what is sento? >>Find Sento(Public Bath)
Sento is a public bath house. Japanese are really fond of taking a bath. Sento was born about 1300 years ago and it was said vapor bath, which means there is no water in the bath. Current bathtub style began around 1600. At the time, men and women took a same bathtub in the public bath. Therefore, Sento functioned as a social occasion. Currently, Sento has two separeted area, one for men and the other for women. Once you enter your gender area, you can see a bathhouse where you take your clothes off and put them into a locker. Usually you need to pay 100 yen coin to use a locker, but it will be back when you go out.
Go into the bathtub room. Fist of all, you'll see the wide area where people wash their body and behind them, there are usually one or two large bathtubs in which at least more than five people can take a at the same time. You can enjoy the traditional Japanese painting behind the bathtub, which is most likely to be a paint of Mt. Fuji.
Unfortunately, bathtub inside a individual house is getting popular after around WW II and recent development of Super Sento, traditional Sento become obsolescent rapidly. Some say one Sento closes down a day. If you experience traditional Japanese Sento in Tokyo, hurry up to followings!
No need to bring anything, but just go without bringing anything!
You can buy a towel, shampoo, and soap at around 100 yen, respectively. So, if you happen to come across sentos, why don’t you experience at least once so you can understand Japanese tradition.How to take sento >>Find Sento(Public Bath)
1.Take your shoes off at the gate and put your shoes into the shoe locker. Make sure to bring your key with you.
2.Pay around 400 yen at a cahier. At the cashier, you can buy a towel, soup and shampoo if you want.
3.Go to men（男湯）/ women（女湯）bathroom. Take your all clothes off and put them in the locker, which costs you 100 yen but usually you can get it back when you leave.
4.Before taking bath, you should clean up you body by shower or a few tubs of bath water. This is very important customs so you can be clean before you take a bath.
5.After taking a bath and put your clothes on again, then it is time to refresh. There must be a vending machine which sells milk and coffee milk. Japanese love to drink them after taking sento.
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