Sentō

Sentō (銭湯) is a type of Japanese communal bathhouse where customers pay for entrance. Traditionally these bathhouses have been quite utilitarian, with a tall barrier separating the sexes within one large room, a minimum of lined-up faucets on both sides, and a single large bath for the already washed bathers to sit in among others. Since the second half of the 20th century, these communal bathhouses have been decreasing in numbers as more and more Japanese residences now have baths. Some Japanese find social importance in going to public baths, out of the theory that physical proximity/intimacy brings emotional intimacy, which is termed skinship in pseudo-English Japanese. Others go to a sentō because they live in a small housing facility without a private bath or to enjoy bathing in a spacious room and to relax in saunas or jet baths that often accompany new or renovated sentōs.

Another type of Japanese public bath is onsen, which uses hot water from a natural hot spring. In general, the word onsen means that the bathing facility has at least one bath filled with natural hot spring water. However, throughout the Kansai region of Japan, the word "onsen" is also a commonly used naming scheme for sentō. Sentō and supersentō^[specify] in Kansai that do have access to a hot spring will often differentiate themselves by having "natural hot spring" (天然温泉) somewhere on their signage.

There are multiple different layouts for a Japanese sentō or public bath. Most traditional sentō, however, are similar to the layout shown on the right. The entrance from the outside looks somewhat similar to a temple, with a Japanese curtain (暖簾, noren) across the entrance. The curtain is usually blue and shows the kanji 湯 (yu, lit. hot water) or the corresponding hiragana ゆ. After the entrance, there is an area with shoe lockers, followed by two long curtains or doors, one on each side. These lead to the datsuijo (脱衣場, changing room), also known as datsuiba for the men and women respectively. The men's and the women's sides are similar and differ only slightly.

A public bathing facility in Japan typically has one of two kinds of entrances. One is the front desk variety, where a person in charge sits at a front desk, abbreviated as "front." The other entrance variety is the bandai style. In Tokyo, 660 sentō facilities have a "front"-type entrance, while only 315 still have the more traditional bandai-style entrance.

Inside, between the entrances is the bandai (番台), where the attendant sits. The bandai is a rectangular or horseshoe-shaped platform with a railing, usually around 1.5 to 1.8 m high. Above the bandai is usually a large clock. Immediately in front of the bandai is usually a utility door, to be used by the attendants only. The dressing room is approximately 10 m by 10 m, sometimes partly covered with tatami sheets and contains lockers for clothes. Often, there is a large shelf storing equipment for regular customers.

The ceiling is high, at 3 to 4 m. The separating wall between the men's and the women's side is about 1.5 m high. The dressing room also often has access to a small Japanese garden with a pond and a Japanese-style toilet. There are a number of tables and chairs, including some coin-operated massage chairs. Usually, there is also a scale to measure weight, and sometimes height. In some old sentō, this scale may use the traditional Japanese measure monme (匁, 1 monme = 3.75 g) and kan (1 kan = 1000 monme = 3.75 kg). Similarly, in old sentō the height scale may go only to 180 cm. Local business often advertises in the sentō. The women's side usually has some baby beds and may have more mirrors. The decoration and the advertising are often gender-specific on the different sides. There is usually a refreshment cooler there where the customers can self-serve and pay the attendant. Milk drinks are traditional favorites and sometimes there is ice cream.

The bathing area is separated from the changing area by a sliding door to keep the heat in the bath. An exception are baths in Okinawa, where the climate is warmer and there is no need to keep the hot air in the bath. Sentō in Okinawa usually have no separation between the changing room and the bathing area or only a small wall with an opening to pass through.

The bathing area is usually tiled. Near the entrance area is a supply of small stools and buckets. There are a number of washing stations at the wall and sometimes in the middle of the room, each with usually two faucets (karan, カラン, after the Dutch word kraan for faucet), one for hot water and one for cold water, and a showerhead.