Skinship
Skinship is an
English word coined in the
1940s by the
Japanese, initially to describe the closeness between a mother and her child due to the physical contact of their naked skin. Contemporary use of the word includes the close relationship that develops between friends or coworkers when they share their nakedness at an
onsen or
sento, stripping away the social construct that would otherwise differentiate them as boss and employee or senior and junior.