Well hello there friends. I feel fantastic, simply smashing. Let me tell you why!

You probably have heard of it before, but let me tell you a bit more about ‘public bath houses’ and Japan. I live across the street from a public bath house which is open every night until 11:00. If it was free, I would not only bathe there every night, but I would in fact live there. Unfortunately it costs a converted 3.907 US dollars per use. So although living there would be less expensive than my dorm, it wouldn’t be as nice sleeping.

It works a little bit like this: you walk in the first door and there is a step in front of you where you MUST remove your shoes. Place them in the locker, and turn left into the actual building. Pay the nice old lady at the counter, and proceed into the men’s locker room. Once you’ve gone inside, remove all clothes; put them in a second locker, along with the key from the first locker. Take the towel and bathing supplies (which you brought with you to the bath house!) and proceed into heaven.

The room you’ve just entered is full of showers that are about waist high, which is fine because you’ll be washing yourself while sitting. This is genius: taking a shower while sitting. It amazes me that shower stools/extendable nozzles are not more common in the US. Sitting and bathing yourself is one of the most soothing things I have ever experienced. Wash yourself, and do it well. Make sure none of the Japanese people around you can even SUSPECT that you have a piece of dirt on you. Do this not only so they cannot accuse you of being a typical foreigner, but because the Japanese do a damn good job of cleaning themselves as well. You would in fact be the dirtiest one in there if you spent any less than 10 minutes pulling the dirt from under your nails before getting in the tub(s).

Tub(s). The best part – there are three tubs. Start on the far right – you sit down and the water level is about up to your neck. A ton of bubbles and warm water to sooth the muscles. After being in there for a couple minutes, get into the middle tub. VERY HOT. It’s hard to stay in there for more than a few minutes. Do your best, get a nice sweat going, and hop into the medicine bath. I have no clue what they put in the water, but you feel damn good when you’re in there. I swear it’s liquid steroids. I like to get a quick cold shower in before I get dressed, so I can cool off and walk home.

Get back to the dorm: stretch.

< Quite the experience.