The Sento Mafia

I joined a sports club across from my apartment this past spring, before I got my tattoo. I have begun showering in a little cubicle, so as not to draw undue attention to my ink. You see, when I signed up, I was asked to fill out paperwork asking if I was in fact a "gangster". Deciding that I was not of the gangster persuasion, I filled in "no".

I have heard horror stories of people being asked to leave their gyms or various sento because their tat was showing and it's against the rules. I have been living in fear, walking around in the nude with my hand covering my hip, in some odd limp-wristed, Napoleonic, Bob Dole kinda way.
Earlier this week, I was going through my usual routine of workout, shower, hand-over-hipbone saunter into the outdoor sento, relax. Sento are usually quiet places. If you are with your friends, you can talk at a reasonable level, or just be silent and melt. As previous posts have mentioned, many women tend to evacuate the sento once a gaijin hops in, for unknown reasons. I was under the impression that no one ever talks to strangers in the sento. I have been going for a year and a half, and have never once been addressed by a stranger, besides the occasional "sumimasen" if you bumped them or needed to walk past. Imagine my surprise when I settle in and am immediately addressed.

"Gakusei?" (are you a student?)
Iie, watashi wa kyoushi desu. (No, I am a teacher)
"Sugoi!" (that's great!)
Arigatou (thanx!)

The conversation continues and she proceeds to ask me why I take a shower instead of sitting at the bucket/sinks and bathing out in the open like everyone else. Meh?? I explain, that I have a TATTOO. She starts laughing and tells me that I am free to wander around in my nakie glory without looking like I have a broken wrist anymore! I have Obaachan clearance.

Sento + Yuki = Wow



I know I am not the first to experience the wonder, but I had to jot it down anyways. Eri and I hit up the huge Takaoka sento (apparently part of the Supa Sento chain) after my Toide eikaiwa last night. It had all of the same baths as the one in Tonami, but was a little different in design.

Upon walking in, we passed a sign that refused admittance to tattooed heathens. Some sento and onsen have a no tattoo policy because of organized crime (yakuza) membership being displayed via tats. As we bought our tickets, I was specifically singled out and asked if I had a tattoo. I understand that my piercings might lead you to think I had more hiding under my coat, but seriously... I am gaijin. What is the point of keeping a gaijin with a tattoo, who is OBVIOUSLY not yakuza affiliated out of the sento? I said no and happily trotted inside.

The outdoor baths were great as usual, and was also a utatane, or nap space, where you submerge yourself in 42 degree (celsius) water and rest your head on a rock. Its true, I could have fallen asleep in there easily. I learned a song using old style Japanese counting about frogs jumping, and utilized my magical gaijin abilities. My particular superpower is nudey forcefield. Basically, whilst bathing, I have a magical barrier around myself, so any bath I approach is immediately evacuated by all Nihonjin. Eri is immune to my power. I think she built up a tolerance living in the UK.

The entire point of this post was to describe the snow. As we emerged from the utatane area, we noticed it was snowing. We ran to the open-air section of the bath and sat in individual tubs while the snow fell on us. Oh! Beautiful!

Other important news. My san-nensei graduated yesterday. Many of the girls were teary, and the boys actually threw each other in the air a few times. Awww... high school. I will miss you little bastards. And you good kids too!

Sento is for naked people...

Last night, after my Toide eikaiwa, my friend Eri and I drove to Tonami and hit up the most wondrous of Japanese wonders, the sento. I have been quite curious about the sento/onsen phenomenon here in Japan (especially amongst the JET population). I had never been to one, so it was rather difficult to envision. I figured, naked people - check, hot water - check, bubbles of varying frequency - check, more naked people - check. What I got was a great deal more. Eri took me to the new ゆらら (super sento) ! For a mere 700yen we could take as long as we wished popping in and out of an array of different baths. The water was naturally pumped in from a mountain hot spring, and it was beautiful and smelled great!


First was a rinse, then her favorite, the electric wave pool. I thought my hips were going to explode, but she convinced me that it was supposed to be good for them, so I sat there for a while and wondered about my sanity.


We then crossed over to a super-bubble pool with about 5 different sets of jets. One would hit your lowerback, then another your neck, etc etc.


Next were little individual tubs outside. Keeping with Japanese standards, there was a big tv showing a cooking program for all the older women that were enjoying sento.


We tried the individuals then went into the group baths. Its a great feeling with the cold nipping at you while you are soaking away all of your stress in 42.8 degree water! (celcius for those of you who are freaking out right now)


We did a bit of sauna till I couldn’t breathe anymore and moved to a sweet little bath I had never seen before, and the air tasted sweet.


The hot water is pumped in just a few inches deep and you lie flat on these heated (by the water) rocks as the water rinses over what parts of you which are not exposed to the wind. It was deliciously warm and relaxing.


For any of you who have not gone to sento yet, I highly recommend it. For those of you who have, I am already planning a weekly Thurs. night session with Eri, but could easily be convinced to check out what is available in Tak!

My favorite part of the sento, the various sauna rooms.