From our other sites
The story
A list of “things you shouldn’t do at a super sento (bathhouse)” posted on the official TikTok account of Spa Mettsa Otakaryusenji no Yu, a bathing facility in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, became the subject of an Otonanser article — and went on to spark a thread on 5ch’s News Speed+ board. Among the behaviors cited in the article, like “getting into the cold bath while still sweaty from the sauna” and “pointing a hair dryer at your crotch,” commenters were split: some said it “looks gross,” while others shot back “what’s actually wrong with that in the first place.” The chat even wandered off into how unsanitary Edo-period bathhouses were and how athlete’s foot actually spreads.
11/4 (Wed) 15:15 JST
Otonanser
The official TikTok account of the bathing facility Spa Mettsa Otakaryusenji no Yu (Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture) shared things you shouldn’t do at a super sento, as well as behaviors that make staff’s job easier. When Otonanser published an article on October 30 titled “Guilty of this? Super sento staff reveal the things you absolutely must not do,” it drew a huge response from readers.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Does nobody here have body hair?
If you're good-looking it'd be fine, but it's only gross old guys who do the crotch hair-dryer thing, so it just looks disgusting.
Never seen it myself, but I guess people really do that.
Hope they slip up and go "OW, HOT!"…
I've watched dozens of women hog the hair dryer at the sink the entire time, from when I get in the bath until I leave, lol.
Mister, how would you even know that?
What exactly counts as "disruptive," though?
Gross.
If you don't sweat, go see a doctor.
…dentists, clinics, karaoke boxes, internet cafes, tatami-room izakaya, shrine prayer halls, temple main halls…
As a countermeasure, always carry cheap slippers from the 100-yen store, or carry 100-yen-store plastic bags and slip them onto your feet whenever you enter a place where you take your shoes off.
Yeah, you could probably catch it from hospital slippers too.
Most of the guys who do it are filthy middle-aged men.
Gross.
Apparently the water started out clean, but by the end of the day it had turned brown and murky, basically sludge.
Can't really be helped — there was no running water or sewage system back then.
They hog the bath just to chat with their buddies.
There are only 4 of those little tub baths (tsuboyu), and all four groups just dip their feet in and sit there gabbing for like an hour.
Just sit on a chair and talk, seriously.
Yeah, there's always someone who just keeps chatting forever.
So annoying.
After a sauna, that actually feels great though.
Going straight from the sauna into the cold bath is the whole point, isn't it?
I'd even call that the best part of sauna culture.
You're supposed to rinse off with water before getting into the cold bath, you know?
It's not just about washing off sweat and staying clean — it also lowers your risk of triggering a heart attack from the shock, so you really should do it.
If you wash your feet thoroughly as soon as you get home from a place like that, you basically won't get athlete's foot.
The people who end up getting it are the ones who don't have that mindset or habit in daily life.
I'm saying this as someone who's had athlete's foot once myself, so trust me.
Well, if you hate athlete's foot that much, you shouldn't be going to communal baths in the first place, lol.
You can catch it from hospital, restroom, or any shared public slippers in the first place.
Especially in summer, seeing someone in bare feet and sandals slip on public slippers is really gross.
Alternating hot and cold baths feels great too, right?
I prefer cooling off in the open air at an outdoor bath.
What a coincidence!
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Bathhouse etiquette rules like “wash your body before getting into the tub” and “rinse off sweat before entering the cold bath after a sauna” are, in most cases, not legal requirements but guidelines each facility posts and promotes on its own — with no penalties attached, which is exactly why reactions among users vary so widely. On the matter of using a hair dryer on one’s crotch, the thread saw a clash between those who criticized it as unpleasant to look at and those who called it a matter of personal freedom, and the fact that the facility’s request was rooted in “consideration for others” wasn’t fully understood by everyone. There’s also a broader issue at play: risks like athlete’s foot transmission exist in plenty of places besides bathhouses, yet bathhouses alone tend to get singled out as the problem.
*This article is composed as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[♨] ‘Getting into the cold bath still sweaty from the sauna,’ ‘Hair dryer on the crotch…’ — Anger Floods in Over Super Sento’s “Banned Behaviors”.”
Leave a Reply