Long before home baths were common, entire neighbourhoods washed at the same sento — and thousands of these public bathhouses are still open, painted with fading murals of Mount Fuji, asking nothing but your shoes at the door and about an hour of your time.

What a sento actually is

Not a spa, not a tourist attraction — a genuine neighbourhood institution, often family-run for generations, where regulars nod hello and nobody hurries. Wash thoroughly before you get in; the water is shared.

The ritual of it

Hot water, a cold plunge if you’re brave, and long stretches of doing absolutely nothing. Bring your own towel and a hundred yen coin or two — the etiquette is simple once you’ve done it once.

How to actually find a good one

Skip anything renovated for tourists and look for the tall chimney, the shoe lockers by the door, and a sign that hasn’t changed fonts since the 1970s. That’s the real thing.

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