Sento’s and Onsen

Visiting a public hot bath is a uniquely Japanese experience. The baths are separated by gender, no swimsuits (or often tattoos) are allowed and you have to follow fairly tight usage rituals. The main difference between a sento and an onsen is that onsen use geothermally heated mineral waters, while sentos are just standard water. Saya-no-Yudokoro Spa is one of the only true Onsen in Tokyo. Otherwise you’ll have to travel further afield (like Hakone). There’s been a raft of refurbished sento’s popping up recently like Koganeyu and Mikokuyu which play cool music and serve their own craft beer.