Boom, boom, boom, boom... I can feel the blood pounding in my head. My skin is bright pink all over and I'm overcome with languor. It's six degrees outside yet I can't feel the slightest hint of cold.
No, I'm not sick. I've just been to a sento, which is a Japanese public bath. Most websites or blogs about Japan have done the topic of public baths to death, but I'll do it again here... in the past, public baths used to be really common, but these days most families have baths in their own home, so they aren't as popular anymore.
Nonetheless, sento still exist, for the benefit of those without baths in their homes, or those who want to relax in a much larger bath, or go with a friend as a social activity. And of course, taking hot spring baths around the country are really, really popular holiday activities for many Japanese people.
There's a sento in my neighbourhood; for a long time I didn't know it was one, since it's surreptitiously hidden in a kind of bicycle-filled laneway. But oftentimes when I climb the stairs to my apartment, I have been able to smell a pleasant fresh smell of hot water and soap and shampoo. Finally I decided (after a bit of nervousness) to go and visit the bath for myself.
I've picked up enough about bathing etiquette in my time here to have some idea what to do. You bring your own towel and soap, go in and there are lockers for your shoes; then doors marked 'men' and 'women' (in Japanese). I went into the 'women' room and there was a sleepy-looking man sitting next to the door to collect everyone's 450 yen. He was clearly partitioned to be able to deal with both the men's and women's sides. The problem I had with this was that from his vantage point he could very obviously see the entire women's changing area. I've since read on Wikipedia that this is quite common.
Anyway, inside the changing area you put your clothes and towel in a basket, and any valuable items in a locker; the keys are attached to elastic you can loop around your wrist. Then you walk into the next room which is the bathing area.
In bigger or fancier sento, and in some onsen (hot spring baths), you may have multiple types of bath, a small garden, drinks machines, massage chairs, etc. In my small neighbourhood sento, there was none of that bling; just one big bath; one side of which had jacuzzi jets.
Before you go into a Japanese bath, though, you have to wash before you get in. You sit yourself on a plastic stool by one of the washing stations (with water taps and a shower spigot) and wash yourself by pouring water over yourself. You should be properly clean before getting in. Since the water is shared, you never use soap or other products in the bath itself. The bath's for relaxing in.
Anyway, not much else to say except that as famously advertised, these places are hot, and I'm speaking as one who loves hot springs. It was about 48 degrees, just a couple of degrees more than I find comfortable. Getting in was okay, and for the first two minutes it was lovely. The nights are really cold here at the moment, so it was perfect weather to try the sento for the first time. Then gradually my head started pounding. I managed to stay in for ten minutes; got out and doused myself with cold water; went back in and lasted three more. Kind of a poor effort really!
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