Bath house

My friend who lives here suggested we visit a Japanese public bath together.

A public bath is a bit like a swimming pool, only segregated by gender, swimming is prohibited, everyone is naked and the water is extremely warm. 

So, not at all really. 

For reasons that I assume are obvious, I don't really have any photos or videos for this event. 

Once you arrive, there's the standard shoe removing area which has a small step up to enter the building properly. 

An example I stole from Google.

You put your shoes in a locker and take the key with you. 

The shoe locker key at this bathhouse had a phob that you used to pay for things inside the building, you then used it to settle your tab at the exit. 

After you've locked your shoes away you must battle the wall of Japanese that's the range of options offered by the location. These seem mostly to be around how long you want to be there? 

I'm going to be honest I let my friend and his native partner handle this. 

That completed you're handled a bag containing: 

A small towel 

A large towel

Some pajamas

Next stop is the changing room, get naked, lock everything you are wearing or carrying, apart from the small towel, in a locker and enter the bathroom.

Before you can bathe you must first shower!

There are rows of shower stations stocked with body soap and shampoo.

There are stools on which you sit to shower 🚿

After you're clean you can enter the bath. 

Usually there are multiple baths at different temperatures. 

This one had two at a pleasant bath temperature, one freezing cold for if you feel like dancing with death, one they'd dyed red. The red one was rather insanely hot. 

My favourite though was green one. This had a giant tea bag the size of a small backpack inside. It smelled great and felt amazing. 

After you've bathed you can head home or change into the pj and hang out for a bit in a common area. A bunch of people were asleep in this particular one.