Tag - sento

 
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July 16, 2025
 

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SENTO

Local authorities in Tokyo are resorting to unconventional measures to raise voter turnout, including partnering with public bathhouses amid Japan’s ongoing sauna boom and collaborating with high school students to create promotional materials.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 16, 2025
Tokyo teams up with bathhouses to boost voter turnout for assembly election
The previous election in 2021 showed a much lower turnout rate among younger demographics.
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2025
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
The company is switching to paper cartons as a result of declining demand, environmental concerns and supply issues after its glass bottle supplier shut down.
Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Nov 25, 2024
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat
The modern sauna experience is more than just taking a seat in some steam — whisking, aufguss shows and spectacle all play a part.
Single-use bathing wear that comes in the form of a blouse or a dress
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 6, 2023
Breast cancer survivors face tough time at public baths
It is customary in Japan not to take clothing or towels into the water at public baths, and some facilities make it a rule for hygienic reasons.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 8, 2023
A long and winding visit to 'secret' Ubayu Onsen
Secluded and remote hot springs are yet another example of Japan's deep bathing culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 16, 2023
'Yudo': A heartwarming ode to a good, old-fashioned soak
Masayuki Suzuki’s film pays tribute to the neighborhood public bath with a rush of nostalgia and feel-good laughs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 27, 2022
Stephanie Crohin: 'Public baths are a force for good when it comes to body positivity'
When you enter a public bath, you leave your phone in a locker and the outside world behind. It's like stepping into a new world, and Stephanie Crohin is your ambassador.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 18, 2022
Warming up to onsen: The quirks and customs of public baths
Japan's hot spring baths are often on the to-do list of many tourists, just make sure you know the rules before heading inside.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 6, 2022
Sentō Samaritans: The fight to save urban bathhouses
Were public bathhouses to vanish from Tokyo, Osaka and other cities across Japan, much more than hot water would be lost.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 20, 2021
You never know who you’ll run into at the public bath
Your local tattooed thugs, the old woman who is just a little bit too much in your business, who else will you meet at the neighborhood bathhouse?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Nov 15, 2020
Japanese fashion tackles the issues of the moment
From practical masks and saving sento culture to provocative commentary on gender, brands and designers find their moment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 27, 2019
Rare views of Mount Fuji: Japan's last sentō artists
A dying craft, sentu014d (public bathhouse) painting now has just three artisans continuing the art form. Can interest in Japanese culture, sparked by the 2020 Olympics, help renew an appreciation for the stunning murals?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 4, 2019
Good, clean dining in the alleyways of Shiba
Minutes from Tamachi Station, the area of Shiba, is a maze of weathered watering holes, chain restaurants, karaoke joints and gritty izakaya (Japanese pubs), like an east Tokyo version of Shinjuku's Golden Gai.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2018
Young operators turn to social media to revive Tokyo's sento neighborhood bathhouses
Younger operators of sento (public bathhouses) in Tokyo are breathing new life into the facilities, which have long helped residents in communities feel refreshed and relaxed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 13, 2018
Mural painter can't relax in bathhouses
Name: Mizuki Tanaka
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2017
Bathhouse offers 'Naked School' classes to lure younger bathers
A Tokyo bathhouse is offering classes on topics ranging from comedy to gaming in hopes of luring younger patrons and reviving the dying tradition of communal baths.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 5, 2016
Washed up? Tokyo's iconic communal bath houses face an uncertain future
Walking around Tokyo, you may have noticed a number of tall, narrow chimneys rising above the skyline every so often. Such stacks are a good indication that you've stumbled across a sento, or communal bath house.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 7, 2016
Sarasa Nishijin: A curious cafe in the bones of an old bathhouse
Sarasa Nishijin is a sentō (bathhouse) — well, it used to be. But using the past tense here belies how much of its old spirit still lives on. The waters may have drained away — replaced by sofas, tables, chairs and people lounging about fully clothed — but the sentō's old life is revealed in...
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Jan 5, 2016
Japan's public baths hope foreign tourists will help keep the taps running
Japan's public baths, known as sento, represent an institution with hundreds of years of history. They provided an important public service in the days before homes had their own hot-water bathtubs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 17, 2015
True Edo spirit can be found while soaking in a public bath
"Public baths are the shortest route there is to moral and spiritual enlightenment. Careful reflection shows this."
Students in Japan struggle with Japanese language and math sections on national exam
The correct answer rate for the Japanese language section on a national test dropped to 67.0% from 67.8% the previous year among elementary school sixth-graders.
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.
Tokyobike founder believes in taking in sights of dynamic cities slowly
Ichiro Kanai, founder and president of Tokyobike, is developing a niche but a new customer base who want to cycle as part of a lifestyle.
Music idol and anime fandom merch is big business
Businesses who cater to fandoms gathered at Tokyo Lifestyle Week for the second annual Oshikatsu — Merch Collection Expo, a trade show devoted to fandom goods.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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