I find that older women wander around the baths in Korea and Japan and don't care about their nudity at all. Younger women are more likely to be shy and hold the small towel so it covers their breasts or groin. We saw two girls who came into the bath wearing their underwear and holding towels over their breasts and both of us wondered which country they were from since you'd never see a Korean or Japanese woman doing that (clothing pollutes the baths...). There are still a few mixed gender hot springs hidden away in Japan. When I went in the Japanese men rather blatantly broke the no clothing in bath rule by dropping their towels to cover their groins, and me and a friend were the only women in there.
The holding hands thing extends across genders, though it may be dying out in the younger generations. I saw two middle aged Korean men the other night holding hands as they drunkenly walked home. I had a female Japanese friend who would almost invariably grab my hand when we walked home from class, despite us being in university.
Total strangers will scrub your back here in Korea if they see you're alone at the baths while in Japan, it's more reserved for close friends and family. Me and some friends in Japan were giving each other massages in the bath and a woman asked us if we were sisters and seemed surprised we were only friends. I've had Japanese women invade my personal space while in the bath a lot more so far than Korean women though.
And yet kissing in public very rarely happens. You can wear the shortest skirt possible, but heaven help you if you show off more than the barest hint of your cleavage. (I brought all my least cleavage showing shirts, but I'm size DD so it's hilarious how Korean men will just blatantly stare. I'm pretty certain none of them even see my face. It happened in China as well while Japanese men were more subtle about it.)
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Date: 2014-09-13 02:53 am (UTC)The holding hands thing extends across genders, though it may be dying out in the younger generations. I saw two middle aged Korean men the other night holding hands as they drunkenly walked home. I had a female Japanese friend who would almost invariably grab my hand when we walked home from class, despite us being in university.
Total strangers will scrub your back here in Korea if they see you're alone at the baths while in Japan, it's more reserved for close friends and family. Me and some friends in Japan were giving each other massages in the bath and a woman asked us if we were sisters and seemed surprised we were only friends. I've had Japanese women invade my personal space while in the bath a lot more so far than Korean women though.
And yet kissing in public very rarely happens. You can wear the shortest skirt possible, but heaven help you if you show off more than the barest hint of your cleavage. (I brought all my least cleavage showing shirts, but I'm size DD so it's hilarious how Korean men will just blatantly stare. I'm pretty certain none of them even see my face. It happened in China as well while Japanese men were more subtle about it.)