Spa World Osaka Cycle

スパワールド世界の大温泉

Osaka likes things big and loud.

From its clothes to its dialect, its mobsters to its baseball fans, Osaka is not subtle.

Ditto for Spa World, a mega super sento (public bath) in south Osaka.

The emporium includes an onsen (hot spring), gym, hotel, "food zone," European onsen, Asian onsen, various massages, and a pool. We are probably forgetting something - but forgive us, it is big.

And a bit overwhelming at times. Basically, here is what you do to take a bath.

Cycle or take the train to Dobutsuen-mae Station. For those on a bike, it is not far from Tennoji.

1) When you enter, you buy a 1000 yen ticket at one of the machines.
2) Present that at the entrance.
3) You will be given a wrist band (do NOT lose this - you will be billed 5000 yen if you do).
4) Take shoes off before stepping up onto the carpet.
5) Put shoes in locker (you need a 100 yen coin, which you get back when you retrieve your shoes.)
6) Go up to the floor for your sex (on the day we went, it was the 6th floor for men; you will be told at the entrance).
7) In the locker room, put your clothes, etc., in an open locker. Grab a towel - in bins at the edge of each locker - and enter the bath.

After that, it is like a normal public bath: wash your body first, then enter the bath(s).

After you are finished, dry off, change into the blue pajamas - in bins as you exit the bath - and go back to your locker

8) When you leave, you have to do deposit the wrist band into a machine on floor two (the entrance). Take the receipt to the exit wickets and place the bar code on the glass portion of the wicket (a guard is there and will help you).

For a 1000 yen, it is an "experience." Compared to a good old sento, it is...large. The baths are fair, but it is very popular with overseas tourists.

Still, bathing in a room about half the size of a football field with 20 meter high ceilings is worth the price of admission.

Information

3-4-24 Ebisu-higashi Naniwa-ku
Osaka 556-0002
Tel: 06 6631 0001

Spa World Online


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Nishiki Yu Public Bath Kyoto

錦湯京都

Nishiki Yu is one of Kyoto's great public baths.

It was built in 1927 and remains more or less as is.

Entering the building is a step back in time.

Nishiki is of course the central food market of Kyoto, located on a long narrow east-west street in central Kyoto. The bath is just south of the food market on Sakaimachi Street.

Like much of Kyoto, the area itself is not attractive; the buildings around the bath are modern and drab.

However, inside is a different world. The dressing room has original wooden lockers.

Parking is easy for cyclists.

Information

Hours: 4 pm - midnight; closed Mondays

535 Yaoyacho, Nishikikoji,
Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
Telephone: 075 221 6479


Available amenities
shampoo，rinse: 30 yen
soap: 30 yen
body soap: 40 yen
towel (rental): free

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Kyogoku Yu Public Bath Kyoto

自転車で京極湯へ

Here is a classic neighborhood public bath in north central Kyoto.

Kyogoku Yu is just east of Senbon Dori, and a few blocks south of Imadegawa.

It is old and it is a real local place.

Foreigners are not an object of fascination in Kyoto city anymore, and thus there is rarely any staring or calls of "Hello" (more like "Ha-ro, Ha-ro") from strangers.

However, both times I have been to this sento older men made a point of asking questions and making statements that betrayed complete lack of familiarity with anything beyond a few blocks of their home and their tv remote.

Still, the building is great and baths hot.

Here is a map.

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Kyoto Super Sento Tambaguchi Yamato Yu

自転車で壬生やまと湯

Among the great experiences to be had in Japan - for long residents or short-term visitors - is the public bath.

From the humble neighborhood sento to the massive "super sento," getting naked with a bunch of strangers and soaking in a variety of baths is divine.

One of Kyoto's Super Sento is located a short walk from the Tambaguchi Station on the JR Saiin Line.

The area is not on any tourist route. It is an average area, a bit cramped, and aside from Mibu Temple and the Motenashi Museum (a former geisha house), there is not much to see in the area.

But we are here for bathing.

The bath is a 10-15 minute ride from Kyoto Station, one block north of Tambaguchi Station.

You enter the large establishment, take off your shoes and store them in a small joker (the 100 yen is returned after you retrieve your shoes). Next to the information counter is the ticket machine. Press button one. You give the ticket to the person at the counter, who will take your shoe locker key and give you a locker key to the changing room on the second floor.

