There are many moments in a person’s life; moments of hilarity, moments of sadness, moments of achievement, but the moments that are the easiest to evoke are those times of great embarrassment. I had a particular moment like that. When it happened I was humiliated, but now I can look back upon it and laugh.

It was during winter time two years ago. My wife and I planned a ski trip to Yamagata and hit the slopes pretty hard the first day and didn’t get back till late. I was so exhausted from being out on the slopes all day and needed some rest before easing myself into an onsen. So I lay on the bed unable to move.

My wife, thrilled about the onsen kept pestering me to get up, to which I could only respond, “Give me five more minutes.” She replied angrily, “I want to go together! Get up! Let’s go!” I was so drained that I didn’t have the energy to argue with her, and I just lay there. She was so infuriated she left the room. About five minutes later, I did get up and started searching the halls for my wife; nowhere to be found.

So I went to the onsen bath alone and standing there I was confused by the color schemes. To the left of me was a lime colored curtain and to the left was a purple pastel curtain. I stood there dumfounded, “What the hell? Which is the men’s?”

Instinct took over and I made my way left. As I stepped into the room it was empty so I dipped my body into the tub when it occurred to me that these onsens were unisex. You remember that I was very fatigued, and I had recently seen on TV, men and women sharing an onsen bath together. It all made perfect sense.

I found the other onsen empty as well. I started to shower myself when I heard two people enter. It was two older women; I winced at my terrible mistake. I drew my knees up to my chest and kept rocking back and forth trying to figure a way out of this. The women took off their clothes and as one of them walked behind me tapped me on the shoulder to ask me something, when I turned my head she shrieked in terror. I started apologizing profusely in Japanese.

They eventually put their clothes back on leaving the room indicating that it was safe for me to dress and leave, which I did as quickly as I could. I made my way to the other onsen passing the women in the hall, but not before apologizing once more for my awful mistake.

This moment is a time in my life that I will never forget and only now can I look back upon it and laugh, but I assure you, that at the moment it happened it was anything but funny.