Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2016 March 16 - 22 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Preserve Japanese public bathing culture: JCP Tokyo

Public bathhouses (sento) provide a venue for socializing as well as for relaxing and recuperating for all people, young and old. However, the number of public bath housing in operation continues to decrease.

Satoyoshi Yumi, a Japanese Communist Party member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, at an assembly committee session on March 14 proposed measures needed to protect public bathing culture in Tokyo by citing the fact that the number of public baths in Tokyo has decreased by three-quarters from its peak to 630.

She said that Japan’s neighborhood sento has long been playing an important role in the improvement of welfare, public health sanitation, and interactions among neighbors. On top of that, sento as a cultural presence which communicates the culture of ordinary people is now becoming the focus of attention from an increasing number of foreign tourists. For this reason, the JCP assemblyperson put forth an ordinance bill to preserve the sento culture.

The bill includes support for bathhouse owners, related organizations, and municipalities in their effort to maintain sentos. It encourages owners and the industry to proactively promote effective utilization of sentos while requiring the Tokyo metropolitan government to implement comprehensive and well-planned policies. Under the bill, if enacted, the metropolitan government will take into consideration the opinions of Tokyoites and allocate a budget necessary for the preservation and promotion of Tokyo public bathhouses.

* * *

The bill was voted down in an assembly committee session held on March 17.