The procedure is the same as for any sento: you get undressed, take your towel in. First you wash yourself, and rinse all the soap from your body. Then you begin the Big Soak. There are multiple baths and saunas to choose from. When you have had your fill of the soothing waters. there is a restaurant on the first floor in which to enjoy a cold beer.

Information

Mibu Yamato Yu Super Sento
Open daily from 10 am to 1 am
General Admission: 700 yen weekdays, 800 weekends
Bike parking on the left

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Walk Ten Kilometers to a Public Bath in Kyoto

１０キロ歩いて銭湯へ！　京都市が活性化企画印刷用画面を開く

Though scholars doubt its authenticity, one of several pithy quotes attributed to Mark Twain speaking of his ultimate demise is, "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times."

Though Kyoto is also known for its embrace of things modern and new, it is in some ways somewhat like that: a bit behind the times, clinging to things discarded in the rest of Japan.

While the neighborhood public bath (sento) is fading fast around the rest of urban Japan - replaced by Super Sento (modern, mega-baths with dining and other facilities) or nothing at all - Kyoto still has many local sentos sprinkled around the city.

However, Kyoto is not immune to trends that have hurt the sento industry: namely, that all private homes now have their own bath. In 1970, the city had 461 public baths. As of 2010, just 187 remained.

The city though is concerned about a decline in the number of baths, and is sponsoring an event to encourage sento use. The city has divided its 40+ km marathon course into four sections - each 10 km long - and is sponsoring walk-and-bathe days.

To help rectify the the decline, the city will sponsor four walks. The first will be from Nishi Kyogoku (close to where the local soccer club Sanga plays) and wind its way to Ninnaji Temple. At the starting point, participants will receive an entry ticket to a sento. After a three-hour walk, it's off to a public bath.

The fee to participate is 410 yen - the amount public baths charge - and applications are being accepted until November 7.

For information, call 075 222 3433.

Kyoto Sento Map

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Kyoto Public Bath Kyogokuyu

京都銭湯京極湯

Kyoto's neighborhood public baths are not dead yet.

Indeed, compared to other Japanese cities, the humble public bath seems to be holding on in Kyoto.

This bath, off Senbon Dori in north central Kyoto, is an old place that is worth a visit.

Most of the bathers are regulars and of a certain age, so visitors may be in for a bit of Japanese language practice.

Information

Open 3 pm - midnight; closed Mondays
From the corner of Senbon - Nakadatchiuri, walk or ride one block east on Nakadachiuri. At the first small street turn left (north). After a few small blocks it is on the right.
Fee: 410 yen


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Funaoka Onsen Public Bath

船岡温泉

Funaoka Onsen is Kyoto's best-known public bath.

Located in northern Kyoto, it opened in 1923.

Compared, perhaps, to the modern super sento public baths - multi-story, multi-bath facilities that also have dining - that have in places replaced the neighborhood bath, Funaoka does not have the variety of baths.

However, it more than makes up for that in atmosphere. It does have several types of baths, but its real draw is the carvings in the dressing rooms.

The neighborhood too has a funky, off-beat vibe.

Information

82-1 Minami-Funaoka-cho, Murosaki no Minami Kyoto, 26 603-8225
Telephone: 075 441 3735

4 pm - 12 pm; closed Tuesdays

410 yen fee

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Kyoto Public Bath

京都銭湯

What can you get for around 500 yen (about $5.30) these days?

4 cokes (220 ml/can, 480 yen)
4 cans of Kirin beer (220 ml/can, 480 yen)
Four packs of gum (480 yen)
A one-way trip to Osaka from Kyoto on JR (540 yen)
Postage enough for 4 letters to the US (50 mg or less/letter, 440 yen)
A trip to a public bath (410 yen)

The sento (public bath) is the least expensive of the above options, but you can keep the change. We don't drink coke, canned beer is for the hottest of summer days only, gum we can live without, and Osaka you can have. Except for Mom, letters are pretty old school (but so are we and confess to writing and buying 110 yen stamps often).

The public bath is old school as well, but ah what lurks behind those inviting curtains.

For less than $5, you can bathe and chat, wash and soak, rinse and scrub to your heart's delight. And then repeat.

A standard neighborhood sento will have several baths: cold, really hot, and herbal. Often there is a sauna as well.

The boiling hot bath gets you cleaner than you have been months. The changing room is good for neighborhood gossip, a massage on chairs for that purpose, or watching a ball game on the tv affixed to the ceiling.

However, the main goal - getting naked, and really clean, with a bunch of strangers - is itself worth the entrance fee.

Highly recommended.

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