Originally hailing from France, Stephanie Crohin has embraced an aspect of Japanese culture that many expats can probably recall shying away from: sentō (public baths). As an official "sentō ambassador," she makes the most of her trilingual language abilities to spread the word on Japan’s bathing culture far and wide.

1. Were sentō your first interest in Japanese culture? Japanese literature came first actually.

2. Is there an author whose work you were particularly drawn to? Jun'ichiro Tanizaki. I discovered him during high school and later did a master’s degree on the female characters in his work. There’s a novel he wrote called “Naomi” that I really like.