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.
Long-time residents, however, will perhaps have noted that such chimneys aren¡¯t quite as common as they once were. While hundreds of sento have closed in the past decade, no new bath houses have opened in the capital over the same period.
¡°In the past, a sento was simply a place to bathe,¡± says Teruo Shimada, owner of Akebono-yu bath house in Edogawa Ward. Akebono-yu, which was founded in 1773, is the oldest bath house in the capital.
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