Tonight, after an early dinner my dad, Noboru and the boys and I headed to the public bath. I love going to the public bath here in Japan. So nice and relaxing! My dad likes them too. I've been to so many through the years from little tiny little mom and pop owned types ones. And I've been to gigantic "super sento's" like the one in Namba in Osaka Japan. So, we've been to many all over. Before we moved last year. I used to go to one about once a month. I've even gone with a few of my fellow western girlfriends before, that was a hoot! Ha ha ha! : ) We've yet to go to one near our new place. So tonight we went to a very small one and a very old one too. Noboru actually said the one we were going to was a "showa" era sento. He actually called his mom and she was pretty surprised, lol!
When we got there and parked the car. I was surprised by how short/height wise the entrance was. I actually had to bend my head down a bit to enter. My dad who is much taller then me, I wondered how my dad had to bend and squeeze into the tiny shortened doorway and the doorway inside is even tinier. This was indeed the oldest sento I've ever been. We said goodbye at the door. And Noah and I went into the ladies side. The woman assumed we were foreigners. Errr, obviously I am one. But she assumed I was on vacation in Japan from America. And not actually a resident of Japan. She asked me the best she could...."if I knew the procedure of taking a bath in the sento" , lol! I thought it was totally cute the way she tried to be helpful. Keeping in mind we just live a few short cities near here! Ha ha ha. I thanked her so much and told her in Japanese, "no explanation was necessary" and I did thank her though a few more times", then we actually did a bit of light chit chat. I told her, I lived in such and such town. And she was pretty nice. I went on my way and got undressed along with Noah.
We showered first and got squeaky clean and then we soaked in the bath tub. It was pretty nice. I think this was the hottest water, I've ever soaked in. It was actually a bit too hot for me. I had to get out and cool off a few times. The place was so small. There was just 2 tiny sized baths on the women's side. It looked about a billion years old. I sat in the sento and I thought about the rich history of this place. It's been a sento for 100 years, said one of the ladies! I thought how World War 2 came and went and yet this sento survived and now I sit in it. An American living in Japan nonetheless. Thinking about it all. Wondering how many generations of families have bathed here! How many families bathed in these types of places before people had baths in their actual houses. And how unfortunate that these days, the old places like these are becoming a thing of the past. It's makes me really sad. I know now days everyone or mostly everyone has baths and showers in their homes. So these are indeed becoming a thing of the past. I hope they never die out completely. I will continue to go to them and soak in the tub and the rich history, because I love them. Long live the sento!!! : )
I also chit chatted a bit with a few other ladies, during my bath and while I changed in`to my pajamas. And I could hear my dad as he was taking a massage from one of those old time massage chairs that some public bath places have. The man and woman who were sitting on top running the sento, were laughing as I could hear my dad get a rough massage from those old type chairs, lol! Yup, my dad got roughed up by an old time massage chair! ha ha ha, : )
PS: This is the first picture I snapped. However Noah wasn't even remotely looking towards the camera and my dad's eyes were glowing red, even though I had the red eye reduction thingie on, hmmm. So anyway I snapped a second and last picture, right? And would you believe some unknown guy at the same exact time the flash went off and the picture snapped is when the unknown guy came out. So, whoops I accidentally snapped a picture of him. Noboru was standing next to me at the time I took these pictures. So, who is that skinny little guy in a red coat and PJ's in the first top picture? We haven't the foggiest idea, ha ha ha! And since it's the one where my dad's eyes aren't glowing and Noah is actually *almost* facing the camera,lol. We'll have to use that one and save that one in the family photo album from now on! Just watch, every time someone will ask...who is the other person? We'll have to say...we don't know! Ha ha ha! : )
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