I shot these onsen stroll photos as a proof of concept, but liked them so much I went back and added a final component, in the fourth shot, so the stroll and outfits would make sense.
“Keep up, Junior!” says Dad (in Japanese).
Get it?
It’s tricky to make water stay in the top of an aloe plant. Also tricky to photograph and make it look like water. But that is the intent.
The big clues are all kind of buried in Japanese stuff- the word ‘onsen’ means naturally occurring hot springs, around which spa-like baths are built. Families (especially in rural areas as pictured) will often go to onsen all together for an outing or just to wash up. They wear pajama-ish yukata robes (kind of kimono-lite) like the family above.
Final piece in the puzzle is this onsen sign. It means onsen.
OK, done. Now I do some study.