Sento Adventure

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Tonight, I had my first sento experience.

For those of you back home who haven’t heard of a sento, it is Japan’s version of the Roman style public baths.

Basically, there is a men’s side and a women’s side. You go in, pay $3.80 and you can spend as long as you want there (until they close around 10, of course).

A word to the wise though - towels are not permitted so these kinds of baths aren’t for the squeamish. If you can get beyond the initial ‘zomg! I’m naked in a room of other naked strangers!’ they’re actually quite fun.

The one we went to in particular was just off Route 1 and it had four separate baths as well as a steam room. The typical protocol is you go in with your shampoo etc., wash yourself seated on a little stool at the showers, and then once you’re super clean you can go sit in the pools.

The first pool was the medium warm Jacuzzi pool - much like a hot tub back home. The second pool next to it was a hotter pool with no jets - perfect for soaking if you can stand the heat. The third pool was hot too and about a quarter the size of the other ones. It’s really only big enough for one person. It’s also electrified. Yes, that’s right - electrified. Being the adventurous gaijin (foreigner) that I am, I went and sat in it. Coolest experience ever.

In this pool there are two metal plates, one on either side of the tub, and these are the parts that are electrically charged. If you sit between them your muscles go a bit haywire. It’s a really cool feeling and is　good for your circulation or something. Apparently I’m the only person who has ever given that pool a good review, but I’m adamant that everyone should try it at least once.

Right, so after the electrified pool we headed to the steam room which is really only big enough for two or three people (maybe four Asian women). It’s friggin’ HOT in there and super hard to breathe! We didn’t stay in long at all - just a few minutes and then it was back to the pools!

Now there’s one last pool I need to tell you about. How much more awesome could it get right? Well for those of you who are feeling overheated there is the cold water pool. And it’s cold - like really really cold. I’d say a nippy 10 C... something around there. Apparently the trick is to go from the hot pools to the cold one and sit there motionless breathing in and out very slowly. After a few seconds of this you get an incredible buzz where the room gets all psychedelic and you get giggly. Figures I would find a way to get ‘high’ while in Japan hahaha Well at least it was good clean fun - nothing more than your blood being oversaturated with oxygen.

As for the rest of the night, we went to kaiten sushi (which is the name for conveyor belt sushi here - a restaurant where different plates of sushi come around on a conveyor belt and you choose what you want) and watched ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’.

The crew were nice enough to hook me up with a membership to the local video store too, where it’s only 100 yen (about $1) to rent movies. Goddamn I love this country sometimes!

So sento, sushi, beers, and Harry Potter - all in all I’d say it was a pretty great night. Tomorrow is my school’s opening ceremony assembly. Should be good fun - long and formal just how I like my mornings! Tomorrow night - bowling! Huzzah!

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