I'm going to Japan next month, and am planning on going to an onsen (Japanese thermal bath house). I have heard that your supposed to pull your foreskin back before entering. Can anybody confirm if this is true or not?
It depends on what you mean by "supposed to." If you mean "preferred that," then the answer would be a resounding yes. If you mean "required to," then the answer would be no.
The following is my translation of a Q&A thread that has appeared on Yahoo! Japan's "chiebukuro" ("Bag of Wisdom"; the original is
here):
Question: "When you have gone to a hot spring (
onsen in Japanese), do you hide your penis? As for myself, I have a foreskin that is not retracted when my penis is flaccid (
i.e. my foreskin covers my glans;
kawakaburi in Japanese), so I am embarrassed, and I hide it, but..."
(Question posted by starrytext-san on 2008/7/29)
Best Answer: "I used to hide mine in my younger days. I have a foreskin that covers my glans when my penis is flaccid but retracts naturally when my penis becomes erect (
kasei in Japanese), so even though I would peel my glans bare, my foreskin would try to come back down over it, and that embarrassed me.
Lately, I hardly ever hide my penis. When it seems like my foreskin is about to come down over my glans, I fix it nonchalantly (LOL). You need to be especially careful when you get up and out of the bathtub/pool. My penis becomes even more soft and droopy in the warm water, and the foreskin distends to cover the glans completely, so I always make sure to peel my glans bare and then get out. However, there are quite a few people who (are so bold as to) fully expose themselves even when they have the glans covered by the foreskin (
houkei in Japanese). We're all men, so once you've got used to it, you won't be so troubled about it anymore."
(Answer posted by chinchinkoji-san on 2008/7/29)