Yunohama Onsen Kamiku Public Bath

A small municipal bathhouse in Yunohama Onsen, a seaside hot-spring town on the Yamagata coast known for its sunsets over the Sea of Japan. Inside is a single rectangular indoor tub filled with salty spring water that arrives properly hot: you can ask to add cool water to bring it down, and it leaves you warmed through for hours afterward. There are washing taps, but no soap or shampoo; it's sold at the counter instead. It's a plain, cheap bath the neighborhood actually uses, with a friendly attendant at the till, and people often perch at the edge pouring hot water over themselves rather than soaking all the way in. It's one of two municipal bathhouses the city runs in Yunohama Onsen.