Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Are Japanese Public Baths Like?
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5311 |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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I couldn't help but be reminded of the secondary plot of NieA_7 while reading this, in which a family struggles with debt as their bathhouse loses patronage. That said, I would rather inhabit our world in which private bathing is the norm. A bathhouse, pleasant though it may be, must be seen by many as the ablutive equivalent of a laundrette.
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Yuri Fan
 Posts: 394 Location: Finland |
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And me. I went to a sento several times last time I was in Japan. I went late, so the place was almost empty, and I felt so relaxed in the warm baths that I plan to go the same place next time I go (which is next month). I also drank a delicious drink that the owner called cider, but it was a soft drink. It's cheap and better than the small showers in the backpackers hostel I stayed in. Oh, and I didn't buy a towel, I rented one. I went to two sentos and in both the towels were rentals and not for sale. |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Yes, Japan has a fairly restricted idea of "public accommodation" (much more similar to that of the US 50 or 60 years ago) and thus non-discrimination laws don't really apply to most private companies. (The Toyoko Inn chain used to have a "no two men in a double (one full size bed)" policy, even if family, but doesn't anymore.) Most companies are perfectly happy to have whatever patrons, but they don't have to accept you.
Well, a lot of anime prefers the stereotypical "girl commenting on other girls' breast size, then trying to grab them" scene.
Japanese cider : American cider :: British lemonade : American lemonade |
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AnimeLordLuis
 Posts: 1626 Location: The Borderlands of Pandora |
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Personally I don't think that we get enough bath or beach scenes with girls fondling each other and comparing breast sizes and it is one of the best things about Anime.
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Heishi
 Posts: 1317 |
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I wouldn't mind trying out these bathouses for myself.
But those Korean ones sound really nice. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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For what that's worth, Korean saunas are not exclusive to LA, either - there are at least a couple in the NYC area, and at least one in Dallas. Hell, the New York Times just wrote up the NYC-area King Spa a few days ago! |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I haven't seen "Yama no Susume", but I wonder if in the scene in question the character is embarrassed because she (accidentally?) called attention to herself. It's true that most everyone in a public bath doesn't get flustered about being naked, BECAUSE everyone is naked. But for that same reason, you don't feel like everyone is staring at you (once you get over the initial "novelty" of it). But if you walk to the middle of the sento and CALL attention to yourself, then it would be different because everyone WOULD be staring at you. In that sense, I can see how someone could be in a sento and not feel embarrassed unless they did something that unintentionally got everyone staring.
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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I always assumed the shocked reactions were due to the fact that most are sitting and when one stands up she puts her genitals at the face level of the sitting ones. similar to hot tub scenes where one person is sitting while other person getting in/out also puts the hip at face level. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1825 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Besides the public bath houses, many Japanese hotels have sento for guests.
PS the article didn't mention that sento usually have equal sized men's and women's sections, ie segregated by gender. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1746 |
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I've been to some really nice bathhouse set-ups in the mountain areas of Japan. Ones that have access to hot sprint water often charge more, and like ryokans, there are varying levels of niceness. I recall one having the really hot water in huge, one person only clay vases, and I marveled at the women who could put up with that heat. Despite being used to women being nude in gym changing rooms, bathing and soaking with other women was a different experience because women did talk about each other's body. I didn't quite understand how anyone could really relax when women were sizing each other up and asking all sorts of sexual questions. I was asked a lot of the usual questions about Americans, including stereotypical questions about certain ethnic genitalia. I laugh about it now, but yeah, it was just so weird sitting with women I'd never met, talking about these things.
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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Awesome, my question got answered! Thanks Justin, I learned a lot and it's really appreciated.
That's partly true. Calling extra attention to herself there definitely didn't help, but this character is shy and already shown to be uncomfortable with public baths (there's also a flashback to a middle school trip where she begged off going to the hotel bath with her classmates and then snuck in alone later when everyone was asleep), so her embarrassment was in-character anyway. Honoka in Love Live, who's a much more outgoing character, showed no embarrassment at all when she stood up. It's their friends having basically identical reactions to them that I was more curious about, making me wonder if that was some kind of social faux pas or just anime being anime, and I decided to ask because it was a good chance to hopefully learn more about an aspect of Japanese culture I knew almost nothing about, too. |
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AJ (LordNikon)
 Posts: 503 Location: Kyoto |
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Reading the comments, it seems a lot of folks are confused an "onsen" for "sento". they are two different things. Onsens are hot springs, while a sento is a public bathhouse. While the bathing etiquette for both is very similar, the social aspect is quite different.
Frankly, I'm grateful, there are two sentos near my place in Ueno, and three more a little ways north in Arakawa that I really like. Sadly, the two in Ueno are suffering badly, and I expect them both to close in the near future. There's just not many people at them anymore, and those who are there are relatively older, like my age, seniors. One thing I've noticed is that the number of sentos outside of Tokyo is amazing low, especially in Kansai where I spent most of my time living (till being reassigned to Kanto region two years ago). I know there are some sentos in Osaka that are labled as onsen and even have the hot spring logo, but they are not really a public bathhouse, but more like a spa. Most Sentos that are still around, and there's still a good number of them, are really more like faux-onsens. Sure they have the However, when I think sento, I think old-school bathhouses, not the new onsen-esk style ones, but I have seen some of the fake onsens labeled with ゆ. Oh well... I'll go back to my old man grumblings. I have a Tivo full of new anime from last night to watch. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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I was reminded of Azrael's account of public bathing in Japan and, yes, it lines up pretty well. The thing that stuck with me though, other than the animal shapes, was
https://gaijinchronicles.com/2006/01/12/a-bathing-gaijin/ |
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Afezeria
 Posts: 817 Location: Malaysia, Kuantan. |
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I'm not a fan at all in going to a public bathouse because it would feel very embarrassing for me to ended up naked in front of so many people so, no involvement for me in this sort of activity. I'm quite desensitized by the usual fanservice moments in bathouse or the beach in any anime by now but I am not particularly bothered with that cliche because it's only in a media like anime.
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