Hi, me and some friends are planning to go to Japan and my friends want to go to a mixed onsen. I agreed to go but after some research I found a site saying that males are required to be completely naked and only females can cover up? Is this true?
It depends. About 99% of onsen have separate men and women’s baths. A small number, in which both men and women can bathe, are known as “konyoku”, and yes wearing a bathing suit would be frowned upon, including for women. Women can usually wrap themselves in a towel though. A similarly smaller number of onsen are open to men and women in bathing suits. A famous example is Yunessun in Hakone.
Also, the being completely naked thing is true, but a lot of people carry a small modesty towel which they position strategically when they’re out of the water.
Well, if you’re men thinking of going to a mixed onsen in the expectation of seeing naked women, you’re almost certainly going to be disappointed. The only time women would be naked in a mixed onsen would be if they were going as a couple (or, rarely, in a group of several couples, I guess).