it's sento time!

 

You may have never heard of a sento and I wouldn't be surprised unless you've been to Japan...Because if you have you would notice they are everywhere: we have one in walking distance of our house and a few others in walking distance of my soccer practice.

Now you're probably wondering what a sento is. A sento is a public bath, unlike an onsen which is a public bath (usually outdoors) heated by natural hotsprings. And before you're all "Public bath?? C'mon man that's nasty!" I want to tell you that it's actually not nasty at all. In fact, it's one of the cleanest things you'll do. Also, it is gender segregated, so don't worry. 

When we were going for the first time, I was very skeptical and didn't want to do it, but I'm really glad I did because to my surprise it was the best bathing experience I've ever had. When you take a bath at home, you make the bath and you get in and bathe in your own filth and grime. But not at sentos. When you get there, there's a few rows of shower heads and faucets on the wall. The heads are very low, so you have to sit on extremely small stools and throw buckets of water on yourself. You clean and scrub as much as you can before you get into the bath because if you take even the tiniest bit of soap or dirt into the bath it's SHAMEFUL. 

When you do finish washing and rinsing off and get in a bath, there's usually a few different ones to choose from: a scalding hot bath, a less scalding hot bath, a warm bath that's sometimes actually green tea, an icy cold plunge, an electric shock bath, and a suffocating sauna (ok, not really a bath). None of us have tried the electric one because it seems like a bad idea and also we're too scared. We stayed at the Hotel Dormy Inn in Tokyo and at that sento they had these projections of koi fish swimming on the wall, so you could chill and watch the fishes. I know a lot of people probably have mixed feelings about bathing in public but I promise it's actually not awkward at all for some reason. 

Anyway, I love sentos and onsens, and it's going to be hard coming back home without them. The one by our house isn't very fancy, it has these big florescent lights on the ceiling, but somehow it's still quite relaxing.

Photos aren't allowed in sentos, for obvious reasons...so here are some drawings to explain how to sento:

Take off shoes and leave them in the front room. 

Pay the bills (it costs about 400yen or $2.50 per adult, about $1.50 for a kid).

 

Find the right room (you want to make sure you don't go into the wrong gender bath). Find a locker and basket and undress. No swimsuits, underwear, clothes or towels allowed in the bathing area! 

 

Grab a stool, bucket, washcloth, soap and shampoo and shower off good before getting in the bath. Don't forget your locker key!

 

Enjoy!