beanie is a hat, as I understand. As we can see from the photos in the link I previously posted, it seems to be fine to wear one at the Kotan spa.

But in authentic Japanese spas, it's not practical to wear hats or any clothing at all, because the authentic spas are where you also wash yourselves. People will be there thinking, "It's not only me that is completely naked, so I don't have to be embarrassed". If you intend to wear something at other bath facilities, make sure the place accepts clothing.

Have a nice trip!

Oh yes of course. I won't wear the beanie in the ryokan or public bath as they'd have proper indoor facilities. Couldn't imagine of what people think seeing someone with a hat in such establishment :D

With that said, i normally use the small towel to cover the private area and not on the head as the Japanese :D

well, covering "private area" with small towel definitely drives attention...
I have seen japanese ladies wearing buckets upside down during rain in outdoor onsen - to keep hair-do. I found shower-cap more comfy.

Covering "private area" with a small towel is the norm, and is also an elegant way to walk around in the bathing room. But you are not supposed to dip towels into the tub, so when entering the tub, you place your towel on your head, also so that it won't get wet. If you can manage to find a place to keep your towel dry, you can put it there, but so far my head is the only place that has been working for me.