I know this has probably already been beat to death, but I don't understand why hot springs are such a prevailing theme in isekai stories. It's like, Japanese guy gets summoned to another world and there are two paths: A) "Do people have baths here?" "Yes most houses should have one, also indoor shoes for some reason" Or B) MC introduces onsen to medieval world and it's an instant hit. I understand that they are a big part in Japanese culture and it's easiest to use what you know, but there are so many things wrong with the premise that I will sometimes drop the story altogether. 1) In medieval Europe, private baths were only available for the rich and involved putting hot water into a wooden tub lined with linen, nothing like Japanese baths. 2) The geography of Europe is not conducive to creative hot springs, there is not nearly as much geological movement, so there aren't many areas where thermal vents can heat up water. 2.5) even if it's "a different world", then the entire culture of the area would be affected if they had hot springs, far beyond "we like bathing now" 3) there were religious reasons why Japanese style baths wouldn't be popular. Mixed baths were friend upon by clergy, so any public baths would be separated by gender. 4) public baths were often dens of prostitution but you never see that explored in isekai stories 5) in the late medieval periods, clothing hygiene was day more cared about that body hygiene, and people would take less frequent baths. And even when they did, they only wanted "visible" parts in public, for "not visible parts (see genitals) they would do that privately. Honestly I wish there was an "isekai onsen" tag so I could filter out these stories because it actyaact bothers me so much. It shows that the author didn't research the time period which they were writing about enough to avoid an easy mistake, and could be a sign for more problems down the line.
Ah, onsen and soy sauce, the perennial Jp MC obsessions, and how everyone whose hasn't experienced those b4 r supposed to unanimously fall 4 them, too.
In most of those stories, they are in a "different world". With magic, beast people, elf, demon, etc etc... Not medival Europe. They are inspired by medival Europe, but not exactly like that. If you want to read historically accurate novels, maybe seach tag Historical?
For a story that does isekai bathing well, i very much enjoy Isekai Konyoku Monogatari I do agree though. Most authors dont put any thought into how japanese customs may interact with an isekai world's customs and that goes beyond just soy sauce and onsens. When done well, it can be quite quaint but unfortunately most stories arent done well in that respect
Most novels tend to have the MC introduce the mixed baths to royalty, first. I know in that one Otome Gamre novel where the MC decides to become a blacksmith with the villainess, his family ran the hotsprings, so it was marginally better.
Did that continue to be translated? Or did it stop after the whole returning home and managing it for the summer break (? I think).
Ai...actually... @Wujigege over at their place was translating it last I checked. He is already living with the villainess at this point, if I am not mistaken. I dropped it due to the inconsistent release dates, though.
^ This is the most simple answer but point out the main point It's like reading those CN "fanfiction" novels about JP anime characters but those characters still retain the "you're courting death" or "cough blood" and stuffs. They don't need historical accuracy or any of that kind. They are just fantasy novels, with a medieval Europe-like world setting, not the Actual Medieval Europe period. With the main point being "Fantasy", they can do Anything they want. Food and Bath, Onsen include, like many JP stories already said, that they are one of the Definite Traits of Japanese people. So they like to introduce them to their stories. CN novels and KR novels also have their own traits in them that you can easily find in their novels.
dont seek logic where there is none. for real if its fantasy novel that didnt try to be scientific why should you think about stuff that may not work? and about indors shoes I must say im disgusted that you even question this if you go american style and go with outdors boots into home then that just sick if you take of your shoes and go with bare feet then "did you hear about fungi?" the sock probably have some problems to
Ok so I can't quote links since it's my first post Fair point, except the climate of most of not all of these stories is not cold or mountainous enough to reflect that. In addition the type of buildings depicted are more representative of French/English medieval. "... If you're going by history:" @Milanin That would be fine if Japanese bathing was anything like roman bathing. With Japanese bathing you wash your body then rinse off and then finally you soak in the heated water. There is only 1 temperature. With roman bathing you start off with the hottest pool of water, the apodyterium. Then you move onto the lukewarm tepidarium, and lastly you soak in the cold frigidarium. Typically the baths also have an area for exercise, because Romans considered exercise and bathing to go hand in hand, which is not a feature of Japanese onsens. Finally, the roman thermae were also a focal point of prostitution, to the point where some baths even had murals with pictures of the prostitutes and numbers so you could literally order "number five" (Nevermind the fact that it's a totally different time period from medieval) Except the reason I find a problem with these is that if the author puts the onsen into the story, that could suggest a general lack of research about the time period they are writing about. It would be like having full timber and stone construction in Moana. Yes Moana isn't based on any one Polynesian culture and isn't historical, but it would bring you out of the immersion. As for the shoes thing. I don't know why that's what gets you "disgusted". Do you think medieval peasants had houses sanitary enough for indoor shoes to matter? Even ignoring the fact they they didn't use them historically, they wouldn't even be effective in this case. Also, the medieval period started a full 300 years before Japan even started wearing these shoes. For some reason you seemed to be talking about modern times though? Or at least relatively modern, because you mentioned America. I promise you that you are totally misunderstanding what "American style" is. Do you think there's just dirt and mud all over the floor? If someone has incredibly dirty shoes then of course they won't track the mess inside How on Earth did you reach the conclusion that someone could get foot fungi from walking barefoot inside their home if you clean the floors. And what problems do socks have?
Since we're talking about it, let's enjoy some roman bath house nudity. No, this is art. There is nothing lewd about it.