Bathing at the Sento in Japan

A few days ago I went with a group to the "super sento." A sento is a Japanese bath house. In the past, many homes didn't have baths, so the family walked to a community sento to get clean. Most homes in Tokyo have baths now, but sentos are still popular as a place to gather and relax. People call the sento we went to "super" because it's big and new. We all went inside and bought tickets at a special vending machine (550 yen for me), handed these over to the lady at the desk, climbed some stairs and entered the bathing area. I had my four year old daughter with me. I was nervous about bringing her into the guys bathing area (my wife hadn't come), but everyone said it was perfectly normal, so I did. First we entered a locker room. My daugher stopped just inside and took a good, long stare in several directions. I figured she needed to get that out of her system, so I just found a locker and waited for her to come running.

We put our things in the locker, passed through a semi-curtained doorway and entered the next room. To the right were rows of shower stations. We sat on the small stool in front of one and cleaned up. You do that first. Then we walked around and found four or five different baths of vary sizes and temperatures. The first one we tried to get in didn't work out (too hot for my daughter). The second was a lukewarm 34 degrees Celsius with bubbles pouring up from below. It was VERY nice. After staying there for a while, we walked through another door that went outside. On a private area of rooftop, we found another three baths and sat for awhile in one of those.

We did see several fathers with their kids, including two or three other girls (the oldest was about six). My daughter really enjoyed the time, and I did too. I was able to talk with two of the fathers. They were both friendly. In my experience, bathing at onsen (hot springs) you don't talk much. But this was more social. As a foreigner here, I notice the places where you can more easily meet and talk with Japanese (especially men), because there's a wall of reserve in most public places.

By the way, it may seem like a contradiction that people here, who hide their true selves inwardly in daily life, bathe together this way. But it's probably not so contradictory as it seems. Being naked is not considered as revealing as it is in my own culture. On the contrary, it's a relaxing, equalizing group experience. Rather than becoming more visible, you might say it's a place to become invisible. A 6'4" American isn't necessarily invisible, but I think I blended allright (with only my head sticking out of the water anyway). If you're ever in Japan to live or visit, don't miss out on this experience. You may not find a sento listed in your guide book, but regardless of where you stay, there's bound to be one or more local sento within range of where you are.

Posted by jw at October 1, 2004 06:26 PM