It is traditional to bathe rather than to shower here. The bathrooms in people's homes normally have a bathtub and a shower right next to it. People shower or pour water over their bodies from the filled water tub, clean their bodies and rinse before getting in the bathtub to relax and finish their bath. This is done on a daily basis. There are also onsen, or public baths, where people go to bathe in huge pools of hot water. Unlike in some countries, the public baths in Japan are generally nude baths and are separated by sex. Some water is heated naturally and drawn from hot springs in the earth, while other baths heat water the same way we heat water here. It is a strict rule that you must shower and clean your body before getting into the onsen to keep it clean. Another tradition in Japan is eating with chopsticks, which is a tradition that is common throughout Asia. I have had to learn how to eat with chopsticks, which I think is really hard.
Shinto is one of the most common and oldest religions in Japan. It's normally practiced locally, so the traditions vary in different regions. A lot of matsuri celebrating local gods and beliefs were born from these, which is the reason why there are a lot of different festivals throughout Japan. In the case of onsen, these might have become popular because how communal Japanese people are and is also connected to the environment and the natural hot springs. Chopsticks are historically the way people eat in Asia, just how in the West we eat with forks, spoons and knives. The practice of using chopsticks to eat originated in China and spread throughout much of Asia.
