Originally Posted by
evergrn
One place with coed onsen that's pretty famous is Manza Prince Hotel. It's easy to get to from Tokyo, as I believe they still run a bus service from the Karuizawa bullet train station to the hotel. Hotel itself is a bit rundown as is the case with most Prince Hotels. However, the onsen quality there is pretty fabulous, although I've not been in their coed bath.
In the Hokkaido link I posted, the first entry is the Yunokawa Prince Hotel.
https://www.food-travel.jp/hokkaido/yunokawaonsen.html
The Manza Prince is also featured (but not in Hokkaido, obviously!)
https://www.food-travel.jp/gunma/manzaprince.html
That seems to be it for Prince Hotels - good catch, evergrn!
I’ve absolutely no interest in mixed gender bathing (although we got an absolutely lovely family bath in the Matsushima Century Hotel - were given a choice of free perks when checking in, and booking an hour was one of the options (hire charge is usually over 3,000yen an hour. Here’s a photo
https://goo.gl/images/aq4EFH ).
Am finding more non Japanese East Asian visitors in the Onsen and Sento I do frequent. Only time I ever encountered other Caucasians was in the Green Plaza in Hakone, a few young Italian ladies were entering as my daughter and I were leaving. For me, a big part of why I don’t feel self conscious is because nobody else does. Not sure how I’d feel around people who were embarrassed; emotions can be contagious. For someone aiming to lose “public bath virginity”, actively seeking other foreigners (presumably from a similar background) doesn’t sound like such a good idea to me. But that’s just my take. If they are Germans or Fins - great!