Last night I went to my neighborhood sento (public bathhouse) for the first time. I've wanted to for awhile, but have been too shy to try it out. Lately, my apartment has descended into the February chill. My bathroom, in particular, is rather ice-y. In case you haven't seen it, here are some photos (one & two) of my '50s era bathroom (okay, I'm not really sure what year- but my Japanese friends agree that its OLD for a bathroom). To get hot water anywhere in my house (which means the bathroom sink, shower, or kitchen sink), I must a) turn the gas on using the metal nob in the lower right of picture number two, b) crank the white handle on the metal gas heater in that same shot, then c) look in the window of the heater to see if the gas stayed lit (if so, there's a nice blue flame, if not- I get to repeat steps b & c until that happy flame stays lit). Then, as you can see in the photo, my shower head is attached to a hose (not the wall), so I have to hold it in my hand while I shower. This, frankly, sucks. Considering the additional facts that my bathroom isn't heated and the shower has very little water pressure or actual water coming from it, I pretty much freeze while showering.

These issues along with my rather expensive water bill (due mostly to my huge toilet water tank, see picture one, that must refill every time I flush), I finally decided to go take a soak in someone else's bath tub. Public baths, sento, are very common in Japan. The fancier types are onsen, sometimes very elaborate baths using water from natural hot springs. Many onsens also have rotemburo, which are outside. You can browse the archives for my past adventures in Japanese bathing. Anyhow, the closest sento (regular water- not hot spring) to me is actually just across the street on the next block. After a run last night, I grabbed a bag with pajamas and a towel and set off for the bath. I paid my 400 yen (about $4.00) and headed into the ladies half of the sento. Stuffed my bag in a locker, stripped off my running gear, and then walked into the bath room. My first surprise was that there was no soap! I wasn't too surprised that there wasn't any shampoo- but there is almost always soap. I was a little embarrassed because you are really supposed to wash extremely thoroughly before getting into a shared bath (common sense, really). But what is a girl to do? I picked a shower most out of direct sight from the four older ladies and one little boy (someone's grandson), and dumped buckets of water over myself. After I felt I had done as much cleaning as I could using only water, I sheepishly headed to the bath. It was divided in three sections- in total about the length and width of a van. Usually, onsens and sentos are hot- but I wasn't prepared for this one! It was about 47 degrees Celsius. I thought my eyeballs would steam up and I turned bright pink immediately. The heat relaxed my tight muscles, but after only 5 minutes I was feeling a bit woozy. Chagrined, I headed back to a cold shower and quickly exited. I hope no one complained about the stinky gaijin in the bath! I think I took a longer time getting dressed again and wandering back to my house then I did in the water... but I will have to try it again. I get brownie points for communing with ... the community!

Tonight I'm studying Econ and taking breaks to do laundry. I have to lug it downstairs and over a block to use a laundromat, but the reward is having warm, dry laundry instantly instead of having to string all my cold, wet clothes across my kitchen like back in Nagano. Ah, the bliss of modern convenience.

A belated happy Valentine's Day to you all.