Local Bath

The tradition of public baths in Japan stems from a time when most houses did not have their own bathing facilities. Nowadays, even small apartments tend to have their own dedicated bath area. However, the neighborhood public bath, or sento, has not completely died out.

I had noticed a sign for a sento just a few hundred yards from our house, and I had been meaning for months to go and try it out. I finally got around to it last week. The sign for the bath is on a small side street and points down an even smaller alleyway:

A short way down the alley was what I presumed to be the bath house itself:

Confirmation came from the water tanks and elaborate plumbing visible outside:

Inside the front door was a vestibule area, with lockers for putting valuables and cubbies for shoes. The left-hand frosted glass door had a picture of a man on it, so I went that way:

Through this next door was the reception desk, and next to that the changing area. There was no-one at the desk, and nor was there any curtain or barrier between the men's and women's changing areas, which seemed odd:

I gradually came to realize that the sento was not currently in operation, despite the fact that the front door had been unlocked. When I looked through to the bath area, I could see that none of the pools had any water in them:

So I didn't get to have my planned bath, but I did get to explore the interior of a traditional neighborhood bath house (and take photos, which would of course normally not be possible!):