Japanese Public Bath House

After a wet morning and soaked shoes, I decided it was the perfect time to visit a Japanese public bath house - called a sento.  I walked to the sento in the rain, down a side street about 10 minutes from my hostel, away from the noise and traffic.  It was in a fairly inconspicuous building.  First thing, I locked up my umbrella and took off my shoes.  They had little lockers for this.  Then walked inside, paid 410 yen plus 100 yen deposit for a small green towel.  Then walked into the change room, which was lined with tatami mat floor.  Then stripped down naked and proceeded through the door into the bath house, the only foreigner in the place.  Yes, they bathe completely naked in public here.  I knew you had to wash yourself thoroughly before entering the baths.  There were showers lining the wall, with plastic seats to sit on, and also a foot wash. So I washed there, all hunched over.  Some older men were shaving and brushing their teeth at these showers.  Next I got in the baths.  There were a few hot pools, a cold pool, and a strange green pool that was luke warm and looked like green kool-aid.  I went back and forth between pools. Nobody seemed to pay me any mind the whole time I was there.  It was quite the experience and it was nice to get away from the tourists and do what the Japanese do after a day's work!  Afterwards, I felt so refreshed, the rain had stopped and it felt like I was walking home on soft sand.  I have no photos for this blog post, as you might expect!!